When first introduced to George Harvey, the antagonist of the story, he immediately strikes a nerve. Readers may think how he is such a terrible character; raping and killing little Susie Salmon. As the story goes on, more and more about him is revealed and the only thing thought of Mr. Harvey is him being a evil, heartless sociopath when, in fact, he is not. I argue that in Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, George Harvey, instead of being a sexual sadistic serial killer, has a psychological disorder because he had a very traumatic childhood; this is apparent because he deals with his murders as if they were everyday activities, and he attempts to keep his urge to kill at bay. According to various studies, traumatic childhood experiences can …show more content…
often result in psychopathic tendencies. As a child, Mr. Harvey had a close relationship with his mother. Shoplifting little knickknacks and driving out to town for hours on end to avoid Harvey’s father created a special bond between the two. Once, on one of their journeys, they stopped by a wooden cross along the road covered in flowers. Harvey’s mom pulled over and looked for “treasures” to take from it and told Harvey, “You have to be able to look past the dead…Sometimes there are good trinkets to take away from them” (188). Afterwards, the pair fell asleep before being woken up by three prowling men, looking for a little fun with Mr. Harvey’s mom. Though they narrowly escape the possible horrific encounter, it was still a very frightening situation for a small child. During this time, “He had had a moment of clarity about how life should be lived; not as a child or as a woman. They were the two worst things to be.” (190). Chapter eight (96-97) describes how George Harvey’s father forced his mother to leave; severing their close relationship and leaving George Harvey with a loveless, abusive man. Having such a influential relation with his mother and then having her torn away from him could have introduced most of his psychotic problems he presently possesses. His shoplifting tendencies encouraged his knack for taking a souvenir from each victim. “He keep things to count, and this counting reassured him” (128). This notion is possibly a thing Mr. Harvey does to stay connected with his mother. His final thoughts during their close encounter with the bad men is very much related to why he chooses little girls as his victims. Again, this could very much be because of the fact that his mother was taken from him. *Perhaps he is simply taking them out of the world for their sake, so they don’t have to see the horrors of anything else bad in the world; perhaps he is doing it solely on the fact that his mother was taken away from him.* Certain quotes and information from the book proclaim that his troubled and traumatic childhood with his stern father and his idolized mother have much ado with the conditions of his present-day actions. There are certain distinguished aspects to pick out when recognizing a psychopath; their lack of empathy, and their ability to manipulate and charm everything and everyone around them. Mr. Harvey possess both of these. He has the same insouciant sensibility of his murders as he does if it were a normal action. One instance describes when Mr. Harvey lured a little girl into a van only to take the heel of her shoe. The little girl’s screams and cries were heard by passing pedestrians and when found, he simply claimed he was fixing her shoe, let them take the girl, and drove off. In this particular situation, Mr. Harvey did not feel anxious or worried when the by-passers discovered them, nor did he feel scared or panicked when they threatened to call the police or even when the little girl began to scream. As for manipulation, Mr.Harvey seems to know exactly what to say and which buttons to press to ensure his innocence in the minds of those around him. Every day, after picking up needed supplies, he would drive out to Valley Forge Park and watch the children who were on school tours to see historical memorials. When met by questioning tour guides, Mr. Harvey seemed to always have an excuse about a made-up family that connected him somehow to the grounds. Often, he would use the name of Sophie, the only older woman he killed, as his fake, deceased wife. “It had been like luscious food to this woman, and, as he listened to her tell him about her cats and her brother, who had three children, whom she loved, he pictured her sitting on the chair in his basement, dead” (175). Aside from questioning bystanders, Mr. Harvey is able to fool the police into believing his innocence and make them feel guilty for asking him private questions. Mr. Harvey gave suggestions and helpful tips to seem as if he wanted to help find the killer of Susie Salmon, the narrator. Mr. Harvey stated, “I wish I could do more,” which is followed by Susie telling us, “Len felt him to be sincere” (65). Mr. Harvey’s house was broken into and his drawing of the structure he used to lure Susie was taken. When questioned about that, Mr. Harvey claims “I was trying to figure it out” (193). He remarked that he had in fact tried to recreate the structure to figure how it worked out, but he didn’t tell the police because he “didn’t want to meddle with any more of my amateur theories” (193). His explanation was credential enough for the officers, because they thought him to be just another concerned neighbor. With little effort, Mr. Harvey is able to deceive everyone around him. Composed, emotionless, and deceitful, George Harvey shows multiple sure-fire signs of psychosis. Regularly, a serial killer will have some type of motive, whether it be for revenge, lust, power, envy or because of a mental situation.
