Columbine Chapter Summary

On April 20, 1999, the unimaginable occurred at Columbine High School in the small town of Littleton, Colorado. A school shooting, carried out by, then senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took the entire community by storm. With 15 deaths, including the perpetrators, and 24 non-fatal injuries, the memories of this horrific massacre will forever resonate in the minds of all. With a meticulously thought out plan, the two shooters prepared guns and bombs in order to perform the sickening act. Families, the FBI, local officials, psychologists, and more spent a multitude of time trying to figure out the reasoning as to what motivated the two boys to kill and cause so much pain to others. In attempts of clearly depicting the entire rundown

Additionally, dramatic irony, in which the audience knows more about the situations, the causes of conflicts, and their resolutions before the leading characters, plays a large role in the structure of the book. When describing the morning rush of Dave and Linda Sanders, Cullen (2016) states, “They rushed out to separate cars and realized they had forgotten to kiss good-bye. They always kissed good-bye”(p. 39). This is an example of dramatic irony because readers knew that this would be Dave and Linda’s last goodbye. Not only does this build suspense, as readers want to read the rest of the Sander’s story, but it also builds emotion and begins to create the personal connection readers need to indulge in a book. For the purpose of enticing emotion and bringing about a desire in readers to continue indulging in the text, the appeal of emotions through succinct language is utilized. In speaking of personal connections, Cullen appeals to readers’ emotions by using specific background stories of characters in order to ferment a personal connection between the two. For example,

30). Along with this genuine description of Cassie, Cullen goes on to tell her story, in hopes that readers get a true sense of who she really was. By doing this, readers were able to feel something for Cassie and really have an emotional reaction to her death, rather than just see her as any other student at Columbine High School. The personal connections keep readers going and entice them to find out why and how each person experienced the outcome they were given in the shooting. A big aspect of Cullen’s structure is the use of simple and concise verbage throughout the book. In doing so, he is able to keep a clear depiction of what occurred before, during, and after the Columbine shooting. For example, when illustrating the so-called “judgement day”, Cullen (2016) states, “Eric shot Richard in the arms and torso. He hit Rachel in the chest and head. Rachel died instantly. Richard played dead. Eric fell for it”(p. 46). By avoiding the use of unnecessary words, Cullen was able to get right to the point and write the event as it occurred, without added verbage that could lead to misinterpretation. With such concise language, the reader is able to understand and imagine the events that occur within the book. To educate, inform, and bring awareness to the horrible shooting that occurred at Columbine High School, Dave Cullen wrote his book, Columbine, in a clear, unwavering