Monster

by

Walter Dean Myers

Kathy O’Brien Character Analysis

Kathy O’Brien is Steve’s defense attorney. O’Brien is fairly humorless, but Steve feels as if she is the only person involved in the trial who actually wants to understand who Steve is as a person. Although O’Brien feels that their chances of winning the case are slim, she makes a genuine effort to defend Steve and display his good character, telling him that their main goal is to make Steve seem different from the other three obvious criminals involved in Mr. Nesbitt’s murder. O’Brien tells Steve that purely because he is a young black male, half the jury will already assume he is guilty from the moment they see him. Although O’Brien wants to defend Steve and understand who he is as a person, Steve senses that O’Brien does not truly believe he is innocent. Before Steve gives his own testimony, she coaches him on how to distance himself from King as much as possible and falsely deny that he was in the drugstore on the day Mr. Nesbitt was killed. O’Brien’s doubt about Steve’s actual innocence is confirmed when, after they win the case and Steve is found not guilty, she stiffly refuses his attempt to hug her in gratitude and happiness, suggesting that even though she defended his innocence and genuinely did her best to understand him, she does not regard him well.

Kathy O’Brien Quotes in Monster

The Monster quotes below are all either spoken by Kathy O’Brien or refer to Kathy O’Brien. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Dehumanization and Racism Theme Icon
).
Monday, July 6th Quotes

[Steve] is writing the word Monster over and over again. A white hand (O’BRIEN’s) takes the pencil from his hand and crosses out all the Monsters.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon, Kathy O’Brien, Sandra Petrocelli
Related Symbols: Monster
Page Number: 24
Explanation and Analysis:
Wednesday, July 8 Quotes

Miss O’Brien says that Petrocelli is using Bolden’s testimony as part of a trail that will lead to me and James King. I think she is wrong. I think they are bringing out all of these people and letting them look terrible on the stand and sound terrible and then reminding the the jury that they don’t look any different from me and King.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), James King, Kathy O’Brien, Sandra Petrocelli, Wendell Bolden
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:

STEVE: I thought you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty?

O’BRIEN: That’s true, but in reality it depends on how the jury sees the case. If they see it as a contest between the defense and the prosecution as to who’s lying, they’ll vote for the prosecution. The prosecutor walks around looking very important. No one is accusing her of being a bad person. They’re accusing you of being a monster.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), Kathy O’Brien (speaker), Sandra Petrocelli
Related Symbols: Monster
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Thursday, July 9th Quotes

Miss O’Brien looked at me—I didn’t see her looking at me but I knew she was. She wanted to know who I was. Who was Steve Harmon? I wanted to open my shirt and tell her to look into my heart and see who I really was, who the real Steve Harmon was.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), Kathy O’Brien, Alguinaldo Nesbitt
Related Symbols: Monster
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:
Friday, July 10th Quotes

I remembered Miss O’Brien saying that it was her job to make me different in the eyes of the jury, different from Bobo and Osvaldo and King. It was me, I thought as I tried not to throw up, that had wanted to be tough like them.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), James King, Richard “Bobo” Evans, Osvaldo Cruz, Kathy O’Brien
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Tuesday, July 14th Quotes

[O’Brien] said that Bobo’s testimony hurt us a lot and that she had to find a way to separate me from King, but King’s lawyer wanted to make sure the jury connected us because I looked like a pretty decent guy.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), James King, Richard “Bobo” Evans, Kathy O’Brien, Asa Briggs
Page Number: 201
Explanation and Analysis:

If you don’t testify, you’ll just make the tie between you and King stronger in the mind of the jury. I think you have to testify. And the way you spend the rest of your youth might well depend on how much the jury believes you.

Related Characters: Kathy O’Brien (speaker), Steve Harmon, James King, Asa Briggs
Page Number: 216
Explanation and Analysis:

O’BRIEN: One last question. Were you in any way involved with the crime that we are discussing here? To make it clear—were you, in any way, involved with the holdup and murder that occurred on the 22nd of December?

