Guilty or Not There's One in All of Us: Monster

Bibliographic Details
           Monster, Walter Dean Myers, 21 April 1999, HarperCollins Publisher

Summary
            Steve is talking about him being in jail. And how people say you get used to jail but, he never does. He then goes on trial and is being defended by Obrien, a lady who truly wants to help him. He is being prosecuted by Petrocelli. Osvaldo is set to testify and tells the jury that he was scared of Bobo and Steve so he joined their robbery. Obrien says to Steve that he might get 25 to life and that was discouraging for him. While in jail, Steve is growing to be more tough and less scared of people, which is a good thing for him since he doesn’t want to make seem like he is vulnerable. Osvaldo is brought in to the court room to testify against Steve. Osvaldo talks about who he knows was in the whole mess and he mentioned Steve as being one of the people in it. His father goes to see him in jail and Steve sees his father crying, since his dad has a dream of him playing football and not in jail charged for murder. His mother came to see him for the first time, and she told him that she couldn't believe he's been there so long. Bobo is on stand and says that Steve's role in the stickup was to check if the store was clear of any cops. Bobo’s testimony hurt Steve's case since it gave him more connection to them. Obrien tells him that he should testify since King won't testify and it would help his own case. Steve's testifies and denies ever being at the drugstore the day of the robbery.
            The closing statements are said and Obrien reminds the jury of Steve's character and the character of Bobo and how different the two characters are. And how Bobo can see a man dead in a drugstore and still go out to eat, while Steve wasn't nervous on stand since he didn't have anything to hide. But Petrocelli says that the testimony isn't about the character of the people, but of what happened on December 22 at the drugstore. Steve is back in his cell waiting for the jury to choose a verdict. He thinks about how in the beginning he didn't know why the prisoners talked so much about appeals and now he knows. He starts planning his appeal and really wants to get out. In the morning they are told that a verdict was found. King was sentenced to 25 to life, Osvaldo was arrested for stealing a car and was sent to a reformatory, Bobo was sent to jail, and Steve was found not guilty! 5 months later Steve is trying to figure out exactly who he is, so he films himself with a camera a lot now.

Quote
"The movie is more real in so many ways than the life I am leading. No, that's not true. I just desperately wish this was only a movie" (Myers 159)

Reaction
           Since Steve is documenting this while he is in jail. He documents it as a movie, and he shows how the movie makes his situation more emotional to the reader. He hates where he is and how he can't see his brother, since he is too young to go into the visitors room.  He says he can't last there for 25 years because he will never get used to living there.