“People are so unaware...well, Ignorance is bliss I guess… that would explain my depression.” (Klebold, Dylan). With that sentence, I divulged myself into the most horrendous, sad journal I have ever read, hoping to gain some insight into a disturbed young man’s mind. On April 20th, 1999, Dylan Klebold accompanied his friend, Eric Harris, in one of the most publicized and shocking school shootings of the modern day--The Columbine Massacre. With their sawed-off shotguns and godlike dispositions, the boys exacted their revenge not only on their peers, but on themselves. As the nightmare collapsed, and thirteen people lay dead, the questions began. How could two boys so young commit this crime? What forced them to be this way? For the Klebold family, one question remained: How had Dylan become involved in one of the crimes of the century? Dylan Klebold was undeniably sick, as his journal and other writings can prove. A very intelligent yet shy boy, Dylan felt isolated and unloved by both family and friends. Dylan’s best friend, Eric Harris, was equally sick--if not more so--than Dylan and incredibly persuasive. Above all, Dylan wanted to die. Although Dylan wanted to love and be loved, his mind was plagued with thoughts of death and suicide. Dylan Klebold’s actions were a direct result of his relationships with family and classmates, his friendship with Eric Harris, and the mental demons that howled in his mind. Many teenagers feel isolated at some point during high school. This isolation is often accompanied by feeling shunned, ostracized and left-out. As Dylan grew up, he was very, very shy, especially entering middle school. In high school, he felt, along with Eric Harris, that he was judged for being outside of societa... ... middle of paper ... ...ke. "Affidavit." Cbsnews.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014. Harris, Eric. "Eric Harris's Journal." Schoolshooters.info. Dr. Peter Langman, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Klebold, Dylan. "Dylan Klebold's Journal and Other Writings." Schoolshooters.info. Dr. Peter Langman, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2004. Klebold, Susan. "Susan Klebold's O Magazine Essay - I Will Never Know Why." Oprah.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Kohn, David. "Columbine: Were There Warning Signs?" CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 17 Apr. 2001. Web. 22 Mar. 2014. "Narcissistic Personality Disorder." Mayoclinic.org. Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. Reznor, Trent. Mr. Self Destruct. Nine Inch Nails. Leaving Hope/tvt Music, Inc., 1994. CD. "Sertraline (Oral Route)." Mayoclinic.org. Mayo Clinic Staff, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. "Who Are the Trenchcoat Mafia?" BBC News. BBC, 21 Apr. 1999. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
High School as teenagers as the century was about to turn, they could have easily morphed into Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, taking innocent lives in a society that breeds contempt – if looking for it.
Hysteria. Terror. Paranoia. All words used to describe feelings after a school disturbance. Reports of such emergencies from mainstream media outlets cause some to conclude extraordinary security breaches happen on an almost daily basis. However, schools are actually safeguarded; in recent years, protocols have been installed in schools across the United States to ensure safety. The catalyst: nationwide panic and suffering after an act of terror at a high school in Littleton, Colorado. Journalist and author Dave Cullen, in his book, Columbine, narrates the horror surrounding this shooting. Cullen’s purpose is to inform readers by captivating their attention utilizing emotional language. He establishes contrasting characters and alludes to significant
On April 19, 1999 two teenagers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris decide to attack Columbine High School. These teenagers planned to place bombs in the cafeteria and attained huge guns. They killed thirteen people, and injured many others. One of whom they injured was Patrick Ireland; he was shot in the head, and foot. “Half his body refused. He couldn't stand; he couldn’t even crawl right. He reached with his left hand, gripped something, and dragged himself forward. His useless side trailed behind. He made little progress, and his brain gave out.’’( 77-78) Patrick had lost consciousness and control of his own body. He could speak, but not really. It is like words were coming out, but they were intelligible. I could never completely understand
Crime manifests itself in various ways in society and oftentimes difficult to pinpoint what drives people to commit certain actions. The Columbine shooting was a particular incident that ended in tears and suffering which resulted in numerous research as to what was going through the minds of these young individuals at the time of the shooting. Therefore, this paper will analyze specifically the role of differential association- reinforcement as altered by Akers in propelling Dylan Klebold to commit such heinous act, while also giving credit to Edwin Sutherland for first formulating the framework of differential association.
these boys, did they belong in the reject circle, the outcast’s of the high school? were they the weirdo’s because they loved to learn while everyone else? focused on their looks and the next football game. Maybe, and this is the very. point that Leon Botstein states in his article “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood” for the The New York Times, which was written after the Littleton shootings.
