Monster by Walter Dean Myers - StudySync Everyone Loves A Mystery

2. Ways to Use Dialogue and Rules for Quotes • Commas and periods go inside the quote. “Calm down, honey. Nothing’s going to go wrong,” my father says. • Use commas to separate dialogue and speaker “Mommy is angry,” Natalie says. • Capitalize the first letter of spoken dialogue. “Dad, we gotta talk.” • Indent new lines • At the beginning or end of a sentence. “How old is she?” the girl whispers. Piper nods. “Yes, sir,” she says. • In the middle of a sentence. The girl shouted, “Oh my!” and ran away. • In a broken quote. “Natalie,” Theresa commands, “it’s okay. I’m here now.” • For every new speaker begin a new line. “Even me?” Theresa’s voice is quavering. “Theresa didn’t do anything, sir.” Jimmy mumbles.

3. Creating Dialogue Directions: Create possible dialogue for each image. Remember to adhere to rules for using quotes and punctuation with dialogue.

5. Dialogue Activity Link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iNGl-nMBCMMjBl0GC5Yxbxq69tfTV6rXDmAaz9N0p1g/edit

6. Features of a Screenplay

7. What is a screenplay? A screenplay is a script, similar to what you would see in a play or drama. Unlike a drama, which is meant for the stage, screenplays are written for television, film, or a video game.

8. Monster Text Features This excerpt from Monster begins with a journal entry. What point of view is it written from? First person perspective from Steve'sviewpoint. Who is telling the story?A black teenager named Steve. The excerpt then continues in a screenplay format

9. Monster Text Features Scene Heading Tells the reader the setting Directions Tell you what the camera will do/show. Help add to the setting Character Name Tells the reader who is performing the action or speaking Transitions Help the writer move from one scene/shot to another Directions Similar to stage directions. Tell the reader the action or tone of the character

10. Voice-Over (VO) This is a character speaking, but you can’t see them Monster Text Features Directions Give you information on what the viewer will see on the screen

11. Monster Text Features Dialogue The words the character is speaking Directions Tell you the tone of the character as they say the dialogue

12. Monster StudySync Everyone Loves A Mystery

13. Introduction Monster is one of the most unique and unforgettable works by American author Walter Dean Myers (1937-2014). Myer’s prolific body of work features more than one hundred books for young readers, including both young adult literature and nonfiction. Monster is about a teenager named Steve Harmon, age 16, who decides to write a movie script about his current predicament. He’s in jail and on trial, accused of acting as lookout in a drugstore robbery in which a man was shot and killed. This excerpt introduces Steve’s screenplay as a way of introducing Steve to the reader. This lesson addresses the criminal justice system and the treatment of those in the prison system.

14. The Screenplay… 1.They say you get used to being in jail, but I don’t see how. Every morning I wake up and I am surprised to be here. If your life outside was real, then everything in here is just the opposite. We sleep with strangers, wake up with strangers, and go to the bathroom in front of strangers. They’re strangers but they still find reasons to hurt each other. 2. Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. It is a strange movie with no plot and no beginning. The movie is in black and white, and grainy. Sometimes the camera moves in so close that you can’t tell what is going on and you just listen to the sounds and guess. I have seen movies of prisons but never one like this. This is not a movie about bars and locked doors. It is about being alone when you are not really alone and about being scared all the time. 3. I think to get used to this I will have to give up what I think is real and take up something else. I wish I could make sense of it. 4. Maybe I could make my own movie. I could write it out and play it in my head. I could block out the scenes like we did in school. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll write it down in the notebook they let me keep. I’ll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me.

15. MONSTER Monday, July 6th Monster! 5. FADE IN: interior: Early morning in CELL BLOCK D, MANHATTAN DETENTION CENTER. Camera goes slowly down grim, gray corridor. There are sounds of inmates yelling from cell to cell; much of it is obscene. Most of the voices are clearly Black or Hispanic. Camera stops and slowly turns toward a cell. 6. INTERIOR: CELL. Sixteen-year-old STEVE HARMON is sitting on the edge of a metal cot, head in hands. He is thin, brown skinned. On the cot next to him are the suit and tie he is to wear to court for the start of his trial. 7. CUT TO: ERNIE, another prisoner, sitting on a john, pants down. 8. CUT TO: SUNSET, another prisoner, pulling on T-shirt. 9. CUT TO: STEVE pulling blanket over his head as a screen goes dark.