George Harvey is of the few who kill because of a chemical imbalance in their brain. Psychopathic researchers have proven that psychopaths often do not possess the ability to resist temptation or control their behaviour. His desire to kill is something he cannot stop, although he tries. Mr.Harvey knows what he is doing is wrong, however, he enjoys it, so he tries to make himself do the right thing by fighting his urges to kill “By counting the bones and staying away from the sealed letter, the wedding ring, the bottle of perfume, he tried to stay away from what he wanted most—from going upstairs in the dark to sit in the straight chair and look out toward the high school, from imagining the bodies that matched the cheerleaders’ voices, which pulsated in waved on fall days during football games, or from watching the buses from the grammar school unload two houses down”. Susie states “What I think was hardest for me to realize was that he [Mr. Harvey] had tried each time to stop himself. He had killed animals, taking lesser lives to keep from killing a child” (131). *Although not to justify his vile and lewd actions, it is quite possible that they are nothing but impulsive and uncontrollable urges that result from his obvious psychopathic disorder.* After the kills are made, Mr. Harvey expresses a sort of satisfaction and titillation. “Better and better he was getting now, never using an old pattern that would bore him but making each kill a surprise to himself, a gift to himself” (51). Each kill was a thrill for him. After killing Susie, “He kept the lights out in the bathroom and felt the warm water wash me [Susie] away and he felt thoughts of me then. My muffled scream in his ear. My delicious death moan. The glorious white flesh that had never seen the sun, like an infant’s, and then split, so perfectly, with the blade of his
knife” (50). Such indulgence from something so repugnant can only be described as psychotic, which, in this case, is true. **After thoroughly exploring all aspects of the character George Harvey in The Lovely Bones, it is quite clear to see that he is simply a disturbed psychopath mistaken for a sadistic murderer. A traumatic childhood, emotionless urges to kill, and the gift of deceitful manipulation; these are evidence of a chemical imbalance that creates psychopaths, and the very things that makes George Harvey who he is. *Many times, the antagonist is overlooked and quickly judged; however, if one simply takes the time to look into their past or to examine the actions of their present, they will find that the antagonist is not what they are made out to be.* *A traumatized childhood, emotionless urges to kill, and the gift of deceitful manipulation; these are the aspects that turn George Harvey from a murdering sadist into just a disturbed psychopath.*
What would cause an individual to behave in this rather heinous and macabre manner? Using Robert Pickton as a case study, this paper will explore the phenomenon of serial murder and apply research literature to help explain his behaviour and examine issues such as psychopathy, mental disorder, and substance abuse relevant to the Pickton case. In addition, the paper will explore the sexually sadistic nature of Pickton’s murders. Finally, the paper will explore the reasoning behind Pickton’s selection of drug addicted prostitutes as victims that enabled him to conduct his murders in relative anonymity. ...
Southern gothic is a type of literature that focuses on the harsh conflicts of violence and racism, which is observed in the perspective of black and white individuals. Some of the most familiar southern authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. One author in particular, Flannery O’Connor, is a remarkable author, who directly reflects upon southern grotesque within her two short stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” These two short stories are very similar to each other, which is why I believe that O’Connor often writes with violent characters to expose real violence in the world while tying them in with a particular spiritual insight. The first short story that O’Connor refers to with southern grotesque and violence is in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”
Many people on this earth will commit a sin, they find they wish they had not, and 1 in every 5 Americans suffer from a mental illness. In a story named “Young Goodman Brown” by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, the people in his story have all sinned and meet with the Devil. Then in another story named “The Yellow Wallpaper” by the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character is suffering from a mental illness while her husband, a psychiatrist, tries to help her, but in doing so only makes her condition worse. Throughout both literary texts of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Young Goodman Brown,” the authors show numerous entries of Gothic Literature. And although “Young Goodman Brown” and the “Yellow Wallpaper” share similar Gothic elements, the two stories are very much different.
It’s not that uncommon for people to kill each other, and it happens every day. What is not common, is for someone to kill for no apparent reason. Typically there has to be some sort of benefit behind the murder. Whether that may be to get that out of their way for some reason, or to get something that they want. This article was meant to show resemblance between serial killers and your average everyday murderers. He brings up serial killer Lou Ford as an example of someone who acts as if they are normal, yet deep inside are very dangerous minded. Instead of using his physical attributes to murder people, he satisfies his needs by psychologically tormenting people. He does this as long as he possibly can, but there is only so much they can take of
“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things” (Theodore Roosevelt). Everything that occurs in your life before death is inevitable. Whether it is the loss of innocence, a loved one, or a possession, there is nothing that can be done to change the past. Thus, it makes little sense to dwell negatively on those past events. This proves true in Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones, a novel based on a true story. The protagonist and narrator is Susie Salmon, a curious and loving fourteen year old girl. The novel starts with Susie retelling her dreadful? encounter that happened on December 6, 1973. With vivid and horrifying descriptions, she explains events leading up to her
The analysis showed that Shirley’s and Thomas’s work matched in a way that both the stories reflect identity crises and the psyche of a killer. The notable use of typical fictional horror elements such as tragic backstories, harbingers, unseen forces causing chaos and dreadfulness, terror and above all unrealistically portrayed personality disorders makes the stories a baroque blend of supernatural fantasy and moral reality.
