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Essays about monsters by walter dean myers
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I recently read a book called Monster by Walter Dean Myers, in which a sixteen year-old boy named Steve Harmon was arrested for being accused of shooting a drugstore owner, and watched a documentary titled Murder on a Sunday Morning about a fifteen year-old Brenton Butler being charged with murdering a woman at a motel. I found that the book and the documentary had many similarities and differences. I thought this because both cases are about a young African-American boy who is in custody for something that they did not do. Both police investigations didn't go thoroughly and just rushed through to arrest the boys immediately and are centered around a white defense attorney who tries to convince the jury that the male teen did not committed the crime by giving out evidence. When the books are written they tend to mirror real life situations. In this case the movie and the book are centered around a male, African-American teen who is accused of committing a crime and how the situation is dealt by going through records to persuade the jury that the boy didn’t commit the murder of a person. For example, both boys were arrested without even questioning as to what’s happening before handcuffing them and sending the two to jail. They are also similar in that they are set in Harlem and Jacksonville respectively, which are notorious for having …show more content…
The book is great with the plot mainly focused in the courtroom, but it feels like the author put the plot of the story from different events that happened to younger people and not from one whole event. Finally, the document went into depth of how the defense attorney went on to get every piece of evidence as possible to make the eyes of the jury see that Brenton Butler was not the person that shot and killed the
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is an old classic that has been enjoyed by many generations. Despite the fact that the novel was written over a hundred years ago, it is not only beautifully written but also enthralling and well composed. At the young age of eighteen, Mary Shelly raises questions about education and knowledge to which are answered through the well written characters in the novel. The Monster, who is a creation of another character, is highlighted as an individual who goes through an intellectual change.
Growing up in a world of gangs, death, and suffering Kody Scott, also known as Monster Kody, grew up in a life of struggle. From eleven years old Kody knew what he wanted a to be, a gangster. Nothing could stop him from becoming one of the most feared gang member of the late 1970?s and early 80?s except maybe his own conscience. Kody Scott goes through an evolution, from a child to Monster Kody to finally Sanyika Shakur, his Muslim name. Sanyika Shakur is a true survivor, considering everything that has taken place in his life he has managed to make something of himself from nothing.
For example, the majority of the film was concerned with the key question of “Where did they come from?” In Jones’ book, we learn very early on that the people in question had in fact came from Africa, therefore nullifying any claims made towards them that they could be considered property. In the movie, we are kept in suspense of learning this truth all for the effect of building tension, to have this realization be the pivotal moment where it was clear who should win the case. With such heavy focus on this one element, the film neglected to expand on details of other factors playing a part in the court’s decision, such as the looming threat of civil war, international relations with Spain, and the push from President Van Buren who desired an outcome that would increase his odds of re-election. The film is also guilty in misrepresenting the way the case was handled in the Supreme Court. It is implied through the film that the words of John Quincy Adams alone swayed the judges into voting favorably against slavery, however as we learn in the book the case was really centered on the Atlantic Slave Trade instead of the issue of slavery within America. Spielberg’s inclusion of the fictional character Theodore Joadson also takes away from historical accuracy and diminishes the contributions of the abolitionist Lewis Tappan. Therefore it can be said that the advantage of reading the book over watching the film is that the book is less focused on tension building and more focused on providing details on the legal battle and the ramifications of the decision
The book itself was hard to follow. It is not the type of book I would normally choose to read. There was not much character development and way too many slimy characters too keep track of. The crimes were plentiful and the relationships between the characters were often unclear. The book seemed to jump around to numerous detailed incidents and crimes that occurred making it difficult to tie them together. The author of the book was a magazine journalist, so this type of writing was out of his comfort zone. Nevertheless, Brown must be given a great deal of credit for putting in years of dedication to investigate this story that police overlooked and possibly participated in. This book needed to be written because, without it, more women could have been murdered. Brown first published an article on the case before witting the book, the day the article came out the body of the last victim was
After reading the story, I found I had mixed emotions about it. To explain, when we were getting into detail and finally finding out what really happened the day of June 28th, I found myself completely interested and glued to the book. I also enjoyed the way the incident was explained because I felt like I was there watching it all happen from the great detail. I enjoyed Phillips style of writing because through his writing, he really came off as an intelligent person who is very familiar with the legal system. The book is an easy read, and I liked the non-pretentious style of writing. I did not find myself struggling with reading the book at all, which made the overall experience that much more enjoyable.
Monster is an example of what Patty Campbell would call a “landmark book.” Texts such as these “encourage readers to interact with the text and with one another by employing a variety of devices, among them ambiguity” (Campbell 1) Because it is told through the eyes of Steve himself, the plot can be difficult to decipher. It is ambiguous whether he is innocent or guilty of being involved with the crime. Steve learned to make things unpredictable from his film teacher Mr. Sawicki who teaches him, “If you make your film predictable, they’ll make up their minds about it long before it’s over” (19). Steve took his teacher’s advice and made this film script entirely unpredictable, even after it is over. His lawyer, O’Brien, says in her closing statement, “What can we trace as to the guilt or innocence of my client, Steve Harmon?” (245) This leaves the jury with an undoubtedly difficult decision, as well as the reader, because there are clues to both guilt and innocence in Steve’s case.
