Research Paper On Columbine Shooting

On April 20, 1999, Littleton held their breaths as thirteen lives were torn from unsuspecting arms. In the rush of the moment, memories were whisked away by blindsiding bullets and two boys with one malicious dream. Attempts were made in vain to try to make sense of the massacre but none would come close for some time. Through words, Cullen disentangles the violent psyches of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as they imagined, illustrated, and executed the attack in his nonfiction novel, Columbine. Disturbing accounts from the mouths of victims and parents of the shooters are also included to assure that no detail was spared. Eric and Dylan, seemingly lost in the teenage craze that is drugs, alcohol, and weaponry, bonded over their individual searches for a mortal purpose. Eric was a fervent follower of Nazi ideals which lead him to be a …show more content…
How could two boys that they created, that they loved so dearly, have a taste for meditated murder? When the fire ceased, parents of the victims looked for something, someone to direct their furious paternal rage at. The killers had left them without a living target, so they turned to the parents. Obviously they had been doing something wrong if their boys lacked a conscience. Their parents had, in fact, been watching over them, though. After a few mishaps with the law, Eric and Dylan were enrolled in Diversions, a program to help them successfully graduate. Mr. Harris had prior knowledge of Eric’s pipe bomb stash and homicidal tendencies and tried his best to chastise Eric. Dylan’s parents, however, only saw the few arrests and dropping grades. Mrs. Klebold took a little solace in the fact that Dylan was reluctant to pull the trigger and often left teens to huddle under desks and behind doors. Her and her husband were the first of the two parents to willingly come forward about how the shooting affected them. The Harris family followed their lead a while