Once again, Salinger wasn’t oblivious to the meanings behind each character’s name. In fact, symbolism plays a part in the character Sybil Carpenter. “Sybil, bright with innocence but already tarnishing, symbolizes for Seymour the human condition: like the sibyls of old, she is the unconscious oracle through whom the prophecy is revealed, the instrument of truth” (Lane). A sibyl is defined as “a woman in ancient times supposed to utter the oracles and prophecies of a god” (“sibyl”). It is…
The Serial Shooter: Dale Hausner and Samuel Dieteman Beginning in 2005, Phoenix, Arizona was at the mercy of two serial killers. It was rare for Phoenix to have one serial killer, much less two. One of these killers was dubbed “The Serial Shooter”. The identity of the serial shooter is now known: Dale Hausner began committing the murders individually, and later added a partner, Samuel Dieteman, who was his roommate. Both men were in their 30s and single. The Serial Shooter terrorized the…
Blood Wedding was written by Federico Garcia Lorca in 1932 and was first performed in 1933. Blood wedding was inspired by a story Lorca heard that came from Almería. There a bride ran away with her cousin. Her cousin was then murdered by the bridegroom’s brother. Given this inspiration Lorca went on to write a play that continues to be popular to this day. The play is full of various themes, themes that everyday people can connect to. It also contains climactic scenes like majority of good plays…
Born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, Sylvia Plath would later be recognized as one of the greatest poets and novelists of the post-war era. Plath was raised in an academically focused environment; her father was a biology professor and her mother was a shorthand teacher. Contrary to the writing style of the time, Plath wrote about genuine emotions experienced by women. Additionally, she wrote about personal life events and the people that surrounded her. The poem, Point Shirley,…
Herman Webster Mudgett, better known by his alias Dr. Henry Howard “H.H.” Holmes, was one of the first publicized serial killers in American history. Called a “blood-thirsty demon” in an 1896 New York Times article, Holmes was convicted and hanged for the murder of Benjamin F. Pietzel, but he confessed to 27 murders and his body count has been estimated to be nearer 200. Holmes, who started out his life of crime with insurance fraud when he was just out of college, eventually confessed “I was…
Think of the words “serial killer.” Who comes to mind? Many have left an undesirable impression on the world, but some tend to stand out from the rest. One in particular seems to be especially unique against the others: Richard Kuklinski. Standing at six and a half inches at three hundred pounds and nicknamed “The Iceman,” Richard Kuklinski was a brutal and cruel man known for killing more than one hundred men in his lifetime. Most people who knew of Kuklinski’s background would not be surprised…
Sylvia Plath “The silence depressed me. It wasn't the silence of silence. It was my own silence" (Plath). Throughout her life, Sylvia Plath wrote about her hardships and emotions, to contribute to her main theme that death brings the hatred out of people, as reflected in her own life, which allows people to relate to her work and feel as though they are not alone. Sylvia Plath faced a challenging childhood and reflected her emotions within her poems. Otto Plath died on the night of November…
Lust killers typically use their hands as weapons because it requires close contact with the victim. An example of this type of serial killer is the notorious Ted Bundy, who terrorized women all over the country. Bundy deceived his victims by pretending to be injured and requesting help. The young women who did, paid a fatal price. After he killed his victims, he often would have sex with their corpses and even…
their deeds, or to confess that they were motivates by voices in their heads or some other imaginary source” (“Serial Killers”). Of course, if there is a disorganized killer, then there is also an organized killer. Ted Bundy is the ultimate example of an organized serial killer. “Ted Bundy was so organized that the police never located the crime scenes where his first seventeen victims were actually killed. Six of his victims remain missing to this day” (Vronsky 102). Organized killers tend to…
fascinated by the horrors and cruelty of murderous fictional characters such as Freddy Krueger and Haninibal Lecter. Fictional murder crimes seem far-fetched, however, they can be all too close to reality. With real-life killers such as Helter Skelter, Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, and Jack the Ripper anyone can see that fictional murders are just as real as actuality. Be that as it may, Serial murder is a rather rare event; the estimated murders committed in any given year is estimated to…