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Creative Task: The Stone Boy
Six years ago, Arnold Curwing accidentally shot his brother with a .22 caliber rifle. He was nine years old at the time. Surrounding this incident, as you would expect, he was under fire by his neighbors and peers from thereon, even though it was an accident. Generally, they all blamed him. Some detested him for not getting in trouble. Some might debate that he got not enough punishment. Others might conclude that the knowledge of living the rest of his life knowing that he killed his brother would be punishment enough. The people that he loved, the people he was closest to blamed him, including his mother and sister blamed him. This is the kind of thing that a person nine years of age does not forget. For this reason I make the following analysis.
When he was young, Arnold seemed like a child with no education, except for the knowledge that had been passed down the family –like the need to pick peas before the sun comes up, while they are still cool – pieces of information like this would be all that he needs to get by when (we assume) he inherits the farm from his father. So he would not be very bright by today's standards. Naivety would be a characteristic you would expect from him as well – it seems that in his community, mostly everybody would accept what is given to them and not question it. Uncle Andy for instance immediately believed the sheriffs verdict, be it correct or not, and is later quoted to have s...
In this case, Brown decided that the benefit of having his own room was worth the risk of committing murder. The choice to cover the murder weapon with a blanket indicates that rationale was used in planning the attack. This is important to note because Brown considered that concealing the weapon under a blanket would enable him to commit his crime undetected. Furthermore, Brown’s attempt to throw the shotgun shell into the grass on the way to the school bus demonstrates his understanding of what he was doing and his intent to hide the evidence. Due to this, it can be established that Brown weighed his options and knew that what he was doing was something that should be hidden and was less than forthright. As the theory claims that adolescent offenders are self-centered, Brown’s case reflects this through his inability to consider the needs or feelings of the others in his family (Siegel & Welsh,
This country places great value on achieving the perfect body. Americans strive to achieve thinness, but is that really necessary? In his article written in 1986 entitled “Fat and Happy?,” Hillel Schwartz claims that people who are obese are considered failures in life by fellow Americans. More specifically, he contends that those individuals with a less than perfect physique suffer not only disrespect, but they are also marginalized as a group. Just putting people on a diet to solve a serious weight problem is simply not enough, as they are more than likely to fail. Schwartz wants to convey to his audience that people who are in shape are the ones who make obese people feel horrible about themselves. Schwartz was compelled to write this essay,
In Andre Dubus’ The Fat Girl, Louise is a young adolescent with detrimental eating habits and broken self-esteem. Her lack of self-confidence stems from her atrocious emotional habitat. Louise receives constant criticism from her mother regarding her weight. Her mother states “If you are fat the boys won’t like you.” That kind of ridicule being said by a mother to her 9 year old daughter creates an atmosphere of self-hatred and self-loathing. It is not only her familial environment that contributes so greatly to Louise’s destructive behavior. She has few friends and the one’s she does have agree she needs to change. The society in which she lives also is a contributing factor; the society is laden with stigmas positioned on appearance. That manner of daily ridicule only introverts Louise even more, causing her secretive, binge eating to deteriorate. In research conducted by Ursula Polli-Potts PhD, Links between Psychological Symptoms and Disordered Eating behaviors in Obese Youths, she explains the correlation between psychological, emotional factors and eating disorders in overweight adolescents. Potts states, “The association between binge eating symptoms and eating in response to feelings of distress and sadness with depression/anxiety symptoms corresponds with the results of other studies.” Potts and her colleagues took overweight adolescents and placed them into control and variable groups to ensure correct data. The outcome of their research was that there is a direct correlation with emotional binge eating and psychological factors. Although more extensive research needs to be implemented, Potts and associates were pleased with the results of the case studies.
