Monster
Walter Dean Myers (1999)
“A sixteen-year-old on trial for murder rewrites his life as a screenplay — because the real version is too terrifying to face.”
Character Analysis
A sixteen-year-old Black filmmaker from Harlem on trial for felony murder. Steve is the novel's subject and its author — he writes his trial as a screenplay, casting himself as both director and defendant. The dual-format structure externalizes his identity crisis: the screenplay Steve is composed, analytical, and in control; the journal Steve is terrified, confused, and searching. The gap between these two Steves IS the character. Myers never resolves whether Steve was involved in the crime, making him one of the most genuinely ambiguous protagonists in American literature.
Dual voice: screenplay Steve uses formal, educated vocabulary and film terminology. Journal Steve uses teenage vernacular, fragmented syntax, and emotional directness. The gap between the two voices IS the character.