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A Monster Calls Literary Analysis

Everyone encounters some kind of loss at some point in their lives. Patrick Ness´s novel, A Monster Calls, depicts how Conor, a 13-year-old boy, deals with the departure of his family and friends. Because of his mumś illness, Conor isolates himself and loses his identity in school and home.  In this novel, the protagonist, Conor O’Malley, experiences loss in many ways.

At the beginning of the book, the theme of loss is expressed through Conor losing his best friend, Lily.  Even though they are not friends anymore, Lily still endeavors to protect Conor from Harry and his other bullies. Reflecting on their relationship, Conor felt enraged that she told his secret about his mumś illness. After she stands up to his bullies to help him, she continues to try to talk to Conor. ¨We used to be friends,’ Lily called after him. ‘Used to be,’ Conor said without turning around” (26).  This shows that Conor is unable to forgive her and he doesn’t want to repair their relationship. He felt betrayed because friends are supposed to keep secrets and if he forgives her for this, he would be admitting his truth and accepting the reality that his mum is dying. The loss of his best friend significantly impacted his experiences at school.

Additionally, the theme of loss is shown through the relationship with the yew tree monster. At the beginning of the story, Conor was in denial about his mum’s illness and called the yew tree monster to help him to heal. The monster taught Conor life lessons through stories. He taught Conor to admit his truth and accept his destiny. By the end of the story, Conor becomes close friends with the monster. He has helped Conor to confront his fears and admit that he wanted the waiting over. It was too painful to watch his mum suffer, but admitting this would turn his nightmare into a reality that he did not want. This would mean that he would have to deal with another loss. He knows he cannot do this alone and asks the monster to be there with him to see his mum for the final time in the hospital. “‘Yes,’ the monster said. It will be the final steps of my walking’” (193). This illustrates that the monster will be with him; however, it also shows that Conor will also be losing the monster. Conor has learned to accept his loss, which why he loses the monster.  Conor has developed a close relationship with the monster. Conor wonders how he will cope without the monster. The monster is like a friend to Conor, which is why he is upset at the monster for leaving him.

At the end of the book, the theme of loss is expressed through Conor letting go of his mum. Conor has a very close relationship with her. She is suffering from cancer and Conor is not ready to lose her.  In her final moments, the mum says, “‘I wish I had a hundred years’, she said very quietly. ‘A hundred years I could give to you” (168). This demonstrates that Conor’s mum will leave him, and there is nothing he can do about it.  He loves his mum very much and he does not want to let go of her. Conor eventually accepts his destiny and realizes that all stories don’t have happy endings.  However, Conor had hoped that the yew tree could cure his mum’s health condition, but that does not happen. The yew tree monster assists Conor instead. Conor has difficulty dealing with the loss of his mum.

A loss is a part of life that is not easy to acknowledge. Thirteen- year- old,  Conor O'Malley, was forced to accept the fact that loss is a part of life and he needed to face his truth. Conor had to face his emotions and figure out how to move on after losing his mum, the yew tree monster, and his best friend, Lily.  By the end of the book, Conor is capable of accepting his loss. Conor now knows that destiny is destiny, and it cannot be changed.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness was a portion of my English course in the second marking period of my seventh grade year. I wrote this essay for my teacher. I scored an exemplary grade on this particular assignment. 

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A Monster Calls

67 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-12

Chapters 13-18

Chapters 19-26

Chapters 27-32

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Why has Conor told no one else about his nightmare at the beginning of the story? How does Ness challenge Conor’s decision to keep this secret?

Conor has the chance to tell Miss Kwan about Harry bullying him several times. Why does he lie and say that everything is fine?

Consider the different items left behind after the monster visits Conor. What do the leaves, the berries, and the sapling represent after each visit?

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A Monster Calls Essay

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A Monster Calls

Patrick ness, everything you need for every book you read..

Death, Denial, and Acceptance

In A Monster Calls , thirteen-year-old Conor lives in an English town with his mother , who is implied to be battling cancer. Over the course of the book, Conor’s mother grows more and more ill as multiple treatments fail her, and it’s implied that she passes away just after the novel’s conclusion. At the beginning of the book, Conor has a difficult time coming to terms with the very real possibility that his mother…

Storytelling

The titular monster in A Monster Calls comes to Conor with a clear purpose: to tell him three stories, after which Conor will tell the monster one story of his own. Each of the stories that the monster relays bears similarities with Conor’s life, and because of this he starts to expect that there is a clear-cut moral lesson to be learned at the end of each one. But the stories that appear within the…

One of Conor ’s primary struggles in the story is his isolation as a result of his mother ’s cancer diagnosis. When Conor’s mother is diagnosed, she tells the mother of a friend of his, Lily , and Lily subsequently tells a few friends of hers. This quickly results in the entire school knowing that Conor’s mother is battling cancer, and immediately they begin to treat Conor differently. Conor’s friends and classmates begin to leave…

Family and Growing Up

Yet another difficult aspect of Conor ’s story can be found in the way that he is forced to grow up far sooner than he would have if his mother had not gotten sick. Conor’s parents are divorced, and his father lives in America with his new family. Thus, because it’s only Conor and his mother in their household, thirteen-year-old Conor is forced to take on a lot of responsibility when his mother is diagnosed…

Donald Trump Blasted for Sharing Video of Biden Tied Up: 'Monster'

F ormer President Donald Trump was called "the monster" amid fierce backlash after sharing a video online that features an image of President Joe Biden tied up as an apparent kidnapping victim.

Trump shared the 20-second video to his Truth Social account on Friday, one day after he attended the wake of recently slain New York City Police Department ( NYPD ) officer Jonathan Diller, a death that Republicans have been highlighting amid "law and order" messaging prior to November's expected rematch between Trump and Biden.

The video, backed by somber music and captioned "3/28/24 | LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK," may have been made as Trump's motorcade made its way to Diller's wake. About seven seconds into the video, a truck featuring the Biden decal appears in the frame.

The decal shows a doctored image of the current president, laying on a floor and tied up with a gag in his mouth—as though he has been kidnapped and is being hauled off by the truck, which is flying several other pro-Trump and anti-Biden messages and flags.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung sent the following statement to Newsweek via email on Friday: "That picture was on the back of a pick up truck that was traveling down the highway. Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him."

The statement went on to include a long list of alleged threats from Democrats, all from 2018 or earlier. Only one was a quote from Biden, who said the following of Trump in March 2018: "If we were in high school, I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him."

Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House and the U.S. Secret Service via email on Friday night.

Biden's appearance in the video does not appear to be merely incidental, as the camera zooms in on the decal image toward the end of the clip. The image quickly sparked outrage from many on X, formerly Twitter .

"This is what the monster just posted," Harvard Law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe wrote in response to the image. "A realistic picture of President Biden tied up helpless in the back of a van with Trump's gloating mug in front of the scene. He's threatening the president's life. That's a felony. If anyone else did it, the feds would arrest him. What now?"

"I know from experience how the Secret Service interacts with people who make threats against POTUS, even ones they can't carry out," wrote former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance. "This, from a former President, is totally out of bounds. It's time to stop letting Trump break the rules. Long past time."

"All Trump has left as a strategy is violence," wrote former Obama administration official and current CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.

"Is anyone still surprised when you see Donald Trump go as low as he possibly can???" Richard Ojeda , retired U.S. Army major and former state senator in West Virginia, wrote . "Selling bibles, posting pics of Biden being tied up. Constant lies. At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if Trump starts using racial slurs as a norm. After all ... He is the worst human ever!"

"Dude, Trump just posted a video of a Trump vehicle parade where one of the vehicles had a giant picture on the tailgate of Joe Biden tied up on the ground," wrote Cryptic Politics, an account associated with the former GOP presidential campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis . "What has gotten into people? This is crazy stuff."

"Imagine if Joe Biden tweeted out a video of someone driving down the road with an image of Trump tied up in the back of a pickup truck," social media personality Brian Krassenstein posted . "You already saw how MAGA reacted to Kathy Griffin, who I agree was wrong in what she did."

"Can we all agree that a Presidential candidate sharing this video is over-the-top and pathetic?" he added. "Is this the man you want as your leader?"

Former U.S. Representative George Santos , who was ejected from Congress late last year after repeatedly lying about his background during his successful 2022 campaign in Long Island, responded to Krassenstein by sharing an image of comedian Griffin's infamous staged photo of herself holding Trump's decapitated head.

"Y'all own this @krassenstein [pointing emoji]," Santos wrote. "She's one of yours ... where was your outrage? Or was this 'art'? We on Long Island are very 'artsy' too! I know the truck and the owner and guess what, now I want to autograph it to trigger your team a bit more!"

Trump regularly shares videos and images disparaging Biden on social media, including "F*** Joe Biden" and associated "Let's Go Brandon" memes, although he has not issued any direct violent threats to the president.

Prior to the 2020 election, Trump shared a post on Twitter that featured a supporter's evidence-free accusation of Biden of being a pedophile and the hashtag "#PedoBiden."

More recently, the Trump and Biden 2024 campaigns have been ramping up social media attacks on each other, with the former president's ongoing legal difficulties making an appearance in one notable exchange earlier this week.

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