Grief

By the end of the novel, the reader finds that grief is a complex emotion. There is a person suffering from death and disease; a person in pain who realizes that their life is nearing its end. Yet grief demands that some of the sadness should be reserved for the people that are left behind. This is the heart of the struggle in this story. Conor feels the pull of relief that his mother's suffering will soon end; his suffering will end as well, and there is tension where his relief and his sadness meet.

The Monster's purpose in this novel is to show Conor that his almost-tangible relief is nothing for which he should feel guilty. It is the heart of grief, is expected, and is okay. Conor's nightmare is that he wishes for his mother to die, a thought that plagues him with monsters...