In Truman Capote’s famous non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, there is evidence that supports the injustices of the trial: death penalty. The final outcome of the trail was never to be any different than death. “Of all the people in all the world, the Clutters were the least likely to be murdered” (Capote 85). We know the two men who killed the Clutter family, Perry Smith and Bill Hickock, preplanned the crime with malice and forethought. Although the actions were crul and grusome, does Death Row fit what they did if their pasts, childhood environments and situation, are bad. Capote shows the effect of childhood on the killers and if the death penalty is fair. Capote gives the killers a voice to show their humanity by giving childhood accounts of their lives. He questions the justice of is the death penalty fair, and if inherent evil is a product of childhood or society. Is it nature or nurture? Capote gives a look into the minds of the killers and the nature vs. nurture theory. The detailed account the killers’ childhoods makes the reader sympathize with the Clutter family’s killers Smith and Hickock. Should they reserve the death penalty? Did Truman Capote take a stand on the death penalty? By giving the readers a detailed accounting of Perry Smith’s and Dick Hickock’s childhood, Capote sets up the reader for nurture vs. nature debate on the death penalty. The question then becomes, do the effects (if any) caused by environment in childhood make for a trained killer or a natural born one?
The lives of everyone in the town of Springfield Oregon changed on May 21st of 1998. A quiet boy named Kip Kinkel became known as “The Killer at Thurston High” after killing both of his parents, murdering two classmates, and severely injuring 24 others. There are many factors in the 15 year old boy’s life that led up to the horrific events that occurred on that day. The same factors that influenced the tragedy in occurring could have very easily insured that it never happened to begin with.
With the authority to discipline, our society has the ability to influence the future. Although, punishment is used to human savagery , it can also be used to exert power. The act of consigning punishment is extensively documented in literature. Such is the topic in Ben Mikaelsen’s novel, Touching Spirit Bear. Cole Matthews proves that the power to punish is often misused, resulting in detrimental side effects for society. Thankfully, Cole’s most recent crime is judged using the Native American tradition known as Circle Justice. Due to the process’ restorative approach, Cole is allocated a punishment, which allows him to peruse a path towards redemption. As demonstrated by Cole’s transformation in Ben Mikaelsen’s Touching Spirit Bear, justice provides redemption as illustrated through setting, symbolism, and characterization, which proves society should refrain from allocating justice solely based on punishment.
A man carrying two revolvers and two 9mm semi-automatic handguns calmly strode into the Dunblane Primary School. Two people quickly spotted the firearms and tried to tackle the man; he shot them and left them wounded as he continued his journey down the hall of the school. Finally, the man reached his destination: the gym, where a class a kindergartners were having P.E. In the gym, he pulled out the guns and started picking off the five-year-olds one by one. The room was splattered with blood as young children broke like porcelain dolls under the power of the gun. The blood continued to flow, but the intruder did not stop; he took careful aim to make sure he didn't miss. The final insult came when he shot the teacher who was shielding kids with her body. Once he killed her, he killed the kids she was protecting. When he finished in the gym , he turned around walked out, shot at a class as he walked down the hall and walked out into the courtyard. In the courtyard, the killer ended the ordeal by taking his own life (Pederson).
Fat does not equal lazy; fat does not equal bad; fat does not equal overeating; fat does not equal ugly. Fat oppression is something so prevalent in our society, yet Americans refuse to recognize it as a problem or even an issue. After hearing an amazing woman named Nomy Lamm speak this weekend, I could not longer let this issue be ignored. (Lamm is a fat oppression activist and has been published in Ms. magazine). Fat oppression exists in this society and we all must recognize the damage it does to everyone, especially fat people.
interesting to me that the more her mother got sick, the more Lola lashed out. It as if she was no longer feared her mother; she instead wanted to hurt her. Perhaps Lola took this callous approach after all the years of abuse. The author demonstrates through the change of Lola’s appearance; she dyes and shaves her hair, takes on a more “punk rock” look and these changes send her mother into a rage, She tries to force Lola to wear her wig; however, Lola sets it on fire. Although these changes were physical, I believe the author used them to show us that Lola wanted to be the opposite of what her mother wanted her to be.
