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 …show more content…
One example that pertains to this are the events that lead Chris McCandless to his death. In the section Following The Word, it was learned that McCandless had an extremely passionate desire to read which allowed led him to escape reality, a reality that he thought was “fiction.” Although the real fiction was that came about through books, he was reading from authors such as London, Thoreau, Muir, and Tolstoy. In Miller’s words, “who McCandless is…intimately connected to [his] approach to reading,” and this reading helped him to keep and flourish his beliefs Miller 429). In regards to McCandless’s manufactured reality, he had used his keen eye and knowledge of books to understand nature around him, at least, he believed so. He thought that his actions were valiant and noble; they were without fault because he has learned that they were not through the authors aforementioned. He used his education to fornicate connections for how he sought to be one with nature, and by his reasoning, he believed it was …show more content…
However, the most compelling item in Miller’s early section is the note left in Harris’s diary. It says that there was nothing that could have done to thwart what was to happen. Also, it was observed that their parents were not at fault for their actions – they had been raised fine. The administration did what they could, and it would seem unreasonable to place laws on PVC pipes for they were a “select case” and “don’t think [that] this will happen again (Miller 422).” Their actions are according to Miller, are without motive or meaning. Moreover, along the way, they became lost in the struggle, like McCandless, in finding their way to mortality while being misguided (Miller 422). This misguidedness was because of the type of culture we live in – the world of reality shows, video games, constant media attention on the bizarre behaviors of others, and all other
The Holocaust was the mass murder of Jews during the period of 1941 to 1945 under the German Nazi regime. More than six million European Jews were murdered out of a nine million Jewish population. Out of those who had survived was Elie Wiesel, who is the author of a literary memoir called Night. Night was written in the mid 1950’s after Wiesel had promised himself ten years before the making of this book to stay silent about his suffering and undergoing of the Holocaust. The story begins in Transylvania and then follows his journey through a number of concentration camps in Europe. The protagonist, Eliezer or Elie, battles with Nazi persecution and his faith in God and humanity. Wiesel’s devotion in writing Night was to not stay quiet and bear witness; on the contrary, it was too aware and to enlighten others of this tragedy in hopes of preventing an event like this from ever happening again.
Despite the adversity that plagued the children of South Boston throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Southie native Michael Patrick MacDonald often remarked that he grew up in “the best place in the world,” suggesting that while adversity can be crippling, it does not guarantee a bad life. Throughout his childhood, MacDonald and his family suffered from extreme poverty, experienced the effects of drugs on the family structure, and felt the poor educational effects in a struggling neighborhood. Through his memoir, All Souls, readers gain an in-depth perspective of Michael Patrick MacDonald’s life, especially his childhood. Because readers are able to see MacDonald as both a child and an adult, it is possible to see how the circumstances of his childhood
Tony Horwitz is the author of Midnight Rising: John Brown and The Raid That Sparked The Civil War. Horwitz was born Washington D.C., a graduate of Brown University and Columbia University School of Journalism. Before becoming an author, Horwitz was a newspaper reporter, starting in Indiana. He later became an amazing best selling author, his latest work is Midnight Rising. In the novel, he discusses John Brown’s early life and explains the raid he led into Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Horwitz theorizes how John Brown sparks the Civil War.
Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. In the novel Night, by Elie Wiesel, the narrator talks about his and his father’s experience in a Nazi concentration camps during the height of the Holocaust. Elie and many others struggle with keeping their faith throughout the novel. The silence from God doesn’t make sense to Wiesel, and why him and his father are living in hell. Elie Wiesel’s faith changes and get affected by the many horrors in the life he went through.
“The Dark Night of the Soul” is a chapter in the book, Writing at the End of the World by Richard Miller. In this chapter, Miller gives many examples of how reading and writing help the world, and he asks questions to find out if literature, and his teachings cause a change in the present day. Miller states, “Why bother with reading and writing when the world is so obviously going to hell?”(Dark Night of the Soul 433). I believe that this is the best statement to summarize what Miller is trying to get across. Why read? Why write? Is it going to matter in the end? Does it truly help anyone? These are all questions that arise from the author while reading this chapter.
