Alliance: Throughout the entire chapter there are reminders that to survive in the jail system in America it is helpful to be connected to people who will have your back at all times. With numbers there is saftey and security. Often times peace was established when groups became allies and the number of enemies are decreased.

Distrust: For Monster along with the rest of those who were members of gangs, the law was to only trust those who were in their gang. Any one not in their gang was not to be trusted and the standard was kill or be killed. Not only were those of different sets not trusted but the authorities as well. Those put in power over the convicts often misused this authority and enforced practices that degraded the prisoners with the intent of tearing them down mentally. Not knowing who was good or bad causes anyone caught in the penal system to distrust anyone that was worthy of being deemed a threat.

Also, to speak in terms of crossover or “hybrid” ideas, another idea expressed in yesterdays class, Monster touches on a more psychological meaning of the term when he talks about his writing his true biological father. “I tried to write him, but found the pain too great… the questions started to surface: where have you been? why did you abandon me? i needed you man, and you weren’t there for me.”

2. resistance– the opposition through force is spoken of heavily in the text. “I cut my bed up for weapons with a hacksaw blade.” How many times in just this one chapter does Monster bring up the creation of weaponry while behind bars? In relation to the craftsmanship of these weapons but also touching a more physical sense of the resistance, “I found a piece of metal loose enough to get my hand under, so I slid halfway beneath the bed, braced my foot against the wall, and began to pull violently. Heave-ho, Heave ho. Back and forth I pulled.” The idea of resistance really gives insight into the whole tone of the the chapter. At no point, really, is there an absence of resistance. There is always talk of war, self-protection.

3. alliance– the merging of separate organizations and individuals in the various prisions and the mutual agreements between specific groups of people are a key aspect within the chapter. “Three days later I was moved to the back bar, where my comrades were. All around me were comrades and allies.” Also, “I am Italo from the Black Guerrilla Family. Perhaps you know some of my tribesmen? All your people are in the back. We, B.G.F and B.L. have peace treaty with the A.B. and E.M.E on this tier…In struggle, Italo” The idea of alliances and allies offer perhaps one of the only positive aspects of the prisons. Monster being able to find lost acquaintances: “yes, I did know him! He and I were friends from the seventies.” While offering insight into a positive side of Monster’s experience while behind bars, the term simoultaneously points out negativity as well since there is constant clashing of various alliances, for example the constant war between the C.C.O and the Southern Mexican vanguard independent alliances and within the prison walls, and as only one small example, the pigs against Monster’s alliance, the crips. The strong allegiance of one’s individual alliance within the confinements of the prison really give the reader a sense of the constant turmoil between men and the incessant never-at-rest sense that seems to be present in Monster.