Breaking The Norm

Sarah Flores

08/21/05

English 4A, G1

Monster essay

Steve Harmon is a sixteen-year-old boy on trial with his neighborhood friend, James King, for felony murder. Myers tells the story of Steve's experience through Steve's own writing. The novel is actually a screenplay that Steve is writing to work out some of the stress that the trial is putting on him and to share the story of this life-changing experience with others. Was Steve Harmon truly the lookout for the store robbery or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Steve is not directly responsible for the death of the murder victim, Mr. Nesbitt, but he is in some way involved in the planned robbery of Mr. Nesbitt's drugstore. He was supposed to be the lookout on the robbery. It was his job to make sure that no body was in the store so he could give a sign to King and his partners. According to a witness, Lorelle Henry, who was in the drugstore when the robbery began said that she only saw two men arguing and next thing Mr. Nesbitt is dead. Harmon obviously did a bad job of making sure that no one was in the store because Mrs. Henry did not see anybody else in the drugstore besides the other two men who were arguing with Mr. Nesbitt. On the other hand, Mr. Evans said he did not receive any kind of sign from Harmon indicating the store was clear.

Mrs. O'Brien, Steve's lawyer, fights for him until he is found innocent. "I wanted to open my shirt and tell her to look into my heart to see who I really was, who the real Steve Harmon was. That was what I was thinking, about what was in my heart and what that made me. I'm just not a bad person. I know that in my heart I am not a bad person." (92-93). Mr. Sawicki, Steve's film professor talked about his character. "It is my belief that to make an honest film, one has to be an honest person. I would say that. And I do believe in Steve's honesty" (237). Steve seemed to be an honest person from the beginning of the story especially