Sherwood Anderson depicts all the characters throughout his 24 short stories as a grotesque. He prefaces most of the stories with the old writer’s definition of what it means to be a grotesque. This definition frames how the book is to be interpreted throughout the different stories. Anderson paints every character as a grotesque. However, he does not paint them in the same light. What may make one person a grotesque may not make another person a grote...
In Edgar Allen Poe’s classic short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” an impression of apprehension is established through the fear-induced monologue of an unknown narrator. Right from the beginning of this short story, Poe prepares the reader for a horrific tale by way of the narrator admitting to the audience that he has, “made up my mind to take the life of the old man” (41). The narrator not only admits to this heinous crime, he proclaims that he had done so out of complete ‘sanity’ and proceeds to inform the audience, “and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story” (41), as he feels this will justify his atrocious crime. The narrator’s assurance of sanity is swiftly demolished as their mania takes control of the way they explain their actions. This obvious foreshadowing forces the audience to surpass the dreadful details and look for the remarkable facets of Poe’s short story allowing the setting of the
Ramsland, Katherin M. Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers: Why they Kill. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2005. Print.
The character I choose from the novel Lovely Bones is Mr. Harvey. His role in this novel was that he is a serial Killer. What is a serial killer? A serial killer is someone that killed more than three people over a period more than a month. Mr. Harvey killed Susie the main character in this novel. He rapped her, and cut her body up, and packaged it, and drove 8 miles and dumped it in a sinkhole.. Mr. Harvey doesn't really have a family. His dad abandons his mom after the argument that they next to the car in the streets over truth and consequences in Mexico. His mom was desperate that she taught him how to steal and shoplift. We know that his father was an abusive person. He also taught him about buildings. We know that Mr. Harvey’s life and Susie’s are the not exactly the same. In fact we know its the total opposite. Mr. Harvey never know what love is, since his father was abusive and his mother was a thief. Susie always had a loving family. Her dad and mom loved her and was overly protective.
An author’s use of an unreliable narrator can effectively provide readers with a first-person experience of mental illness. Two authors who have masterfully utilized unreliable narrators in their short stories are Edgar Allan Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. These particular authors intended to induce fear, influence psychology, or both with their use of an unreliable narrator. Edgar Allan Poe, an American author credited with inventing the horror genre, wrote his short stories intending to produce “a single, intense response in the reader” (Art 707). In Poe’s frightening short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, he produces this response with the use of an unreliable narrator. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an
Now we have examined three stories written by two well distinguished authors known for their Southern Gothic Literature and found many similarities in each story. Each story has its form of the grotesque we have Miss Emily, the Misfit, the Grandmother, and Marley Pointer and let’s not leave out Helga. The characters of each story has some form of cringe inducing quality, meaning some kind of attitude about themselves that gets under ones skin. Then as we can see from the stories they all are Southern based each story is in a Southern setting. And the final thing we look for in Southern Gothic literature is tragedy which all three stories possessed.
E. Arthur Robinson feels that by using this irony the narrator creates a feeling of hysteria, and the turmoil resulting from this hysteria is what places "The Tell-Tale Heart" in the list of the greatest horror stories of all time (94). Julian Symons suggests that the murder of the old man is motiveless, and unconnected with passion or profit (212). But in a deeper sense, the murder does have a purpose: to ensure that the narrator does not have to endure the haunting of the Evil Eye any longer. To a madman, this is as good of a reason as any; in the mind of a madman, reason does not always win out over emotion. Edward H. Davidson insists that emotion had a large part to play in the crime, suggesting that the narrator suffers and commits a crime because of an excess of emotion over intelligence (203).
The main character of Mr. Brooks is nothing short of a self-made man with a loving family and a productive business. However, not everything is what it seems. Mr. Brooks has a constant urge to kill. Like most real life serial killers, Mr. Brooks has a charming personality on the outside but a twisted brain on the inside. Every single action he took was thoughtfully played out, as if he were acting in a stage play with no chances of failure. Many psychopaths portray a high IQ and intelligence just like Mr. Brooks had. However, Mr. Brooks was not a psychopath. Deep down inside, he still harvested a strong familial love for his wife and daughter, and understood the mental and physical consequences of his actions. Instead, Mr. Brooks is the type of character that cannot be explained with just one theoretic analysis. The story illustrates that Mr. Brooks was a psychotic suffering from schizophrenia and that somehow his urge to kill could be passed down by generations. With this outline the
The Gothic dimensions of Poe’s fictional world offered him a way to explore the human mind in extreme situations, and so arriving at an essential truth. The Gothic theme of the importance of the intuitive and emotional and the rejection of the rational and intellectual is prevalent throughout The Raven, The Black Cat, and The Tell-Tale Heart. This is coupled with the convention of transgressive, encroaching insanity, ubiquitous in Gothic literature. In The Tell-Tale Heart, a kind of psychological doubling is achieved by the narrator- an identification with the old man at the time of disturbing him in the middle of the night, and a psychopathic detachment, evidenced by the feeling of triumph and elation that precedes the murder in the extract “..so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror”. Hysteria is pertinent in Gothic texts, an...