Manson Murders

Alison Umminger’s 2016 novel American Girls centers around the never forgotten Manson Murders. Throughout the novel there are inserts of horrific scenes from murders or deaths pictured in Roger and Delia’s movie such as: the hotel were the women drowned in the water tower and the dark room were the murderer hung his victims pictures on the wall. The author, Alison Umminger, made it a point to show that just because it is a story does not necessarily mean it is not real. The things that happen to Anna and Delia are very common, and by including the Manson Murders puts into perspective just how real these incidents are. By incorporating the presence of crime throughout American Girls, Alison Umminger gestures toward the unrelenting fact that

Charles Manson is said to be schitsophrenic and psychotic, and these chemical imbalances in his brain are supposed to explain why he did what he did. However, no one will ever know why exactly he felt the need to slaughter those innocent victims. While Anna and Dex were talking back and forth about the murders Anna asks, “why are the murderers the famous people” (134). Sharon Tate was an actor, but Charles Manson is exceedingly more well-known than she would have ever been. These specific incidents are broadcasted all over the world because individuals find death and murder fascinating. Finding out why the killers did what they did, and every gruesome detail along with it gives the spectators an adrenaline rush. Through media murders are seen as stories and the murderers to some are not actual people but a character in a story. These murders that get put on the headline are irrational in a sense that it did not happen by natural causes or incident. It was a well-planned out meticulous scheme that ended dreadfully. By indulging in the murderers crime and his or her past life publicly through media or any other form of press makes the individual of the crime in a sense

How could one such as Charles Manson get these women to go along with his schemes, Anna comes up with a very intriguing idea on which she asks, “Do you think he was psychic? I know he was crazy and all that, but how does a person do what he does? I don’t mean just the awful part, but making all those girls do those things” (166). It is peculiar that these women openly willed themselves to commit such heinous crimes. What makes this particular idea of Charles Manson being psychic more interesting is Dr. Umminger telling of a book she read while researching for American Girls she states, “I wound up reading everything in the universe about Charles Manson… Long Prison Journey of Lesley Van Houten… reading it was really interesting it was written mostly from the perspective of the people who dealt with these women while they were in prison after the trials… one of the things after about five years these women realized they got really duped, they woke up like oh crap we listened to a crazy person” (Umminger 29:08). These women who looked up to this man that they considered to be God finally came out of their comatose state to realize that he was not God after all. He was a man that made these women do his dirty work. If only these women could have saved their innocence before they became a part of a horrendous event that will forever be