Monster and Millennial Opinions

            Not only is Monster by Walter Dean Myers a New York Times bestseller, it is also a young adult novel that has found its way into classrooms across the nation. As a book that touches on the topics of racial identity, inequality in the justice system, stereotypes, and crime, it is a book that has proven to be quite relevant in the classroom today. With the recent riots in Baltimore, Maryland over the death of Freddie Gray who passed away in police custody and the numerous cases involving the shooting of unarmed black men in the past few years, Myer's book remains significant for young adult readers and students. The text can easily be paired with news articles from recent events, and students can make connections between the fictional account of Steve Harmon in Monster and issues going on today. One article in particular that could be paired with Monster is an article written by Philip Marcelo titled "Harvard Study: Millennials Believe U.S. Justice System Unfair," which can be found on Newsela.com, a database for nonfiction and current event articles that are aligned with the Common Core. By pairing these two items, students can make connections between fiction and nonfiction, and they can examine their own feelings about larger issues of inequality, stereotypes, and institutional racism in the justice system.

            Pairing the article and the book will allow students to make the connection that the book is not just a story, but rather, the book also points to larger societal issues that are being reflected in the media today. For example, the whole idea that Steve is deemed a "monster" in the eyes of the prosecutor and the jury reflects some of the issues that are being presented by social activists and movements like the Black Lives Matter movement. (Myers 21, 79). In the book, Steve's lawyer is brutally honest with Steve and tells him: "Half of those jurors . . . believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you. You're young, you're black, and you're on trial. What else do they need to know?" (Myers 78-9). These same kind of statements are being discussed as major issues in the criminal justice system today.

            By utilizing the Marcelo article, a teacher could spark a discussion among students about their own feelings about the United States justice system, which allows Monster to really come to life as a work of contemporary realistic fiction. In the article, Marcelo discusses a study conducted with over 3,000 young people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine who were of different races and ethnic backgrounds who were polled about their feelings towards the U.S. justice system. The study revealed that "about 49 percent of millennials have little to no confidence that the judicial system can fairly judge people without bias for race and ethnicity" (Marcelo). As far as their feelings about protest movements revolving around these issues, "Just 39 percent of those polled believed efforts would be 'somewhat' or 'very' effective" (Marcelo). It would be interesting to take these same questions discussed in the article and poll students for their own responses before and after reading Monster. Students can reflect on their own perception of the justice system and whether their opinion changed at all after reading the book.

            In pairing Monster with the Marcelo article, students gain a better understanding of how a work of fiction can reflect larger societal issues and provide a critique of society. Monster depicts a sixteen year old boy who is not only being judged by his actions but also by his appearance, and the novel presents the question of whether a person can be fairly judged in a system that is broken. The article, which discusses young people's distrust of the system, will hopefully encourage students to develop their own opinions on controversial issues and potentially start to think about ways in which they could be agents of change. While discussing these controversial issues has the potential to create some tension in the classroom, it also has the potential to allow students to understand that their opinions matter.

Works Cited

Marcelo, Philip. "Harvard Study: Millennials Believe U.S. Justice System Unfair." Associated      Press 29 April 2015. https://newsela.com/articles/millennials-justicesurvey/id/9143/

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.