A deeper look into the lives of two teenage boys Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who both Attended Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado, Why would two middle class Seemingly comfortable boys plan and Successfully carry out a deadly massacre on their fellow students and teachers. An In-depth look into their lives leading up to the tragic shootings on April, 20th 1999 that claimed the lives of 12 students, one teacher and themselves who committed suicide. Bullied Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were both High School Seniors in their last full month at Columbine High School. They had met each other in the first year at Columbine High School in the 9th grade and bonded because they were both socially awkward and rejected in the social ladder of Columbine High School. Brooks Brown, A childhood to shooter Dylan Klebold said on TV documentaries how Dylan has always been bullied since a young age. Brooks Brown and Dylan Klebold were drawn to each other because according to Brooks, they were the “weird” kids in the class. This same tag was also used to join Dylan and Eric as friends in High School. Eric and Dylan’s friendship was based off them feeling like the school geeks and left out. Dylan was extremely tall at six foot two and Eric Harris was also tall, but a bit shorter at 5 foot 10. The two of them were skinny and described by many as “ugly”. Both Eric and Dylan according to Brooks Brown never had girlfriends and died virgins. Eric and Dylan were both expressive teenage boys and both expressed their current feelings through their diaries which were found after death. They both echoed depression and hatred for mankind. Both young men suffered depression in different ways. Dylan always felt he was ugly and odd looking. He... ... middle of paper ... ...be involved. Being their last month at Columbine High School, they wanted to change that and become immortalized forever. Eric and Dylan had an obsession for all things guns and violence. They came prepared, ordered their guns a year in advance for the shooting. They did not only have guns knives which they intended to use, and homemade bombs that were placed strategically in the school cafeteria where most people were, if these bombs had been wired correctly, the fatality would have been higher which is what they planned for. Eric and Dylan beyond doubt suffered depression, which ultimately lead to suicidal thoughts and plans. Their friendship did not help the situation. They consoled each other through violence and hatred of the world. Eric was filled with more rage and Dylan was filled with worthlessness and deep depression, combined it was a recipe for disaster.
This book was written by Dave Cullen published on April 6th, 2009. This story is a stated form of literature due to Dave Cullen directly stating in this story his reason for writing this book. Cullen was one of the first reporters to arrive to the site of this crime committed by Dylan and Eric, and since the day of this massacre Cullen had then spent ten years to publicize this very informative and crucial information for those who wanted the truth and nothing but the truth.
Robert Hare. “I want to tear a throat out with my own teeth like a pop can,” he writes in a journal entry, just months before the attacks (Cullen 294). Eric had a major sadistic side to him and dreamt of destroying the human race entirely. He found himself to be superior to nearly everyone. Hare created a special screening test used for mainly juveniles that listed ten hallmarks of early psychopathy. Eric spoke about nine of the ten hallmarks on his website alone, some in grave detail. But Dylan, on the other hand, showed none of these traits, except possible persistent aggression. According to Dwayne Fuselier, the head profiler on the Columbine case, Dylan hardly seemed committed to the plan the boys had organized. His main goal was to kill himself, not other people. “.......Good god i HATE my life, i want to die really bad right now,” he writes in the end of a journal entry (174). This is one of several times he talks about suicide in his journal. Sometimes, his self-hatred strayed away from exclusively himself to other people. These were the times
High School as teenagers as the century was about to turn, they could have easily morphed into Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, taking innocent lives in a society that breeds contempt – if looking for it.
close to 3 dozen families. This source was reliable because it provided detailed information, giving time and dates for incidents that led to and followed the final tragic event. I would recommend this source to others because of the information given, it supplies details in which could help someone get in the mind or understand what either of the boys might have been thinking, or what they had went through that led up to the event, also informing one of what had happened afterwards and how it affected lives and the difference it made in schools,
Juxtaposing Dylan’s and Eric’s personality traits defies the readers’ expectations. Cullen first uses opposing language to focus on the boys’ conflicting views on the attack. Dylan, Cullen argues, visualized the attack as an escape from reality: he didn’t plan to follow through with it, simply fantasizing about a single attack. Eric, however, truly wanted to destroy everyone. Later, this contrast becomes more prevalent when Cullen remarks, “Eric launched a new charm offensive… he worked his ass off to excel. Dylan didn’t even try to impress Andrea” (258-259). The decision to place the sentences consecutively helps the readers gain insight into the killers’ minds before the attack. By starkly contrasting the murderers’ thoughts, it corrects the misconception that they targeted specific groups of people because they were bullied outcasts. Instead, the readers realize, Eric was quite charming. There was no specific “hit list”, as the media hypothesized, rather the killers planned to murder
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.