If someone had previous knowledge of a crime, are they just as guilty for not reporting that a crime was going to happen as the person(s) that actually perpetrated the crime? This question was a major point of discussion and the major driver of the plot in the book Monster by Walter Dean Myers. In this book, 16 year old Steve Harmon is being tried for felony murder for participating in a robbery perpetrated by James King, Bobo Evans, and Osvaldo Cruz that ended in the death a Alguinaldo Nesbitt. Although the jury found Harmon innocent in the end, the readers still learn that Steve knew that a robbery was going to happen. Also, scattered throughout the book were bits of evidence that alluded to Steve’s involvement in the robbery. Therefore,
This movie really tied everything we’ve been discussing in class and seeing it unfold was actually really eye opening. I found it important going forward to make sure I do not fall into that tunnel vision mentality and to make sure I follow the evidence rather than fitting the suspect to the evidence. Again, I found it interesting like in the Norfolk Four case and in the Central Park 5 case police neglected to look at surrounding crime areas to see if any other cases matched the same modus operandi. If the police did look at surrounding cases they would have established a link between previous assaults and the assault that took place in the park that night. I was amazed how the detectives did not connect how each of the confessions varied by who did what and how they attacked the victim. It was Korey Wise in the video that kept putting up his hand when asked how big was the rock and he was just moving them back and forth. Police also neglected to look at the attack patterns of where the group first was hassling people in the park. They would have found that the boys were at one end of the park, while the victim was being attacked and there was no way they could have been in two places at once. I also found troubling during the time was the media portrayal of the Central Park 5, how they were painted as vicious young men, who brutally attacked a harmless white women. Even after each one of them was exonerated from the crime the media still portrayed them as vicious men. As we discussed in class, I think a lawyer like a magistrate should be available 24/7 when it comes to juveniles, because I believe that this five did not know their Miranda Rights and what they were entitled. If they knew what their rights were I believe the confessions never would have happened and none of them would have gone to
This movie goes to show how such crucial facts and minuet evidence if not processed fully and clearly can change the outcome in such a big way. In this jury you have 12 men from all different walks of life, 12 different times, and 12 different personalities. Who have an obligation to come to one conclusion and that's whether or not the young man on trial is guilty of murdering his father or is innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. Under much frustration and lack of patience these 12 men began to get unruly and unfocused. Throughout this distraction key terms get misused, facts get turned around and more importantly emotions start to cross making it hard for these men to produce a verdict.
Parallels and bias were shown in both cases, every racist witness showed bias to the black men who were accused. The major characters that were involved with the trial were similar too. Both Atticus and Judge Horton fought for the equal treatment of blacks in the judicial system as the whites. The accusers of the black men were similar too; it seems like the book was made after the actual Scottsboro Case. The time that both of the trials took place in were exactly the same as well. Every single aspect of both of the trials is the same except for the outcomes. One outcome was that they men got away which was amazing because it was real life and the other was more realistic that the black man was killed and the racists had their justice served.
To begin with, there are many similarities between the book and movie To Kill A Mockingbird. For example, Tom Robinson died in an attempt to escape from prison in both the book and the movie. In my opinion Tom's death was crucial to the original story, and I believe the movie would have been seen as over-sentimental if the scriptwriters had let him live. Another important similarity between the book and movie, is the mutual fascination between Arthur Radley and the children. Arthur, or Boo as the children called him, left them gifts such as dolls, a watch, and chewing gum in the hollow of a tree in his yard. The children made expeditions to the Radley house to look in the window just so they could catch a glimpse of Boo Radley. I believe this captivation was important to the story line because it was the main foundation of the children's imagination. A big part of the story was imagining Boo to be some kind of freak that came out at night to eat cats and squirrels. An additional similarity between the book and movie is the respect showed to Atticus by the African American community of Maycomb. They respected him for his courage, which by his definition meant, "It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."(112). I think the mutual respect between the African Americans and Atticus was important not only to Atticus, but also to his children. Their father and the sad story and memories of Tom Robinson taught them the wrongs of racism. I think if the movie producers had taken out the good relationship between Atticus and the African Americans, it would be taking away one of the most important themes of the story. There are many other significant similarities between the book and the movie.
the most important literary elements in the story. He takes a young black boy and puts
In this documentary, we never go into the minds of any of the people, but only get to interpret what we see and hear. This documentary was filmed in Jacksonville, Florida where Brenton Butler, a 15 year old African American boy was accused of the murder of Mary Ann Stephens. The main people in this documentary are Ann Fennell, Patrick McGuiness, Brenton Butler, and detectives Williams, Glover, and Darnell. Ann Fennell and Patrick McGuisness are the two defense attorney’s on Brenton’s behalf. Brenton Butler is the boy being accused of murder. Detectives Williams, Glover, and Darnell are the detectives in department 3 the violated many laws and policies while holing Brenton in
The title of the book is Monster and the author is Walter Dean Myers. This book physical setting is in Manhattan & Harlem, New York and sometimes in the main character’s neighborhood. The temporal setting is present day. The main character Steve Harmon helps the author manipulate time in the story line by not giving the exact days and repeating the pattern of taking Harmon to jail, court, and then his neighborhood repeatedly. Monster’s setting is critical to the story because on multiple occasions Steve Harmon blames his poverty stricken neighborhood he grew up in for the mistakes he made. The tone of the story makes the audience stay in constant suspicion to see if Harmon will be able to prove that he’s innocent. Myer’s theme for the story is that you should not give into peer pressure because it can make you end up in serious trouble.
“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” is an episode from the popular tv series The Twilight Zone. Twilight zone was created by Rod Serling, and first aired in 1959. The series is a dramatic fantasy and science-fiction anthology. The episode “The Monsters are Due on Maple street” is based around aliens. At least from the surface the episode seems to be about aliens. The average viewer would not see that the episode also has a deeper meaning, one that relates to history. This episode is a great example of a term coined in the 1950s, McCarthyism.