Steve Harmon In The Novel Monster By Walter Dean Myers

Categories: Monster Novel Plot

In the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers Steve Harmon is a black sixteen year old that is on trial for allegedly taking part in felony murder. However Steve is innocent or at the very least can’t be proven guilty for multiple reasons such as there simply not being enough evidence to prove his involvement in the crime and that Steve has an alibi of the movie he was filming for school.

Firstly there isn’t enough evidence that links Steve to the crime.

The only evidence is the word of the men who took part and omitted to the crime however trusting their word isn’t particularly viable as they all share a motive to lessen their time in prison. There was also a witness that allegedly saw Steve in the store before the crime, however simply being in a store sometime before a crime shouldn’t equate to 25 years to life in prison.

Secondly Steve does have an alibi to prove his innocence in the film he was making at the time for a school project.

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If Steve was busy working on a film he wouldn’t have the time to committee a crime. Steve is even backed up by his teacher Mr. Sawicki that Steve is a good student and love film which can also be seen in the style of writing in the book being a film script as Steve was writing a film during this entire novel.

In addition if Steve were involved in the crime he shouldn’t be being charged with felony murder especially having a higher jail time then the people who committed the offence due to them “helping catch Steve” and having their sentence lessened.

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All evidence the connects Steve to the crime point to him being the lookout, not being in the store during the crime and didn’t think the crime would escalate to murder. If all Steve did was go into the store beforehand and leave and having no part in the crime after that point thinking it was only going to be a robbery then he should be tried for only the robbery not the murder as he had no involvement in the murder only the robbery.

In conclusion the verdict of Steve being innocent of felony murder is correct due to there not being enough valid evidence to connect him to the crime, Steves alibi in the film project and if he did participate in the crime he is guilty of taking part in robbery not murder.

Works cited

  1. Myers, W. D. (1999). Monster. HarperCollins Publishers.
  2. Kuby, M. C. (2008). Reading for the plot: Design and intention in narrative. Harvard University Press.
  3. Adams, R. (2006). The legal dimensions of novelistic truth: A case study of Walter Dean Myers's Monster. Journal of Law and Education, 35(4), 509-530.
  4. Jones, P. N. (2002). Teens, Crime, and the Community. Youth & Society, 33(4), 617-640.
  5. Archambault, J. (2006). Monster: Literature for social justice. The ALAN Review, 33(3), 36-43.
  6. Coles, R. (2003). The Moral Intelligence of Children. Plume Books.
  7. Peña, M. (2009). Playing with genres: An analysis of Walter Dean Myers's Monster. Children's Literature in Education, 40(2), 83-97.
  8. Hames-García, M. R. (2003). Fugitive testimony: Writing the history of race. NYU Press.
  9. Abrams, M. H., & Harpham, G. G. (2015). A glossary of literary terms. Cengage Learning.
  10. Nussbaum, M. C. (2010). Not for profit: Why democracy needs the humanities. Princeton University Press.
Updated: Feb 02, 2024
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Steve Harmon In The Novel Monster By Walter Dean Myers. (2024, Feb 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/steve-harmon-in-the-novel-monster-by-walter-dean-myers-essay

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