Murder of Innocence Do you remember when it happened? Do you remember when the innocence of childhood began to fade away only to be replaced by some hard truths of adulthood? It can be argued that Harry Crane can. The book, "The Bottoms" written by Joe Lansdale is a riveting whodunit mystery, narrated by an elderly Harry Crane who is reminiscing from his bed at a nursing home. Harry takes us back to when he was a twelve year old boy living in the racially charged east Texas town of Marvel Creek. A series of tragic events are starting to take place and the world he once knew begins to unravel. The story begins when he and his younger sister Tom find the body of a mutilated, murdered black woman, the first of many murders Harry deals with during the story. However, while this story is written in the genre of suspense and mystery, it can be argued that there is also a very strong sub-plot of the coming of age story that reads as loud as the suspense in "The Bottoms". …show more content…
Things like looking at nudie cards to making mental notes that Mr. Smootes slutty daughter, Mary Jean is an easy lay. Harry starts to have feeling for the opposite sex that confuse, excite and terrify him. An example of this can be seen when Harry describes how he just wants to get away from Mrs. Louise Canerton during her Halloween party because as Harry puts it, "She was making me feel funny, her face close to mine, her breath sweet as a hot peach pie. I had grown warm and itchy all over." (123). Later that night he reminisces about the swell of her bosom and how her dress fit her in all the right places. Many readers may agree that there is almost nothing more awkward and confusing in becoming an adult then the beginnings of ones own realization of sex and sexual
As I was completing this assignment, I was watching the infamous Netflix documentary entitled Making a Murderer. The documentary follows the story of Steven Avery, who is currently in prison for the death of a woman, Teresa Halbach, in 2005. Steven Avery has been denying any involvement in the murder of Teresa Halbach for the past eleven years. In the middle of the reading, the documentary was exploring and analyzing Steven Avery’s deviant behavior as a young man (Making). As I observed what was being discussed about Steven Avery, I was able to build the connection between how society, and the community from which he came from, perceived Steven Avery and what Kai Erikson discussed in the first couple pages of the book with regards to deviance and its relation with regards to society.
The Murderers Are Among Us, directed by Wolfe Gang Staudte, is the first postwar film. The film takes place in Berlin right after the war. Susan Wallner, a young women who has returned from a concentration camp, goes to her old apartment to find Hans Mertens living there. Hans took up there after returning home from war and finding out his house was destroyed. Hans would not leave, even after Susan returned home. Later on in the film we find out Hans was a former surgeon but can no longer deal with human suffering because of his traumatic experience in war. We find out about this traumatic experience when Ferdinand Bruckner comes into the film. Bruckner, Hans’ former captain, was responsible for killing hundreds
In America we believe in the saying “you are innocent until proven guilty” but we the people are remarkably swift to point our fingers at someone we believe that committed the crime. This habit is frequently displayed within our criminal justice system when a crime is committed we quickly assume it has something to do with the first person we can link the crime to. We tend to naturally feel sympathy for the victim therefore; if the individual accuses one for a crime the jury has no reason not to believe the victim. Society does not bother to care if the individual did not do the crime because as long as someone was caught and accused of the wrongdoing, then we the people can proceed on with our lives knowing we punished someone for the crime
Innocence is defined as the state of being not guilty of a crime or other wrong act. The definition does not have any exceptions depending on race, age, gender or other physical characteristics. Yet in the south, the innocence of a guilty white man, is more important than the innocence of an innocent black man. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is about a young girl named Scout who lives in Maycomb County, Alabama. The novel is separated into two parts, the first part is about the adventures of Boo Radley. While the second part is about the trial of Tom Robinson. In the first part of the novel, Scout along with her brother Jem and her friend Dill investigate the mysterious life of their neighbor, Boo Radley. Boo has not left
In the editorial “The Innocent on Death Row,” the board argues that the death penalty should not be legal. This article presents a strong argument for the end of the death penalty with clear assertions and effective rhetorical techniques.
