Everyone in Monster is gripped by fear. Characters who are imprisoned prioritize repressing their fears because fear makes them targets for assault. Steve’s family is caught up in the fear he will be convicted. On the witness stand, Osvaldo, Zinzi, and even Miss Henry each attest to their feelings of fear. It is telling that, when King and Steve occasionally encounter one another during the trial, each asks the other how afraid they are.

Myers portrays fear as implicitly connected to the workings of the criminal justice system. He depicts the ebb and flow of fear that runs through prisoners as a sort of swelling river that wells up to a state of panic and ebbs to a murky, manageable stream. For Steve, a part of being in jail is discovering that some fears can dissipate as new, legitimate sources of fear emerge. Fear can also transform into other emotions. Some prisoners who commit violent assault have experienced their fear transform to rage. Steve’s parents’ fears eventually morph into grief. Other prisoners experience their fears change into suicidal despair—which why shoestrings and belts are removed as a means of preventing suicide.