Symbols
Characters
Quotes
Settings
Plot
100
This symbolizes that Steve tries to mentally escape from jail. He tries to get away by using this tactic.
What is the movie that he tries to make?
100
He was arrested at 16 for being a lookout in a robbery and is on trial for felony murder.
Who is Steve Harmon?
100
“The best time to cry is at night, when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and screaming for help.”
This shows that you have to distance yourself from others in order to survive.
100
This is where the fate of the main character is decided
What is the courtroom?
100
What was the original reason that Steve was at the gas station?
He was being a lookout for King, who was stealing cigarettes.
200
This symbolizes that Steve is being held back in his life
What is the detention center?
200
The defense attorney who tries to convince the jury that Steve is innocent
Who is Kathy O'Bryan
200
“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.”
This shows that Steve desperately needs an escape and gets lost in a movie. It highlights the line between reality/escape.
200
This is where Steve expresses most of his thoughts, and we get most of the character development
What is his cell in the detention center?
200
This makes Steve's situation less real to himself and allows him to escape.
What is writing a screenplay during the trial?
300
This symbolizes Steve's self-hatred, and also the public/other's perception of Steve
What is the word "Monster?"
300
She labels Steve and the other defendants as "Monsters"
Who is Sandra Petrocelli
300
"We all lie to ourselves here. Maybe we are here because we lie to ourselves.”
This shows that humans try to appease themselves and justify their own actions to themselves.
300
This is where the crime that landed Steve in jail happened.
What is a gas station?
300
Describe Steve's relationship with his family, both PAST and PRESENT
Steve's relationship is strained with his family now, but he used to have a very strong relationship, particularly with his brother.
400
This symbolizes Steve's need for a simpler time, and his remembrance of peacefulness prior to coming to jail
What is Flashbacks?
400
The character that eventually ends up serving 25-Life for the killing of Mr. Nesbitt
Who is James King?
400
“There was a baseball game on but it didn't look real. It was guys in uniforms playing games on a deep green field. They were playing baseball as if baseball was important and as if all the world wasn't in jail, watching them from a completely different world.”
This shows that we all tend to believe that what is going on in our world is the only world in which something is going on. We believe that when we stop, time stops, and that the only reality is our own.
400
This is the city that Steve grew up in.
What is Harlem?
400
To whom the gun that killed Alguinado Nesbitt belonged
Who is Alguinado Nesbitt
500
This is what symbolizes Steve's conscious thoughts throughout the whole book
What is Steve's journal?
500
The character that was murdered prior to the start of the story
Who is Alguinado Nesbitt?
500
"I'll call it [the movie] what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. MONSTER.”
This shows that we try to dehumanize those who are on trial, as if they aren't people.
500
This is where Steve got his idea to make a movie (a flashback)
What is a film workshop classroom?
500
The author of the book
Walter Dean Myers
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