Argumentative Essay: Charles Manson As An American Villain

When the majority of people picture a villain, they might describe one as “a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime” (“Villain”, dictionary.com). Our world today is filled with more villainous acts than we can count, whether it be as small as a lie or as grand as several murders. Charles Manson was an American villain who was guilty of an abundance of malicious acts - some that sound too obscene to even be true. A cult leader with around a hundred followers, Manson and his family are “thought to have carried out some 35 killings” (“Charles Manson”, A&E Networks Television). Manson’s difficult childhood led him to create a unique character out of himself, where he developed some interesting theories and philosophies. Charles Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Kathleen Maddox and Colonel Walker Henderson Scott Sr., on November 12, 1934. His mother was only sixteen when she had him, and she was not a present mother figure and often out on the streets. His biological father was never part of Manson’s life. Manson grew up in an unstable household with little support, “... his mother was a teenage prostitute, [and] other relatives say she was simply “loose”…Whatever the case, she lived with a succession of men. One, a much older man named William Manson, whom she married, was around just long enough to provide a surname for the youth…” (Bugliosi 190-191). Manson was often dropped off at neighbors and friends houses and would be left there for days or even weeks at a time. The closest to a home life he would have, was spent with his maternal aunt or grandmother, but even still, he was known to run away frequently. Manson spent so much of his youth and teenage years in different institutions, … “that he never really learned much of what ‘real life on the outside was all about’” (Bugliosi 196). Before becoming married and having a child on the way, Manson would not have made such an effort to live a meaningful life outside of these detention centers, institutions, and prisons. Unfortunately, it was not long before Manson was tried with another federal offense, placing him back into prison. At the date …show more content…
Prison had become his home, he told them. He didn’t think he could adjust to the outside world… That same day he requested and received permission to go to San Francisco. It was there, in the Haight-Ashbury section, that spring, that the Family was born” (Bugliosi 203). As an avid musician, Manson believed in what he called “Helter Skelter”, which was the equivalent of an apocalyptic race war. Manson “…thought this would cause the white community to turn against the black community, ultimately leading to a civil war between blacks and whites, a war which Manson told his followers would see bloodbaths in the streets of every American city….” (Bugliosi 419). Within less than a year, Manson had a following of around one hundred people, whom he brainwashed to believe that “There was no death to [his] way of thinking, Death was only a change….To [him] it was not wrong to kill a human being, but it was wrong to kill an animal of plant” (Bugliosi 301). Therefore, Manson and his family committed numerous murders, in order to prepare for “Helter Skelter”, including the slaughters of the Tate and LaBianca cases, which would put Manson and several of his cult members in prison for