On the day of the Columbine High School Massacre, previously to the attack both Erick D. Harris and Dylan B. Klebold placed a decoy bomb in a field; they had set the bombs to explode at 11:14 to distract police officials. The two boys then headed to the school and entered the commons shortly after 11:14 a.m. and went unnoticed carrying the big duffel bags with propane bombs inside of them. They placed the two twenty pound duffel bags in the cafeteria with the bombs set to explode at 11:17 a.m. They went back outside and armed themselves, they each strapped on an arsenal covered with a trench coat, a semiautomatic, a shotgun, and a backpack full of different types of bombs. The boys then set the timers on the bombs set inside each of their cars outside the school. The boys sat outside armed waiting outside for the bombs to explode and shoot any
"In October 1997, a 16-year old in Pearl, Mississippi, first killed his mother and then went to school and shot nine students, two fatally; in December 1997 a 14-year old went to his school in West Paducah, Kentucky, killed three students and wounded five others; in March last year, two boys, aged eleven and thirteen, killed four girls and a teacher outside their school in Jonesboro, Arkansas; the next month a science teacher was shot dead, allegedly by a 14-year old, at a school dance in Edinsboro, Pennsylvania; last May in Fayetteville, Tennessee, an 18-year old student allegedly shot dead a classmate in the school car park; two days later, in Springfield, Oregon, a 15-year old opened fire at his high school, killing two teenagers and wounding more than twenty (police later found that his parents had been killed at home) ("Lesson"). On April 20th of this year, two teenagers enter their school and open fire, killing 12 students and one teacher before taking their own lives.
At 11:19 in the morning of April 19, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stood at the west entrance of Columbine High School preparing for the deadliest shooting in American school history. One of them yelled, "Go! Go!," and then the two pulled out their shotguns and began firing, killing two students almost immediately (Jefferson County 3). Harris and Klebold began moving through the school randomly shooting students, detonating pipe bombs, and yelling about how much fun they were having. While this was happening, Coach Dave Sanders and other heroes were frantically trying to get students out of harm's way. At 11:26, while running past the library warning students of the killers, Sanders was shot by one of the shooters. He made it into a science room where first aid was administered by students. He died several hours later in that same room. The worst killing took place in the library during a span of about eight minutes starting at 11:29. Ten students were killed and twelve others were wounded. After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold wandered around the school in movements that appeared to be "extremely random" (Jefferson County 18). They eventually returned to the library at about 12:08 and killed themselves. In 49 minutes, 14 students were left dead, one teacher was left dying, 23 people were injured, and an entire community's sense of safety and security was shattered.
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...
On December 14th 2012, just 11 days before Christmas, an awful tragedy happened in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. This awful event left a lot of unanswered questions and rumors about that day. The reason for that is because the shooter killed himself after shooting twenty young children and six adults. This tragedy open the eyes of everyone; made you want to hug your loves one just a little tighter, appreciate what you still have and never take a day for granted. Even our president Barack Obama felt the pain of all those who lost their loved ones in this event. He insured everyone that he will do everything in his power to make sure a tragedy like this will not happen again. However, did you know that there have been over 44 school shootings since the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary shooting? I know as a future teacher and mother I want to make sure my children are safe in this world and even at school. I want to be able to make a difference in this issue and have some knowledge to have I can do that. The society should understand what really happen during the Sandy Hook event, the reasons behind why school shootings/violence are rapidly increasing each year, and have some knowledge about what we, as a society, can do to help in order for us to start seeing a decrease of these events.
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)...
e. Yes, for the most part, Dylan and Eric seemed like completely normal teenage kids. They
Many teenagers feel isolated at some point during high school. This isolation is often accompanied by feeling shunned, ostracized and left-out. As Dylan grew up, he was very, very shy, especially entering middle school. In high school, he felt, along with Eric Harris, that he was judged for being outside of societa...
Today, the most difficult day in my family’s life, we gather to say farewell to our son, brother, fiancé and friend. To those of you here and elsewhere who know Dylan you already are aware of the type of person he was and these words you will hear are already in your memory. To those who were not as fortunate, these words will give you a sense of the type of man he was and as an ideal for which we should strive. My son has been often described as a gentle soul. He was pure of heart and had great sensitivity for the world around him. He had a way with people that made them feel comfortable around him and infected others to gravitate toward him. Dylan exuded kindness and pulled generosity and altruism out from everyone he touched. He was everyone's best friend.