Klebold Vs Harris

On April 20, 1999, in Littleton, Colorado, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went into Columbine High School and shot and killed thirteen innocent lives, and wounding more than twenty. The two teens went into school that morning and planted two propane bombs in the school and in their cars hoping to kill more than they ended up. Luckily the bombs did not detonate saving many lives, but after their initial plan failed, they went on a shooting rampage killing multiple of their classmates and teachers. The whole country was shook with fear for their children and for their own safety, in places meant to be somewhere to leave your kids and not have to worry about if they will live to the next day. The actions of both Harris and Klebold is deemed irrational

If you just looked at what their daily lives were, they would just look like regular outsider teens. The two were fascinated with Goth culture and violent video games. No one really knew that they would take their knowledge of violence and use to to mass murder their own classmates. Eric and Dylan both kept journals with things like “I will sooner die than betray my own thoughts, but before I leave this worthless place, I will kill whoever I deem unfit…”(Harris) and “killing enemies, blowing up stuff, killing cops!! My wrath for January's incident will be godlike. Not to mention our revenge in the commons."(Klebold), written inside of them. It almost comes to a surprise that the parents of the two teens never realized how deep of a mental state they were in. On the day of the attacks, the two both wrote planners for their day. They included setting up for the mass killing and executing their plan. Their original plan was to try to kill everyone by using propane bombs but those did not end up detonating. “Harris and Klebold had been experimenting with black powder and pipe bombs for over a year.”(FBI Report, 22) This statement from the FBI explains that the teens were practicing creating bombs for some day like April 20th, 1999. The acts of the Columbine High School Shooting were irrational because in their minds they thought that was the best option for them. Both of the teens were clinically

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold could be related to Poe because they saw life at a different perspective. In the Romanticism time period, writers used subjects of incest but in the rationalized viewpoint. “In other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of descent,” (Usher, Poe 2). In The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe portrayed the twins, Roderick and Madeline as incestual parters. Even though, incestual relationships and mass murders are not the same but are very similar because of the irrationality of both. Eric and Dylan were outsiders at their school and were subjects to bullying throughout their lives. Poe could have been considered an outsider from the rest of the Romantic writers because of how he portrayed things like murder, incest, sickness, the supernatural, revenge, insanity, etc. During the Romantic period, writers would stick to irrational topics but display them in the most rational way they could be. Poe was one who decided to step outside of the box and be different and it payed off eventually. “And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow. From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-. For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore- Nameless here and evermore.” (The Raven, Poe 7-11). In the poem, the narrator is mourning the death of his wife Lenore. If