Psychopaths: A Common Subcategory's

From the gunfire ricocheting off the wall to the horrified screaming, a murderer is born, and it all begins with a psychopath. In retrospect, people often label psychopaths as ominous killers. On most occasions, psychopaths are not the evil, gothic dictators that people anticipate them to be. Instead, they are often well-known, and they oftentimes seem like ordinary kids. Even Dave Cullen, the author of Columbine, states “psychopaths don’t at like Hannibal Lector or Norman Bates. They come off like Hugh Grant, in his most adorable role.” Much like this statement, Eric depicts a normal, everyday kid. Because Eric is popular and a charmer, this quote is relevant to the novel. Throughout the novel, the killers are expected to be unpopular goths; however, this stereotype is rather false. Eric is popular and even likable. “Eric was brain, but an uncommon subcategory: cool brain” (6). This pinpoints that Eric was in the “inner circle.” Unlike how most of the students predicted, Eric has plenty of friends to lean on, and he is not the outcast that they

Because of his manipulation, Eric is appealing to many, which is also a key trait in psychopaths. “He was a little charmer. He walked right up to hotties at the mall. He won them over with quick wit, dazzling dimples, and a disarming smile” (6). This quote indicates that Eric could easily hook someone in, which is why it was a shock when everyone knew who the real killers were. Due to his charismatic ways, Eric could score dates smoothly, and he often boasted about the dates, especially when the date regarded one certain woman. “A few weeks later, Eric made it with a real woman. Brenda was almost twenty-three. She had no idea he was sixteen. ‘He acted a lot older,’ she said” (199). This quote proves that Eric was an excellent deceiver, and he could reel people in with his fascinating ways. On the contrary, Eric is not who people expected him to