Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member

Plot Summary

Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member is a nonfictional memoir written by Sanyika Shakur, aka Monster Kody Scott, while he was in prison. He starts his book with his initiation into the Eight Tray (named after 83rd St, their territory) Gangster Crips at eleven years old. He endures beatings and he is forced to hold his own and fight back against the gang members to prove he is tough enough to be a gang member. His first gang action is the same night as initiation and involves a sawed-off shotgun and shooting at a rival gang. He quickly becomes an important member of the "Eight-Trays." Following his initiation, Scott works his way up the totem pole of importance of gang members. One of the acts that put him higher on the level of importance was one day after beating a man so bad, the police said whoever did that was a monster and that sticks with him and becomes his gang name.

Throughout the book Scott alleges he takes part in many gang activities and the wars between gangs are nonstop. He claims to kill many people and is often shot. In particular, he gets shot six times and is put into ICU. After getting out of the hospital, he is shot once again and survives. Soon after this, he is arrested for a robbery and is sentenced to four years in Juvenile.

Due to his time in jail, Scott has a lot of time to think and reflect on his past. He meets Muhammad, a Muslim church leader. He participates in his sermons and reads all the books Muhammad gives him. He starts to have self conflict on being a part of the gang life. He is quickly released out of jail and because he was released so quickly, he went right back to being a tough gang member and he goes right back to prison.

In prison, he learns a lot about the C.C.O., better known as the Consolidated Crip Organization. They do not support Crip on Crip violence. Later Scott makes the decision and he joins the C.C.O. This is how he gets his name Sanyika Shakur. He continues to spend time in prison, reflecting even more on his life. He decides he cannot be a good father to his daughter if he is a part of any gang activity at all. He gets out of jail on a shortened sentence and leaves his homies, the Eight Trays, forever. He joins the N.A.I.M., the New African Independence Movement, and strives to be a good father and husband. At the end, he claims to be completely out of gang life and working on making a good life for himself.

Background

When asked how Sanyika Shakur got his gang nickname "Monster" he replied, "well America produced me," but he basically said that he beat a man so bad that the police said whoever could have done that was a monster, and the name stuck. He also blamed the community he used to live in as to why he joined a gang. He said, "the community as a whole is sick," and continued to blame his environment for turning himself into a criminal.

In a book review by Counter Culture, they said, "Shakur does not blame his mother or his school for becoming a young gang banger." Shakur also attributed his "understanding of life" to "Afro-centric Islam." Larry Taylor wrote,"older gangsters set the example, cultivate and train the younger boys, children." He said the reason why children get into gangs is because of older gang members and that is why Shakur got involved.

Major Themes

Critics suggested that one of the main themes of Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member is violence does not solve anything. Coleman, Jr. stated that's Monster is filled with "senseless violence," and "gang warfare." These two similar elements of the book fill the memoir and result in death, injury, and jail sentences. Metcalf mentioned a few themes of the book were, "self-improvement, aspiration, education, and empowerment of minorites." Overall the book displays violence and power obviously throughout.

Style

Kakutani, from The New York Times, wrote, "the volume attests to Mr. Shakur's journalistic eye for observation," and has, "novelistic skills as a story-teller." Metcalf mentioned, "The stylistic features of Monster in terms of its narrative structure, help the reader to understand the author's social, political, and cultural messages (regarding nonviolence and escaping the gang)." Chill wrote' " through Shakur's free flowing style," it makes it easy to read and called it' "Ghetto Poetry."

Reception

Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member has received multiple positive reviews in the past several years. In one of Josephine Metcalf's passages from her journal, The Journal of American Culture, she says it is, " noteworthy for its emphasis on both the frisson of violent gang exploits and the sober salutary reflection of politicized and educated hindsight." 123helpme.com says Monster has new insight and lets the reader experience his "seemingly chaotic world." 123helpme.com also states that Shakur puts forth an "effort to educate" and "offers hope for those many other human beings chained to a life of gangs simply because of where they live." Another positive review came from Michiko Kakutani, writer for The New York Times, in which he wrote that Monster is a "galvanic book" and even titles his article by describing the book as "Illuminating" and "Raw." Kakutani also praised Shakur's "quick, matter-of-fact prose" and wrote that his violent life was "memorably depicted." Chill reviews this book and said it, "answers many questions to how someone actually becomes actively involved in a gang," and is, "introspective and analytical." Chill also stated that, "some will find it nearly impossible to put down."

Monster also received a few negatives reviews. Metcalf quotes David Brumble, and says he,"scrutinizes Monster in terms of classical tribal warrior cultures, [and] . . . believes that Shakur's preprison years are the most generative."

Publication History

In 1992 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Morgan Entrekin, publisher of Grove Atlantic Inc., announced that he had acquired world publication rights to Shakur's memoir, setting off a storm of interest in the book as an authentic document of the urban African-American experience. A convention-goer from Sweden was quoted as saying: "We see so much of the violence of the American inner city; now here's a voice that comes from inside that can explain it to us." The rights to publish in at least seven foreign countries were quickly sold.

Sanyika Shakur claims to have made 800,500 US dollars from writing Monster. Shakur also changed dramatically after publication and went back to criminal life with another sentence to jail in 2007 and many previous criminal activities. He went to jail for violating parole.