A Monster Calls Inferences
In the novel A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, there are three tales the monster tells Conor. I believe that the purpose of these tales is to teach Conor about how to handle the situation he’s in. The monster wants Conor to understand the kindness of himself and his grandmother, one of the reasons Conor wasn’t punished for misbehaving, and that not everything is what it seems.
The first tale that the monster tells Conor is about an evil witch and a good prince. The reason the monster told Conor this story was to help him realize that not everyone is how they seem. This lesson applies to both the monster and Conor’s grandmother. The monster has a terrifying exterior but is ultimately there to help Conor through his rough patch. It applies to Conor’s grandmother because even though he doesn’t like the way she treats him and the way she does things, she loves his mum and cares about him. She had reasons to act the way she does.
The second tale is about an apothecary and a parson. The purpose of Conor hearing this story is to help him learn that when there are two bad actions, the worse of the two gets punished. This story applies to when Conor and the monster beat up Harry. Even though Conor knew he should’ve been punished, he wasn’t. One of the main reasons he wasn’t punished is that Harry had been bullying him, so his actions had a real reason. The third tale Conor is told is about the invisible man.
The monster told Conor this story because he needed to learn that sometimes what you lust after does not have the benefits you might think it will. When Conor beats up Harry, everyone starts “seeing” Conor, but not in a good way. They are all afraid of him and therefore avoid him when Conor just wants to be treated like all his other classmates. Overall, I think the monster told Conor the tales to help him through his mum’s sickness and to teach him important lessons he needs to learn at some point or another. He wanted Conor to understand that people and situations aren’t always how you expect them to be and that sometimes bad actions get cancelled out by even worse ones.
It was important for him to learn these lessons before it was too late.
