The tension socially between those who either abide by the law or enforce the law, and those who commit crimes and are considered to disrupt society are present throughout the entire text. When Wendell Bolden is being questioned by the prosecutor, Petrocelli, Myers uses one of the statements Bolden makes to create a connection between illegal activity, lower-class neighborhoods and hidden motives corresponding with the lower class and cigarettes. “Bolden: I got some cigarettes from a guy who told me he was in on a drugstore robbery up on Malcolm X Boulevard. I knew a dude got killed, and I was thinking of trading what I knew for some slack.” p. 48 The first thing to correspond with the cigarettes in these two sentences is the illegal activity, the robbery. Bolden also states that he is aware of the more serious crime, the murder. The next thing to tie the lower class with the negative notions is the mention of the low income neighborhood, Malcolm X Boulevard, immediately after mentioning the robbery. What should also be noted is that Myers decided to go with Malcolm X Boulevard, a neighborhood named after one of the most historically powerful people in the African American community. The use of Malcolm X’s name in this moment forces rotten perception towards black people. Furthermore, Bolden admits that his reason for testifying that he had been sold the cigarettes is merely for his own benefit, potential “slack” on an assault charge.
Category Archives: Monster by Walter Dean Myers
project check-in, group e
Group E, Monster: Harris, Dylan, Tiffany
WHAT: The current intention is to first collect a number of court room transcripts from hearings where black and/or latino kids (may not limit to juveniles) are being charged, then collect transcripts of hearings where white kids are being charged with similar crimes. The aim is to evaluate the language that is used by the prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges; and to make note of any similarities and potential differences in the language used to address and describe the white kids on trial and the black/latino kids on trial. We would theoretically post each compared transcript, side by side, on a website with minimal design (possibly just a solid colored background). We may caption each pair of cases with a comparison of the language used, but have not determined if that would dissipate the intended effect.
WHY: In Monster, our protagonist is a black male that is, with the other men he is arrested with, labeled a “monster” by the prosecution. We, as readers, however, have insight into the life of our young protagonist, and are moved to sympathize with him. Although his lawyer successfully defends him, she is suspicious of her client and refuses to celebrate his win with him.
A black male who goes into trial does not enter the court room as himself, the individual–he enters with all the biases, stereotypes, and judgements that precede him. Prosecutors need only use a handful of words, insinuations, and allusions to win their case. Fear, ignorance, and conditioning of the American people do the rest of the job. Language, which is taught and learned, is the foundation of our understanding of the world, and while we as a group (Group E) have not yet sought out any of the transcripts we would potentially use, we are confident we will find stark contrasts in the lingual treatment of minorities and white defendant. Access is a most important factor of education, and we feel that compiling these transcripts so that they are easily accessible can only serve as a positive addition to any viewer’s self-education.
Group D: Final Project , Shatavia, Jeleah, Kye, Angel
What: For our group project we are going to create a scrapbook. A scrapbook is a book of blank pages for sticking clippings, drawings, or pictures in. The scrapbook is going to be designed exactly how we think Jefferson, Grant, or a character from the book would create it. We will be filling up the scrapbook with Jefferson’s important memories, moments, recipes, and his time in jail. In order to do this, we will be looking for symbols in magazines, things from the internet, clippings in newspapers and physical objects. Being in jail and confined to one place causes a person to use their imagination. Similar to Jefferson and Grant they are both trapped in situations that cause them to do a lot of imagining and thinking. Something our group will be doing in order to create the perfect scrapbook that represents “A Lesson Before Dying”.
Why: In the book “A Lesson before Dying” a lot of the book has to do with symbols and teaching. Jefferson is being taught a lesson by being sentenced to death. Grants job as a teacher is to teach and he is also asked to teach Jefferson how to become a man. Since teaching plays a huge role in this book, the scrap book will be created to teach others about our insights, thoughts, and main ideas about the book. We all thought it would be a good gesture to create a visual. This way our imagination and how we views things from the book can be brought to life.