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Monster isn't about the kind of monsters that hide under your bed. These ones are way worse.
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Monster isn't about the kind of monsters that hide under your bed. These ones are way worse.
Transcript
- 00:04
Monster, a la Shmoop. There’s something in your closet… and
- 00:14
it ain’t just your laundry hamper.
- 00:21
When you first showed up on this planet . . . . . . there were only two people who really
- 00:25
mattered to you. But that didn’t last long.
- 00:28
By the time you left elementary school . . . . . . you cared a lot less what your ma and
Full Transcript
- 00:32
pa thought. . . . . . and a whole lot more about what these
- 00:34
guys thought. Which isn’t such a bad thing, as long as
- 00:37
your friends stay out of trouble . . . . . . but what about when they don’t?
- 00:42
In Monster, Steven is a teenager on trial for murder.
- 00:45
From the opening of the novel, we’re not sure if Steven is guilty of a crime . . .
- 00:48
. . . or just a guy with bad luck who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- 00:52
One thing we do know . . . . . . is that Steven could have used some
- 00:55
better friends. So why didn’t Steven just walk away when
- 00:59
James tried to recruit him as part of his “crew”?
- 01:01
Is peer pressure that powerful? Well, most of us don’t like being on the
- 01:08
outside. We want to be “cool.” We want to be accepted.
- 01:13
Even when we hear that little voice . . . . . . telling us maybe these aren’t the
- 01:16
kind of folks we should be hanging around with.
- 01:19
But you’ve got to admit, some people are hard to say no to . . .
- 01:23
. . . and fear makes us do a lot of things we know we shouldn’t do.
- 01:29
Steven might have gotten involved with James because he was afraid of what might happen
- 01:32
if he didn’t. Then again, maybe fear had nothing to do with
- 01:36
it. Maybe Steven was so unsure about his future
- 01:38
. . . . . . and tempted by James’ promise of easy
- 01:40
money . . . . . . that he let the loudest voice in the
- 01:43
room tell him what to do. That’s the thing about peer pressure . . .
- 01:47
. . . the people doing the talking make what they’re selling sound pretty sweet . . .
- 01:51
. . . and it takes a whole lot of strength to resist.
- 01:56
Some people are good at standing up for themselves . . .
- 01:58
. . . and some people aren’t. So, why do we have so much trouble resisting
- 02:03
peer pressure? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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