Jo Ann Beard's Essay 'The Fourth State Of Matter'

In the essay “The Fourth State of Matter” Jo Ann Beard delves into her life and mindset before, during, and after a shooting at the University of Iowa. Beard portrays herself as a woman immersed in her own world. Having recently gone through a break up, Beard lives with her three dogs, one of them paralyzed in the legs, and unwelcome squirrels that inhabited the empty upstairs bedroom of her house. She works for a physics magazine at the University of Iowa as a managing editor. The job doesn’t consist of anything to do with physics besides organization of the articles discussing the subject, but in the time she worked for the magazine, Beard made many friends who are experts in the field. One friend in particular is Chris Goertz. Beard and Goertz retain a platonic relationship and share problems and pleasantries with each other. As the essay progresses, the reader …show more content…
Gang Lu, a graduate student, has lost his passion for physics. The employees do not deserve their positions nor do they respect him to the standard he desires. It seems like his love for physics diminished throughout his time in Iowa and he now spends his time at shooting ranges rather than in the computer lab. While Gang Lu contemplates his position at the magazine, Beard decides to go home from work. She went in because she had nothing better to do. The day that she decided to go home is what Beard describes as “the last day of the first part of [her] life” (8). Gang Lu had trained for his breaking point. In a letter that he writes to his sister, he states that his is going to commit suicide. Furthermore, he will have “a few travelling companions to accompany [him] to the grave” (9). Gang Lu shoots and kills seven people in the physics department in addition to taking his own life. Beard, at home, starts receiving phone calls of the events, and then she sees it on the news. She is in shock. Her co-workers, along with one of her best friends, are