Columbine Rhetorical Analysis Essay

The Truth About Columbine Dave Cullen’s purpose in writing Columbine was to expose the truth. Dave Cullen exposes Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris the Columbine shooters; everything from their extensive planning, their motives, and the harrowing results of the massacre were revealed throughout Columbine.
The writing techniques throughout Columbine exemplify the different treatment of the killers. Eric being a psychopath that felt no remorse, and Dylan being humanized as a person who was lost in his own sadness. The writing techniques that Cullen uses to show the different treatment of the boys makes Dylan a more relatable person, and more deserving of forgiveness. The different treatment of each of the boys was a guide for the reader of where to look when came down to finding the truth. …show more content…
Cullen uses insight as a rhetorical device to create a real and truthful view of the Columbine massacre. He does this by showing multiple points of view throughout the book. Cullen uses the perspectives and emotions of victims, parents, and killers to further indulge the reader’s mind into the emotional aspect of the situation. He shows the terror and pain that the victims experienced; explained the panic the parents had felt when they couldn’t find their children, didn’t have access to information, and the frustrations of not being able to know the truth. The killer’s perspectives offered a different type of emotional empathy it caused the reader to look for clarity in the killers reasoning. While reading the book, the reader was forced to look to Eric for facts about the event, and what was going to occur; whereas the readers were more inclined to look to Dylan for reasonings to make sense of the prepositions that they had made. The connection through personal insight is crucial to exposing the truth because if one can empathize, then one can see the truth within the