A man by the name of Challer D. Wadsley was charged with attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, domestic abuse, false imprisonment and public intoxication due to the events that took place Monday morning on October second. In which Wadsley and his girlfriend, Courtney Opheim, engaged in an argument while in Opheim’s car that escalated to Wadsley holding a .20-gauge shotgun to her head and firing threats while she was in the process of driving. Which Opheim successfully managed to pull over and have Wadsley execute her car, yet lead to Wadsley firing rounds at her vehicle as she attempted to drive away. This ending in Wadsley’s arrest after the Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Department received several 911 calls of an
On December 18th 2015 Netflix aired with great popularity a 10 part documentary series called “making a Murderer” The documentary, written by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demo, present the case of Steven Avery; a convicted murderer exonerated on DNA evidence after serving 18 years for the assault and attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen. The writers present the series in a way that suggest that Avery was framed by the Manitowoc Country police department. and present that the police planted evidence to frame Steven Avery because he had been exonerated from the previous crime. The ethical problem with this as is presented by Kathryn Schulz in The New Yorker, is that the documentary argues their case so passionately that they leave out important
"All things truly wicked start from an innocence,” states Ernest Hemingway on his view of innocence. Innocence, what every youth possesses, is more accurately described as a state of unknowing but not ignorance- which connotation suggests a blissfully positive view of the world. Most youth are protected from the harsh realities of the adult world. Therefore they are able to maintain their state of innocence. While innocence normally wanes over time, sometimes innocence can be abruptly taken away. Some of the characters in Truman Capotes In Cold Blood lost their innocence due to the traumatic events they experienced in childhood and adulthood while some had none to begin with.
Justifying the Murder in Beloved by Toni Morrison. Beloved is a tale about slavery. The central character is Sethe, who is an escaped slave of the. Sethe kills her child named Beloved to save her. her.
The piece of art “The Execution of the Innocent Count” is an example of bystander from art. The painting was created in 1460 by the Dutch artist Dieric Bouts, it shows the beheading of a man in front of a castle. There are many people looking and watching the execution of the man. We see that the man head had been cut off and obviously, the people did not do anything to help him because they are still watching. A bystander from art means that the people are looking and doing nothing to save other people from certain threat, that is completely true for the “The Execution of the Innocent Count”
Loss of Innocence in Killing a Mockingbird Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather, the streets turned red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. " (Lee 9). This environment, as Scout Finch accurately describes, is not conducive to young children, loud noises, and games. But, the Finch children and Dill must occupy themselves in order to avoid boredom.
Baseball, America's favorite pastime, with it being the sport to represent America does this one sport affect all of Americans even if they don’t play? Not everyone in America plays baseball or has even been near a baseball field. However, almost every American knows about the phrase “three strikes and you are out.” These phrases are used every day from regular people that probably don't even play the sport. That's only referring to one sport what about looking at a bigger picture, soccer. With soccer being played worldwide does it affect how we as a world function? Well, almost everything in life affects what we do either positive or negative. With soccer even if a person doesn’t play they know a red card is bad. We have sports all around us affecting our lives minuscule ways without most us
What is guilt? Is Josef K. guilty? What is he guilty of? All of these questions come to mind when you read The Trial by Franz Kafka, but they are not easily answered. The question of guilt is a theme that runs through the entire novel, and it serves to enlighten the reader as to what, I believe, Kafka is trying to say. So what is Kafka trying to say? If one looks at the opening sentence, in the light of the rest of the novel, I believe that it helps to clue us into Kafka's message. The fact that K. believes he has not done "anything truly wrong" (3) harkens back to the question of guilt. So because K. feels he is not fully guilty of anything, why is he hounded by the law? This is where the main theme of the book comes into play in my opinion. Kafka wants us to recognize, with the help of the opening sentence, that K. has done something wrong: he has lived an unexamined life dominated by routine, normalcy, and other people. This is what K. is guilty of.
Instead of sharing a conspiratorial wink with the adult reader over the child’s head, Potter creates and orders her pictures to wink at the child.
Since the beginning of her life, Louisa isn't allowed to express herself because her father continually stresses the facts. Mr. Gradgrind suppresses Louisa's imagination and all she can do is wonder. One example of Louisa attempting to view the unknown occurs when she and Tom peep through a loophole in order to see a circus (8). This is the first time both Louisa and Tom have seen such a sight. When asked why they were there, Louisa curiously answers, "Wanted to see what it was like" (8), a response any normal child would have. Her "starved imagination" (8) is curious and needs some sort of avenue for release. As Louisa blossoms into a young lady, the young Miss Gradgrind enchants one particular suitor. Her father thought that it was time for Louisa to marry and had a suitable companion in mind. When Mr. Gradgrind asks Louisa if she would like to be Mrs. Bounderby, all Louisa can utter is, "You have been so careful of me, that I never had a child's dream. You have dealt so wisely with me, father, from my cradle to this hour, that I never had a child's belief or a child's fear" (63). Mr. Gradgrind interprets his daughter's words as a compliment to him and his strict belief in teaching only the facts. But Louisa means she has not experienced life and has never been given the chance. Her childhood has been murdered by her father's strict insistence on the perpetuation of facts only. Although Louisa realizes she has been enslaved by the theories of fact, she willingly enters yet another bondage to Mr. Bounderby allowing the process of her suppression to continue.