Craig Scott was just 16 years old when he crowded underneath a desk with his two friends while classmates, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, acted out a real-life version of a Hollywood scene of ruthless murder, shouting lines from their favorite movie while gunning down kids and teachers in the corridors of Columbine High. Craig remembers the shouting and laughter of the shooters as they burst into the library armed with sawed-off shotguns, a handgun and a 9mm semi-automatic carbine. Craig recalls how his friends were both shot, one slumped dead on either side of him, their blood soaking into his clothes. Inexplicably, Craig was uninjured, physically at least. “I was experiencing so much fear I thought my heart was going to stop beating,” he recalls (Day, 2009). Later, Craig would learn how his sister was gunned down while eating lunch on the lawn. Rachel, 17, died instantly, the first of 13 victims of mass violence who lost their lives that day in the, now infamous, massacre known simply as “Columbine.” Speaking at an event marking the tenth anniversary of that terrorizing violence, Craig says he is still reliving the horror, “…going through it…over and over again” (Day, 2009). Craig echoes the reality faced by all victims of violent trauma, and particularly those of mass violence; “My life changed that day” (Day, 2009). Victims of violent trauma face many challenges, both immediately following the initial event and long-term. Though the extent of recovery varies for individuals and may include physical, emotional, and financial trauma, victims of violence often struggle with management of the psychological impact of their experience. Like Craig, many victims of mass violence find coping with the impact of trauma chall...
The article “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” is written by Mary Ray Worley, a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. She writes of her firsthand experience as a “fat person” in society. Throughout the article, Worley explains what it is like to be obese and describes the way society treats those who have a weight problem. She attacks the idea of dieting, criticizes medical professionals for displaying an obscured view of health risks, and defends the idea of exercising to feel good rather than exercising to lose weight. Unfortunately, her article seems to reflect only own opinions and emotions rather than actual facts and statistics.
Maker, J., Brittain, J., Piraino, G., & Somtow, S. Children Who Kill. World Press Review. June 1993 v40 n6 p21-23.
These two men, both coming from different backgrounds, joined together and carried out a terrible choice that rendered consequences far worse than they imagined. Living under abuse, Perry Smith never obtained the necessary integrity to be able to pause and consider how his actions might affect other people. He matured into a man who acts before he thinks, all due to the suffering he endured as a child. Exposed to a violent father who did not instill basic teachings of life, Smith knew nothing but anger and misconduct as a means of responding to the world. He knew no other life. Without exposure to proper behavior or responsible conduct, he turned into a monster capable of killing an entire family without a blink of remorse. In the heat of the moment, Perry Smith slaughtered the Clutter family and barely stopped to take a breath. What could drive a man to do this in such cold blood? The answer lies within his upbringing, and how his childhood experiences shaped him to become the murderer of a small family in Holcomb, Kansas. ¨The hypothesis of unconscious motivation explains why the murderers perceived innocuous and relatively unknown victims as provocative and thereby suitable targets for aggression.¨ (Capote 191). ¨But it is Dr. Statten´s contention that only the first murder matters psychologically, and that when
Brian Conniff's article, "Psychological Accidents: In Cold Blood and Ritual Sacrifice," explains how Truman Capote's nonfiction novel demonstrates the psychological trauma that the murderers and the townspeople of Holcomb face after the murders of the Clutter family. Conniff begins his article by stating that in the last twenty-five years imprisonment and execution has reached an all-time high level of obsession among the American public. Since this type of violence has been so normalized it is rarely properly understood (1). With this in mind, prison literature has continually suggested that "the most fortified barriers are not the physical walls and fences between the prison, and the outside world; the most fortified barriers are the psychological walls between the preoccupations of everyday life . . .and the conscious realization that punishment is the most self-destructive kind of national addiction" (Conniff 1).
Robert V. Heckel, D. M. (2001). Children Who Murder: A Psychological Prespective. Westport: Praeger Publishers.