Soneji's Behavior In The Film Along Came A Spider

I. Along Came a Spider was made in 2001 and was considered a thriller as well as a mystery. The movie starts out with a damaged detective named Alex Cross, played by Morgan Freeman (IMDb, 2001). Cross found himself in an investigation into the kidnapping of a senator’s daughter. Megan Rose was kidnapped from her private school after her teacher Mr. Soneji tricked her into his office. During Mr. Soneji’s escape he killed an innocent teacher. However, the authorities were close by and Soneji had to act quickly and carefully. The secret service was assigned to the school to make sure everything ran smoothly (Along Came a Spider).
Jezzi Flannigan was the main agent at the private school and she in fact was the first agent to notice Megan was missing.

Throughout the movie Mr. Soneji keeps Megan captive on his boat and taunts Alex Cross by reaching out to him. As the movie progresses there are many unexpected escapades that happen. One being that there was not just one person responsible for Megan Rose’s kidnapping there were three. Jezzi and another agent kidnapped from the kidnapper as stated by Alex Cross (Along Came a Spider). Finally, after numerous close calls Alex figures out that he profiled Mr. Soneji correctly; he just did not realize there were two other trained Secret Service Agents playing out their own agenda.
II. Mr. Soneji was a teacher at a private school where Megan Rose attended. Soneji was an older man who in fact was an imposter. Soneji made himself up by using makeup and various forms of skin like material to take on the role of Mr. Soneji. He had implanted software in the computer of Megan Rose; all children in his class had computers, to track what she was doing. When the time arose he called Megan to his office and alleged that she and another boy in the class were cheating. Megan quickly denied the claims and stated that all they did in class was pass notes, via the computer. Mr. Soneji stated, “Oh my, Oh dear girl” (Along Came a Spider) and as he was standing behind her he injected a tranquilizer in her neck.
Mr. Soneji makes a quick and calculated escape barely missing authorities. He had been studying her for months as well as what path to take during the kidnapping. Soneji is a loner and is using his traumatic childhood in a way as an excuse to get Alex Cross into the investigation. Soneji in fact, is a tremendously smart individual and has made sure to his fullest extent that every possible scenario is accounted for.
Throughout the movie he uses many tactics to steer the investigation into a wall. Soneji also deals with Megan trying to escape throughout the film and calmly handles any situations that may arise.
Mr. Soneji divulges in Alex Cross and it comes to be known that he set his parents’ house on fire as a child and wishes he had parents like Megan’s. This was the only glimpse that he allowed into his personal life throughout the movie. The only things that the authorities knew were in a sense what he wanted them to know.

III.

In explaining Mr. Soneji’s behavior I had to take many things into consideration. These elements of his life included his family life, how he grew up and what his home life was like. His personality was not outgoing and was also shy. Next, I looked at his relationships and how he acted around others. Were the relationships he had healthy or were they non-existent? Analyzing aspects of his life serve as a method to help better understand why he committed various crimes throughout his life and what the cause was. During the film Mr. Soneji’s character did not reveal much about himself. This is where I in a way profiled or studied his behavior. According to the English Dictionary criminal profiling is defined as, “the analysis of a person's psychological and behavioral characteristics, so as to assess whether they are likely to have committed a crime under investigation” (Dictionary). In doing so I chose the Age Graded Theory we learned about this semester. The reason why I chose this theory over many others was because I noted that Mr. Soneji’s behaviors could be the result of some of the things mentioned in this theory.
I selected the theory named Age Graded Theory. I will use this theory to explain the behavior of Mr. Soneji and delve deeper into his life. I will analyze his actions and inactions to show that this theory can explain his behavior. I will look at not only his criminal activity in the present but I will also look at the past. I chose this particular theory

because it allows me to go into his past and look at the bonds he had while he was growing up as well as in his adult life.
IV. Age Graded Theory was a theory that Robert J. Sampson and John Laub formed. The purpose that these men had was to prove that, “abrupt turning points and gradual changes that come with growing older, such as getting married and finding stable employment, increase social bonds to society (Akers & Sellers, 293-294). Robert J. Sampson is a Professor at Harvard University and is also the Director of the Boston Area Research Inititive (Harvard University). While John Laub is a Professor at the University of Maryland. He teaches criminal justice and was the Director of the National Institute of Justice in the Office of Justice Programs (John Laub). Both of these men worked on the Age Graded Theory in which they actually re-analyzed this theory which Glueck worked on.
These men gathered the data that the Glueck’s found to help with re-analyzing this theory. The theory was, “able to track stability and change in both criminality and proposed cause of criminal behavior…(Akers & Sellers, 294). This theory suggested that there were key points in life that helped with reducing crime throughout life. Some of the events were marriage and a stable job helped reduce crime later in life. This is where I think Mr Soneji fits in, he did not have these key life points and was not a well adjusted man. This theory explains that crime and deliquency can occur if bonds are weak or broken. When watching the movie we see that Soneji doesn’t have any substantial bonds and we can infer that he has been like this for a while, because of what he confessed about his past to Cross. As mentioned earlier there are elements in regards to this theory such as turning points and social capital. According to the book, social capital is defined as,” features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that fascilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit” (Ackers & Sellers, 167-168). While a turning point is easily stated as a postitive event in life. Without these elements formed delquincey can transpire.
V. According to the Age Graded Theory there must be social bonds. In watching “Along Came a Spider” Mr. Soneji did not have these strong bonds or keys turning points in life. If Mr. Soneji had gotten married and had this type of strong emotional bond he may have been steered away from crime. We can infer from this movie that Soneji was shy and distant due to his troubling childhood. In this movie he portrays himself as an individual without a constant family or friends in his life. When the police raided his house there were more gadgets and technology than pictures or any type of relationship type objects. This was the part of the movie where I knew that this was a theory that explains his behavior.
This makes me wonder, what if he got married.

What if Soneji had friends at the school, would this have changed his course of actions. I think that these elements would have changed the situation. Age Graded Theory puts an extreme amount of emphasis on bonds and social capital. According to this theory this would have played a huge role in his life (Ackers & Sellers). He would have had a strong bond with his wife and if he had a stable career where he was accepted then maybe this would have turned his path through life in a different way. He would have positive relationships with his work and social life and he would have valued the basic norms of life instead of delinquency. Bonds are an extremely important part of a person’s life. These elements are what would have kept Mr. Soneji from engaging in these delinquent

acts.