A Summary Of Morgan To The Slenderman

Imagination and reality mixed together and the line between the two blurred on May 31st, 2014 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Morgan and Bella had been best friends since fourth grade but now in sixth grade they had the addition of Anissa. Each of these girls felt as if Morgan was their closest friend and they weren’t the most social children in school. Parents would call them misfits or not the girliest girls at the school. These girls had very active imaginations however Morgan had a darker imagination. Back in October of 2013 Anissa introduced Morgan to the Slenderman story. In order to become proxies of Slenderman they believed they needed to make a blood sacrifice by murdering someone. This lead to the event that occurred on May 31st where Morgan

As a kid you start to become socialized just by being in school or mixing socially with other people outside of family members. In the case of the Slenderman stabbing all three girls were in school being mixed in with others however it could be argued that they weren’t being socialized properly. This can be shown with the social control theory which is a view that people will commit crimes unless prevented from doing so. Travis Hirschi can show evidence to this theory because he influenced this theory when his book Causes of Delinquency came out in 1969. Hirschi states “proper socialization involves the establishment of strong moral bond between the juvenile and society.” This bond consists of attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Morgan showed signs of being attached to her parents and one teacher. However her very creative mind kept her from really gaining more connections other than Bella and Anissa. Morgan was not part of any school clubs or interested in things such as boys or bands. Anissa was a loner at the school and wasn’t involved with any friends expect Morgan. This was one of the reasons Morgan and Anissa bonded because of their dark imaginations and a need for

Looking at why these two girls committed this crime can come from the stages of psychosocial development. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial crisis shows what might be happening during the time the crime occurred. By the time children are twelve they have reached the identity vs role confusion stage. They might not know what they morally believe and could easily confuse the line between reality and imagination. Also Slenderman was not one of the first fictional characters that the two girls were obsessed with however it was the most powerful and compelling. Their minds being young and impressionable can be a reason why they might not know the difference between right and wrong. However at the age of twelve children can tell the difference between what is wrong and right and that you shouldn’t hurt those that you love. In this case the lawyers of both Morgan and Anissa took action to try and plead mental issues. Morgan was later examined by a doctor and was diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia. Her family may never have suspected that she had early onset schizophrenia because it just seemed like she had an overactive imagination. This however could explain how Morgan would not know the difference between what is wrong and right. Anissa however had the same obsession with dark fantasies but was never diagnosed with any mental