16. VOICE-OVER (VO) 10. Ain’t no use putting the blanket over your head, man. You can’t cut this out; this is reality. This is the real deal. 11. VO continues with anonymous PRISONER explaining how the Detention Center is the real thing. As he does, words appear on the screen, just like the opening credits of the movie Star Wars. Rolling from the bottom of the screen and shrinking until they are a blur on the top of the screen before rolling of into space. 12. Monster! The Story of My Miserable Life 13. Starring Steve Harmon 14. Produced by Steven Harmon 15. Directed by Steve Harmon

17. 16.(Credits continue to roll.) The incredible story of how one guy’s life Was turned around by a few events And how he might spend the rest of his life Behind bars. Told as it actually Happened! 17. Written and directed by Steve Harmon Featuring… 18. Sandra Petrocelli As the Dedicated Prosectutor 19. Kathy O’Brien As the Defense Attorney with Doubts

18. 20. James King As the Thug 21. Richard “Bobo” Evans As the Rat 22. Osvaldo Cruz, member of the Diablos, as the Tough Guy Wannabe 23. Lorelle Henry As the Witness Jose Delgado… He found the body 24. And Starring 16-year-old Steve Harmon As the Boy on Trial for Murder! 25. Filmed at the Manhattan Detention Center 26. Set design, handcuffs, and prison outfits by The State of New York

19. 27.Yo, Harmon, you gonna eat something? Come on and get your breakfast, man. I’ll take your eggs if you don’t want them. You want them? STEVE (subdued) 28. I’m not hungry. SUNSET 29. His trial starts today. He up for the big one. I know how that feels. 30. CUT TO: INTERIOR: CORRECTIONS DEPT. VAN. Through the bars at the rear of the van, we see people going about the business of their lives in downtown New York. There are men collecting garbage, a female traffic officer motioning for a taxi to make a turn, students on the way to school. Few people notice the van as it makes its way from the DETENTION CENTER to the COURTHOUSE. 31. CUT TO: PRISONERS, handcuffed, coming from back of van. STEVE is carrying a notebook. He is dressed in the suit and tie we saw on the cot. He is seen only briefly as he is herded through the heavy doors of the courthouse. 32. FADE OUT as last prisoner from the van enters rear of courthouse. 33. FADE IN: INTERIOR COURTHOUSE. WE are in a small room used for prisoner-lawyer interviews. A guard sits at a desk behind STEVE. 34. KATHY O’BRIEN, STEVE’s lawyer, is petite, red-haired, and freckled. She is all business as she talks to STEVE.

20. O’BRIEN 35. Let me make sure you understand what’s going on. Both you and this King character are on trial for felony murder. Felony murder is as serious as it gets. Sandra Petrocelli is the prosecutor, and she’s good. They’re pushing for the death penalty, which is really bad. The jury might think they’re doing you a big favor by giving you life in prison. So you’d better take this trial very, very seriously. 36. When you’re in court, you sit there and you pay attention. You let the jury know that you think the case is as serious as they do. You don’t turn and wave to any of your friends. It’s all right to acknowledge your mother. 37. I have to go and talk to the judge. The trial will begin in a few minutes. Is there anything you want to ask me before it starts? STEVE 38. You think we’re going to win? O’BRIEN (seriously) 39. It probably depends on what you mean by “win.”

21. 40. CUT TO: INTERIOR: HOLDING ROOM. We see STEVE sitting at one end of bench. Against the opposite wall, dressed in a sloppy-looking suit, is 23-year-old JAMES KING, the other man on trial. King looks older than 23. He looks over at Steve with a hard look and we see STEVE look away. Two GUARDS sit at a table away from the prisoners who are handcuffed. The camera finds the GUARDS in a MEDIUM SHOT (MS). They have their breakfast in aluminum take-out trays that contain eggs, sausages, and potatoes. A Black female STENOGRAPHER pours coffee for herself and the GUARDS. 41. I hope this case lasts two weeks. I can sure use the money. 42. Six days - maybe seven. It’s a motion case. They go through the motions; then they lock them up. 43. (Turns and looks off camera toward STEVE.) 44. Ain’t that right, bright eyes?