STEVE: No, I was not.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), Kathy O’Brien (speaker)
Page Number: 224
Explanation and Analysis:
Friday afternoon, July 17th Quotes

[O’BRIEN’s] lips tense; she is pensive. She gathers her papers and moves away as STEVE, arms still outstretched, turns toward the camera. His image is in black and white, and the grain is nearly broken. It looks like one of the pictures they use for psychological testing, or some strange beast, a monster.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon, Kathy O’Brien
Related Symbols: Monster
Page Number: 276
Explanation and Analysis:
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Kathy O’Brien Quotes in Monster

The Monster quotes below are all either spoken by Kathy O’Brien or refer to Kathy O’Brien. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Dehumanization and Racism Theme Icon
).
Monday, July 6th Quotes

[Steve] is writing the word Monster over and over again. A white hand (O’BRIEN’s) takes the pencil from his hand and crosses out all the Monsters.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon, Kathy O’Brien, Sandra Petrocelli
Related Symbols: Monster
Page Number: 24
Explanation and Analysis:
Wednesday, July 8 Quotes

Miss O’Brien says that Petrocelli is using Bolden’s testimony as part of a trail that will lead to me and James King. I think she is wrong. I think they are bringing out all of these people and letting them look terrible on the stand and sound terrible and then reminding the the jury that they don’t look any different from me and King.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), James King, Kathy O’Brien, Sandra Petrocelli, Wendell Bolden
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:

STEVE: I thought you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty?

O’BRIEN: That’s true, but in reality it depends on how the jury sees the case. If they see it as a contest between the defense and the prosecution as to who’s lying, they’ll vote for the prosecution. The prosecutor walks around looking very important. No one is accusing her of being a bad person. They’re accusing you of being a monster.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), Kathy O’Brien (speaker), Sandra Petrocelli
Related Symbols: Monster
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Thursday, July 9th Quotes

Miss O’Brien looked at me—I didn’t see her looking at me but I knew she was. She wanted to know who I was. Who was Steve Harmon? I wanted to open my shirt and tell her to look into my heart and see who I really was, who the real Steve Harmon was.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), Kathy O’Brien, Alguinaldo Nesbitt
Related Symbols: Monster
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:
Friday, July 10th Quotes

I remembered Miss O’Brien saying that it was her job to make me different in the eyes of the jury, different from Bobo and Osvaldo and King. It was me, I thought as I tried not to throw up, that had wanted to be tough like them.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), James King, Richard “Bobo” Evans, Osvaldo Cruz, Kathy O’Brien
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Tuesday, July 14th Quotes

[O’Brien] said that Bobo’s testimony hurt us a lot and that she had to find a way to separate me from King, but King’s lawyer wanted to make sure the jury connected us because I looked like a pretty decent guy.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), James King, Richard “Bobo” Evans, Kathy O’Brien, Asa Briggs
Page Number: 201
Explanation and Analysis:

If you don’t testify, you’ll just make the tie between you and King stronger in the mind of the jury. I think you have to testify. And the way you spend the rest of your youth might well depend on how much the jury believes you.

Related Characters: Kathy O’Brien (speaker), Steve Harmon, James King, Asa Briggs
Page Number: 216
Explanation and Analysis:

O’BRIEN: One last question. Were you in any way involved with the crime that we are discussing here? To make it clear—were you, in any way, involved with the holdup and murder that occurred on the 22nd of December?

STEVE: No, I was not.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon (speaker), Kathy O’Brien (speaker)
Page Number: 224
Explanation and Analysis:
Friday afternoon, July 17th Quotes

[O’BRIEN’s] lips tense; she is pensive. She gathers her papers and moves away as STEVE, arms still outstretched, turns toward the camera. His image is in black and white, and the grain is nearly broken. It looks like one of the pictures they use for psychological testing, or some strange beast, a monster.

Related Characters: Steve Harmon, Kathy O’Brien
Related Symbols: Monster
Page Number: 276
Explanation and Analysis: