A Monster Calls Critical Response Essay

People change every day, statistics show that a person changes entirely after seven years.

Decisions, accidents, people, tragedy and wholeness are accountable for this shift in personality.

Without these events, our lives would be bland, predictable and straightforward. The

consequences can be minor, or unequivocally catastrophic but regardless of the magnitude of the

incident, they change how a person acts. Whether consciously or subconsciously one’s actions

and thoughts are persuaded by the course of one’s life. A Monster Calls portrays the perspective

of a 13, year-old boy named Conor as he copes with his mother’s worsening cancer. Conor faces

both societal and internal conflicts that help to reveal his actions and fears. A dream causes him

confusion that leads to the visits of a story-telling monster, who helps him deal with his feelings

of denial, isolation, and confusion. His mother is one of the few people he has in his life because

he has little in common with his grandmother, and his father is an ocean away. Patrick Ness’

novel A Monster Calls uses Conor’s caring helpful mature hand, his denial filled dream, and his

destructive anger to propose that tragedy persuades the actions of individuals.

Responsibility and maturity are qualities shown by Conor towards the beginning of the

story, as his mother is drained by her ongoing cancer treatments. The characteristics shown are

noticeably uncommon for a boy his age. While Conor is blind to the problems that are caused by

his constant caretaking of his mother his grandmother observes the absurdity of it. She expresses

this concern while explaining her visit, “I’m here because thirteen-year-old boys shouldn’t be

wiping down counters without being asked first” (Conor’s Grandmother 41). Love for Conor’s

mother is one of the few things that Conor and his grandmother share. Her tragic illness sparks

the actions of both Conor and his grandmother. Both seek to do what they think is best for

Conor’s mother, but they share different perspectives on how this can be achieved. Conor’s
actions present his love for his mom in the outcome of such devastating circumstances. He took

responsibility for his mother’s jobs when she was too weak to do so. Although he meant for these

actions to be helpful during her time of need she felt guilty for not being able to do it herself.

“You shouldn’t have to make your own breakfast every morning” (Conor’s Mother 16) she told

Conor this after explaining why she had invited her grandmother to visit. Conor’s mother’s

cancer sparked Conor’s actions but it also resulted in her guilt. The compassion Conor showed to

his mother had been a result of the circumstances they were going through. Conor knew that

there was no one else there to help him or his mother so he decided to step up. Although his

actions showed responsibility and maturity, he was still a boy inside. He had dreams, filled with

dread, fear and denial.

A dream that’s capable of denial, vulnerability, fear, and unspoken truth all at once paints

a picture of the subconscious consequences of trauma. Shortly after Conor found out his mother

was sick, a dream started to occurring that terrified him more than anything else. The dream

revealed Conor’s mother hanging off a cliff and being pulled downward by the powerful force of

death, while Conor tried to hang onto his mother for her life. The monster told Conor to tell him

this story, and the truth that lies beneath it. “This is just a nightmare... this is not the truth,”

(Conor 185). Conor was incapable of seeing any truth behind his dream because he didn’t even

realize how much trauma he had undergone and couldn’t relate to his actions in the dream.

Horror provoked Conor when even a mere thought of the dream flickered through his mind. He

wanted so badly for the dream to be just that, and have no meaning, but it did. His dream showed

him how in denial he was about his thoughts and feelings. His actions resulted from the fact that

he could not comprehend the truth that was hidden in his subconscious thoughts. The idea of

losing his mother was a reality Conor refused to face. When Conor clung to his mother for her
life, he grew weak and could not hold her any longer. While he so desperately wanted to save

her, a part of him wanted all the pain that her cancer had caused both him and her to be relieved.

“I can’t stand knowing that she’ll go! I just want it to be over! I want it to be finished!” (Conor

188). Conor shouted this at the Monster after he was accused of letting go of his mother. He

couldn’t fathom a life without his mother, and he wanted all the pain to reside. He fought for his

mother but let her go because he just wanted the suffering to end. The actions of his denial and

letting go of his mother were results of his mother’s worsening cancer. A part of him knew that

she would not get better, and he would have to let her go but his mind contradicted him into

believing that everything would be fine. This denial, frustration, and fear of the dream were what

led to drastic outbreaks.

Ness uses the wrath, and fury caused by other’s actions towards Conor to show the

changes in his character when faced with immense misfortune. Conor was conflicted by many

emotions throughout A Monster Calls, but the most common of them was anger. The monster

encouraged his outbreaks and destructive rampages. When the monster told Conor the second

story he showed him the satisfaction of destruction, which led to Conor telling the monster what

to destroy. “TEAR THE WHOLE THING DOWN!” (Conor 111) He told the monster this as he

released his anger from before. After Conor found out his Father would not take him in, in the

event his mother died he was infuriated. He was infuriated that his father had moved away to be

with his other family, that he was left to stay with his grandmother and most of all that his

mother was not getting better. When Conor returned from his evening with his American

brainwashed father, this rage led to destruction. First, he broke his grandmother's clock, then

scratched her floors and when the monster came he encouraged his demolition with the second

story. Then the third story came, revealing Conor’s isolation that he had grown sick of feeling.
His seclusion grew until finally, he had the last straw. “You don’t see me?” (Connor 151) “No I

don’t. No one here does!” (Harry 151). After sitting back and letting, Harry pick on him Conor

finally decided to take a stand. The monster beside Conor told him a story about the invisible

man, and he threw Harry across the room. What Conor later realized, though was that these

actions were not the monsters and were his own. Conor was sick of feeling isolated and being

treated differently so he took matters into his own hands. These feelings along with all the other

frustrations he had going on in his life led to his outburst. The trauma he had undergone turned

his once sweet actions of helping his mother, into violent annihilation of everything, and

everyone in his life.

People’s actions and personalities are constantly transforming, and adapting to the

tragedies of life. Conor’s kind heart and helping hand towards his mother were guided by the

weakness brought upon his mother by her cancer. His responsible actions were a direct

repercussion to the misfortune brought upon his family. While he hid his feelings behind a smile,

his dreams sparked by dread kept him up at night. Conor’s actions during this dream were filled

with denial and desperation. As his mother slipped through his hands his mind was clouded with

despair and pain. However, his actions mutated from sweet and scared to savage as his

mother’s cancer worsened. Destruction and demolition became his friend as he fought against

the feelings of isolation he had been concealing. His feelings of seclusion led to outbreaks of

anger. Conor’s actions throughout the story showed the consequences tragedy that can have on

your actions and thoughts. One’s reactions to these events vary because the human mind is far

more complicated than people can understand. A person can feel a million emotions at once

and still be incapable of expressing any of them. Individual’s actions are persuaded by these

emotions, and calamities no matter how minor.