22. 45. CUT TO: STEVE, who is seated on a low bench. He is handcuffed to a U-bolt put in the bench for that purpose. STEVE looks away from the GUARD. 46. CUT TO: DOOR. It opens, and COURT CLERK looks in. COURT CLERK 47. Two minutes! 48. CUT TO: GUARDS, who hurriedly finish breakfast. STENOGRAPHER takes machine into COURTROOM. They unshackle STEVE and take him toward door. 49. CUT TO: STEVE is made to sit down at one table. At another table we see KING and two attorneys. STEVE sits alone. A guard stands behind him. There are one or two spectators in the court. THen four more enter. 50. CLOSE-UP (CU) OF STEVE HARMON. The fear is evident on his face. 51. MS: People are getting ready for the trial to begin. KATHY O’BRIEN sits next to STEVE.

23. O’BRIEN 52. How are you doing? STEVE 53. I’m scared. O’BRIEN 54. Good; you should be. Anyway, just remember what we’ve been talking about. The judge is going to rule on a motion that King’s lawyer made to suppress Cruz’s testimony, and a few other things. Steve, let me tell you what my job is here. My job is to make sure the law works for you as well as against you, and to make you a human being in the eyes of the jury. Your job is to help me. Any questions you have, write them down and I’ll try to answer them. What are you doing there? STEVE 55. I’m writing this whole thing down as a movie. O’BRIEN 56. Whatever. Make sure you pay attention. Close attention. The End

24. Think Questions • How does Steve Harmon introduce himself in the opening credits of the screenplay? • What advice does Kathy O’Brien. Steve’s lawyer, have for Steve? • What do the stenographer and the guard say about Steve’s case? • Find the word anonymous in paragraph 11 of Monster. Use context clues in the surrounding sentences, as well as the sentence in which the word appears, to determine the word’s meaning. Write your definition here and identify clues that helping you figure out its meaning. • Use context clues to determine the meaning of subdued as it is used to describe Steve’s dialogue for paragraph 28. Write your definition of sudoed here and identity clues that helped you figured out its meaning. Then check the meaning in a dictionary.

25. Checklist For Character In order to determine how dialogue or incidents in a story propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision, not the following: • the characters in the story, including the protagonist and antagonist • key dialogue and how it reveals character traits and moves the action, or the events of the plot forward • characters’ responses and reactions to other characters or events, and what this reveals about them • when an event or another character’s actions or dialogue provokes a character to make a decision • the resolution and how it affects the characters To analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision, consider the following questions: • How does the dialogue propel, or move forward, the action in the story? • How does the dialogue reveal different aspects or traits of each character? • Did an event or a character provoke another character to make a decision? What was it, and how did it affect the events of the plot? • How does the resolution affect the characters?

26. Skill: Character Reread paragraphs 52-56 from Monster. Then, using the Checklist on the previous page, answer the multiple-choice questions below. Part A: Which of the following is one character trait that O’Brien shows in the passage? • honesty • fearfulness • optimism • pessimism Part B: Which of the following lines of dialogue BEST reveals the character trait selected in Part A? • “How are you doing?” • “Anyway, just remember what we’ve been talking about.” • “My job is to make sure the law works for you as well as against you, and to make you a human being in the eyes of the jury.” • “Any questions you have, write them down and I’ll try to answer them.” 2. Which line shows that O’Brien is not overly concerned with Steve’s feelings? • “Steve, let me tell you what my job is here.” • “Your job is to help me.” • “What are you doing there?” • “Whatever.”

27. Skills Focus • What do Steve’s responses to other characters or events in the story reveal about him? • Minor characters in a story may support the protagonist or antagonist. How doe the dialogue reveal character traits of some of the minor characters in Monster? Do they support Steve? • Identify ways in which suspense is created through events, characters, and dialogue. How does the use of suspense help to attract the reader to the novel’s mysteriousness?

28. Narrative Choose a section from the screenplay in Monster, and rewrite it as a story rather than a screenplay. Include lines of dialogue, but also add descriptions about the characters’ feelings and responses to one another.