When 2 young men, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went on a shooting spree in Littleton, Colorado, killing 15 people, including themselves, there was a public outcry for censorship of every type of entertainment and changes in gun laws despite Eric Harris’s journal entry titled, “Last Wishes” asking that no one be blamed, other than himself and Klebold, for the massacre (“As You Were”, par. 2). After the 1999 school shooting now simply known as Columbine, a “Newsweek” pole showed that, “about half of all Americans want to see the movie industry, the TV industry, computer game makers, Internet services and gun manufacturers and the NRA make major policy changes to help reduce teen violence” (Alter, par. 1). According to Dave Cullen in his article “Let the Litigation Begin” several lawsuits were filed against the parents of the two boys responsible for the shooting spree claiming that Harris’s and Klebold’s families, “breached their duty of care” by allowing their sons to amass a cache of illegal weapons (Cullen, par. 5). Although the boys’ parents denied such allegations, they settled out of court for $1.6 million (Cullen, par. 5)...
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...
Today, the most difficult day in my family’s life, we gather to say farewell to our son, brother, fiancé and friend. To those of you here and elsewhere who know Dylan you already are aware of the type of person he was and these words you will hear are already in your memory. To those who were not as fortunate, these words will give you a sense of the type of man he was and as an ideal for which we should strive. My son has been often described as a gentle soul. He was pure of heart and had great sensitivity for the world around him. He had a way with people that made them feel comfortable around him and infected others to gravitate toward him. Dylan exuded kindness and pulled generosity and altruism out from everyone he touched. He was everyone's best friend.
The minds of these killers prove to be nothing short of fascinating to thousands of people. While many might read this book and see two cold-blooded teenagers that killed their peers for fun, there is definitely some gray area concerning whether or not the youngest killer, named Dylan Klebold, should
middle of paper ... ... to American History. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. Goodman, Dean. “Dylan fans get tangled up in academic views,” Reuters (1998): February, p. PG.
“Kill me, please. I can’t believe I did that.” These were the chilling words of Michael Carneal, a fourteen year old boy who massacred a group of students in a prayer circle at his school (Johnson). Many cases of school shootings show students distressed and sometimes incapacitated by certain mental diseases that cause them to lose conscious control of their actions, such as Carneal who was later diagnosed with schizophrenia (Johnson). Many more cases however, are perpetrated by students suffering from severe depression or extreme psychosis. Nine out of ten shooters surveyed were depressed and/or experiencing suicidal thoughts (Toppo). “Research shows that people who carry out school shootings are usually social outcasts, full of rage, and show little signs of remorse or regret during their crimes,” (Johnson). One of the most famous school shootings was the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in which 15 people were killed and 24 injured by two high school students (Timeline of Shootings). One of the shooters, Dylan Klebold, was later discovered to be a severely depressed and miserable youth, whereas his partner Eric Harris was discovered to be a psychopath with a strong superiority complex and need for control (Toppo).
seniors at Columbine High School, entered the school in the middle of the school day and conducted a
In Richard E. Miller’s essay, The Dark Night of the Soul, he first focuses on two teenage boys, boys who murderously rampaged through Columbine High School in Santee, California. Then he further discusses who was to blame, but most importantly would this event not had transpired if education had a more adamant impact if these young men had read more. Simply, would Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold killed if there was a more proactive approach to the educational system or government to “reduce or eliminate altogether the threat of the unpredictable or unforeseen [the amalgamation of elements that would result in a mass shooting] (Miller 421).”Additionally, if McCandless, a young man who eulogized the idealisms of authors that he used to make sense
In Columbine High School there were two students who wanted to commit suicide "Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had plotted the massacre for a year as retaliation for what they saw as bullying and harassment from classmates " ( Moore Bowling for Columbine Movie ). Erric Harris and Dyln Kleblod had been depreesed due to their classmates bad treatement so they decided to commit suicide, they killed their classmates and a teacher then after that they shot themselves ." They used two sawed-off shotguns, a rifle and a semiautomatic pistol in a rampage that extended over more than four hours before the shooting stopped — allowing police to enter the school and find the bodies of Harris and Klebold and their victims"(Jost Gun Violence Article). This means not only people with mental illness who commit suicide, "but also" means that people who have been bullied by other people 's aggressive behavior which leads them to commit this kind of
My high school was like any other, and within its walls, you could find the standard division of teen culture played out in three main categories: the popular kids, the nerds & the metal heads. Though the names of each clique may change from one generation to the next, the roles remain the same. On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made history when they beseiged their high school in the deadliest massacre ever recorded in United States history for an American high school. In the aftermath of Columbine, the writings and videos left behind by the shooters made it clear that they were enraged by the low-level position imposed on them by the upper echelon of their classmates. With limited supervision in our public schools, kids are virtually free to create their own class society. This system of division is the epitome of savagery, creating a "survival of the fittest" atmosphere.