A Monster Calls

Conor protests, but the nightmare has begun. In the nightmare, Conor watches as his mother stands on the edge of a cliff, and a huge, horrible monster tries to pull her over the edge. Conor “[throws] himself toward her, toward her out-reaching hands as the dark fists pulled her over the edge [...] And his hands caught hers” (179). Conor struggles to hold on to his mother’s hands and the monster tries to wrestle her away from him and pull her down into the black abyss. His mother begs him to hold on to her, and Conor pleads with the monster to help him. The monster only says, “Here is the truth of Conor O’Malley” (180) and does not intervene or try to stop the nightmare. Conor continues to hold on, but his mother becomes so heavy and the weight becomes too much, and his mother falls into the abyss.

Conor’s nightmare doesn’t end, and he is left in the nightmare world with the monster. He demands that the monster take him back to see his mom in the real world, but the monster states that “The tale is not yet told” (184), and Conor still must speak the truth about this nightmare. It says that Conor “let [his mother] go” (184), but Conor insists that he didn’t let his mother go—she fell. She got heavy. He couldn’t hold on to her. But the monster repeats the accusation: “You let her go” (185). Conor begs the monster to get him out of this nightmare, to not make him say it, but after much coaxing, Conor admits that he did let his mother go, because “[He] just [wants] it to be over! [He wants] it to be finished!” (188). His words set the nightmare ablaze, and “He [welcomes] it with relief, because it was, at last, the punishment he deserved” (188)

Conor wakes up in the grass on the hill, now free of the nightmare. He asks the monster why the truth didn’t kill him. He admits that “[He’s] known forever she wasn’t going to make it, almost from the beginning” (189). The monster assures him that Conor is not a bad person for wishing for an end to his pain. It explains that “humans are complicated beasts” and mentions all of the stories he has told Conor (191). Conor can both love his mother and not want her to leave while also wanting to see an end to her suffering and an end to his loneliness. The monster says that Conor’s thoughts do not matter, but his actions do. It encourages Conor to sleep for a moment, because he is exhausted. As he falls asleep, Conor asks why the monster always comes at 12:07, but he falls asleep before he can hear the answer.

Conor is woken up by the sound of Grandma yelling his name. She throws him into the car in a panic, saying that she has “been searching for HOURS!” (198). They rush off to the hospital, and as Grandma drives erratically, Conor tries to apologize for his behavior. She waves him off and says that even though they aren’t the “most natural fit” (199), they are going to have to figure out how to make this work. She points out that they do have one important thing in common: they both love and care about Conor’s mom, and this process has been hard on both of them. Conor realizes that he has been too hard on Grandma, and that she has been suffering just as much as he has. They arrive at the hospital, and Grandma insists that they have to hurry. Conor doesn’t ask why, because he already knows: His mother is dying.

In the hospital, Conor’s mum is in her final moments of life: “Her eyes were closed, and her breathing sounded like there was a weight on her chest” (201). His mom reaches out for his hand, and he takes it. Conor feels the voice and the presence of the monster with him, and the monster insists that “All [Conor has] to do is tell the truth” (202). Conor notices that the time is approaching 12:07, and guesses that this will be the moment when his mother passes away. Conor speaks the truth to his mother: “I don’t want you to go” (204), and his mother says that she knows. Conor decides to spend the final moments of his mother’s life holding on to her and being honest with his feelings. He knows now that he must hold on to his mother, and in the process, let her go.