The Alibi By Sarah Koenig Analysis

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Being strangled to death is a captivating headline. A teenage girl being strangled to death, possibly by the hands of an ex-lover, is enough of a tragedy that people practically drool for details. It instantly becomes something to tickle minds with dangerous questions about themselves. The story needs to be told to satisfy the masses, for curiosity, as well as to generate the perpetual fear of people. Sarah Koenig tells the story of the end of Hae Min Lee, about twenty-one minutes at the end of a school day, and what it has resulted in. Koenig puts herself as the narrator needed to bring the world along and experience someone else’s life, and death. She says in silent words ways to think about this story, as well as how to grab an audience …show more content…

On one hand Adnan can be seen as yet another falsely convicted teenager wronged by the system. On the other hand, he could be a manipulative, deceiving criminal, who strangled his girlfriend and is lying to the world to get free. A metaphor can surface from these two ideas; how much can you really trust your instincts on strangers? “I mean, the only thing I can say is, man, it was just a normal day to me” (Koenig, “The Alibi”). Is this a statement of utter denial, or of a teenager saying there was nothing different from any other day? It is all put up to perspective. Rabia and Saad believe his innocence, whereas Jay and the court believe otherwise. The insight Sarah gives to us on Adnan is from a completely unbiased place. Laced into her words you can see her uncertainty of his innocence or guilt, but also her confidence in what she has found. Whereas the court thought Adnan was in torment over his loss of faith due to being with Hae, Sarah saw it more as being an overstuffed idea. She and Adnan talked about his faith, and he admitted though he was serious and cared about his faith, it was not causing him any grief being with her, since he also has been smoking weed and breaking haram for a while; it was not really a big

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