Monster is written from Steve's perspective, so the reader and Steve feel very connected; therefore, different readers are likely to vary slightly on what specific prison life details and events most affect Steve. Steve is definitely afraid of the violence, and we are told about it throughout the book. The very first paragraph of the book has Steve telling his readers that the very best time to cry is at night when someone else is being beaten up. That way nobody can hear you crying. If they hear you crying, then you'll be beaten up next. The other thing that really scares Steve, and likely readers, is the amount of sexual assault that inmates commit against each other while in prison. Readers get to read a piece of his script in which audiences are being shown Steve on his cot with the sounds of a person being beaten in the background. Then we are told that the sounds change and become the sounds of sexual assault against the recently beaten inmate.
Steve Harmon expresses his negative feelings about jail in his notes throughout the novel. On Tuesday, July 7th, Steve Harmon writes that the only thing the prisoners talk about is hurting one another. Steve says,
"If you look at somebody, they say, "What you looking at me for? I'll mess you up!" If you make a noise they don't like, they say they'll mess you up. One guy has a knife." (Myers 49).
Steve has to constantly be on his guard around the violent prisoners. He hates violence and is forced to act tough around the other inmates. Steve does not feel comfortable around such brash, rough individuals and prefers to keep to himself.
On Sunday, July 12th, Steve mentions that he refuses to smile back at a cafeteria worker who gives him extra food during breakfast. Following breakfast, Steve attends a church service where two inmates get into a fight and the guards lock all the prisoners up in their cells until one o'clock. Steve then describes another fight that almost breaks out while they are playing bid whist. Steve comments,
"I think I finally understand why there are so many fights. In here all you have going for you is the little surface stuff, how people look at you and what they say. And if that's all you have, then you have to protect that. Maybe that's right" (Myers 159).
After spending a substantial amount of time in jail, Steve begins to realize why the inmates act so violently. He begins to sympathize with them and tries to rationalize what makes them so violent. Although Steve himself is not a violent person, he understands that many prisoners have to act tough in order to survive.
No comments:
Post a Comment