During the Holocaust many people were severely tortured and murdered. The holocaust caused the death of six million Jewish people, as well as the death of 5 million non-Jewish people. All of the people, who died during this time, died because of the Nazis’: a large hate group composed of extremely Ignoble, licentious, and rapacious people. They caused the prisoners to suffer physically and mentally; thus, causing them to lose all hope of ever being rescued. In the novel Night, by Elie Wiesel, Elie went through so much depression, and it caused him to struggle with surviving everyday life in a concentration camp. While Elie stayed in the concentration camp, he saw so many people get executed, abused, and even tortured. Eventually, Elie lost all hope of surviving, but he still managed to survive. This novel is a perfect example of hopelessness: it does not offer any hope. There are so many pieces of evidence that support this claim throughout the entire novel. First of all, many people lost everything that had value in their life; many people lost the faith in their own religion; and the tone of the story is very depressing.
Harris was “the callously brutal mastermind” while Klebold was the “quivering depressive who journaled obsessively about love and attended the Columbine prom three days before opening fire” (Columbine High School, History). On an article published by Cullen on Slate.com, it reveals the true motivation and meaning behind the actions of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
The columbine massacre the day where no one is safe in school or out of school. The columbine massacre is about two students named Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris both seniors 17 years old both two weeks before graduating they killed 12 students, one teacher, and 21 injured to their shooting on April 20, 1999. Both Dylan and Eric were some believe they were bullied by the sport teams in their school so they planned to kill the people who bullied them and other mostly anyone who gets in their way but that wasn’t really why the FBI he said that there target was everyone no one in pacify we will not get in to more details now. Dylan and Eric were both intelligent boys with solid parents and a good home and both had brothers younger than them. They played soccer, baseball, and both enjoyed to work on computers. Both boys were thinking on commit suicide on 1997 but instead started to plan a massacre in 1998 a year before it happened. Then the two boys had got into some trouble for breaking into a van on January 30, 1998 trying to steal some fuses and wires for bombs for them to make, but they got caught in trouble. So the court put them in a program called the juvenile diversion program, but even if they were there they were still planning the massacre and the court also put Eric in some angry management classes and people believe it worked but it didn’t he just did it to look like it work and both boys made it look like they were really sorry but they weren’t. Dylan and Eric both really hated everyone in their school and the court as well after they got caught breaking in to that van that’s when they really started to plan the massacre more and that’s when Harris started he’s journals no one really knows way but they didn’t hate a hand...
The United States will not soon forget the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut that came just two weeks before Christmas last year. This tragic event resulted in the death of twenty students and eight adults. Although the event shocked the nation, rampage shootings are nothing new. Over the years, many families have lost loved ones to these horrific events. As a result, these mass shootings such as the one that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary caught public attention leading to a push to find the cause of these events. Out of this research a variety of possible causes came to light consisting of arguments stating that high school bullying, availability of guns, mental illness, violent movies and video games are the cause of mass shootings. However, these researchers and debaters tend to ignore the role of massive media coverage in the increase of copycat shootings in the United States.
Granovetter's threshold theory and Gladwell’s claim about school shootings both compliment each other, one stating a reason and the other stating examples to help the reader understand the basic idea behind school shootings and the epidemic across the United States. In the article, being discussed are how school shootings have evolved, those who participated and a young boy who was about to participate but was far too nervous too. Everyone who hears about school shootings claims that they are mentally disturbed, but that might not be the case anymore with the help of Granovetter’s theory.
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)...
The night of January 2, 1953 in the heart of New York many have traveled to see the first premiere of the crucible of who they have heard to be the over-slightly liberal Arthur Miller. The play is not reportage of any kind,” Miller said. “Nobody can write a tragedy and make it reportage. What I was doing was writing a fictional story about an important theme." Words such as these were the very ones that began to make people question the truth in his words. Considering the due date of this play “so happened” to be at the peak of the red scare, Miller further on was known, or rather accused, as a communist sympathizer. However, the more sympathetic of
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
The novella, The Body, written by Stephen King is quintessential for portraying the overarching coming of age theme, however within this theme a more specific theme of innocence vs. experience is present. This theme can be seen within the book’s plot, symbols, and Chris Chamber’s character. Taking a look at the historical time period of when this novella was written, and taking a look at the biographical history of Stephen King himself helps the reader to understand why this particular approach to the theme was chosen. The novella itself travels with four young boys as they begin their journey in search of a dead body, and along the way they not only discover the cruelty of the real world, but they also face the cruelty that can be see within
“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?