Monster by Walter Dean Myers

875 Words4 Pages
Everyday we make decisions about almost everything; whether what we eat or what we do. Often our neighborhood influences our friends. In return, our friends help influence our daily choices. As well we are responsible for making decisions and sometimes we pay for our decisions. In the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers, Steve Harmon made a bad choice. His neighborhood, his friends, and even himself contributed to make the worst choice of his life. Steve is a average kid who is influenced by bad elements around him. Steve is an thin, brown skinned, 16 year old boy(7). Considering Steve is a 16 year old; any boy around his age can be easily influenced by people around him, such as gangs. Steve associates with gang members of his community. Gangs can easily influence teenagers like Steve, as many teenagers are pressured to enter gangs. Steve is a boy on trial(10). It is presumed that in the story, Steve was being pressured by older gang members to be part of a stick-up which resulted in a clerk’s murder whose name was Mr. Nesbitt(23). As a common teenager who is around bad influences, Steve was pressured to be involved in a stick-up as any other kid would too. Steve doesn’t like to look weak so instead he acts tough(81). Steve like so many teenagers do not like to look weak as everybody around him acts tough. Looking weak in front of surrounding gang members can be humiliating for Steve, so he acts tough. Basically, Steve a normal kid who is influenced by bad stuff that surround him, contributed to making him bad. Being influenced by bad or good concepts can make a person good or bad. Like any other kid, who upon notices that they made a mistake due to their reactions to sudden, rash questions which can make any teenager land in big trouble due to bad influences around them can later start regretting, wishing they never agreed to the deal because they were afraid

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