Student Question

How does the author depict the courtroom's tone in Monster?

Expert Answers

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In his script, Steve creates a formal tone for the courtroom, where the lawyers adopt a businesslike manner that does not always correspond to their true feelings about the case, life, and their own clients.

Before the case gets underway in the first court scene, the lawyers and the judge share their private thoughts on the Fourth of July celebrations. The judge even admits that she hates fireworks. As soon as the jury enters, however, the whole atmosphere changes, and the lawyers and the judge adopt a more strident and measured attitude.

From the beginning, the reader understands that the lawyers see at least part of their job is to get the jury on their side. So, for example, Steve makes it a point to say that the prosecutor, Petrocelli, smiles at the jury before he addresses them. He then uses language designed to restate the importance of the law of the land and its connection to things such as the US Constitution. For example, in his opening address, Petrocelli states,

We are here today basically because this is not a perfect world. The founding fathers of our country understood this. They knew that there would be times and circumstances during which our society would be threatened by the acts of individuals.

Their highbrow language and seemingly practiced persona often serve to portray the young people on trial as uneducated delinquents in comparison. For example, Briggs asks a convict named Zinzi what he means by sexual harassment in a rather condescending tone.

Sexual harassing? Were they calling you a sissy? What does "sexually harass" mean to you?

Briggs could have asked the defendant to simply clarify his own understanding of the term but chose to ask him in a more aggressive way because her goal was to turn the jury against him.

Everything the lawyers say and the way they say it has a reason behind it. The only time Steve shows his own lawyer's true character in the courtroom is when she's talking to him. For example, when Steve tells her he is making a film of the court case, she says, "Whatever. Make sure you pay attention. Close attention."

At the end of the story, we find out that Steve's lawyer does not believe his innocence.

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