Columbine

“The violence intensified in the springtime, as the school year came to a close. Shooting season, they began to call it. The perpetrator was always a white boy, always a teenager, in a placid town few had heard of. Most of the shooters acted alone. Each attack erupted unexpectedly and ended quickly, so TV never caught the turmoil. The nation watched the aftermaths: endless scenes of schools surrounded by ambulances, overrun by cops, hemorrhaging terrified children.”

This passage, from very early on in the text, both does and does not correctly classify the attack on Columbine High. Both perpetrators were white and teenaged, and few had heard of Columbine High School before the attack. However, Cullen and law enforcement experts classify the attack, not as a shooting, but as a failed bombing, and the media captures more shots of the aftermath of horrific violence than ever before. 

“Earlier in the year, he’d rescued Rachel Scott, the senior class sweetheart, when her tape jammed during the talent show. In a few days, Eric would kill her.” 

This passage speaks to the dichotomous behavior of Eric (and, implicitly, Dylan) in the time leading up to the attack. While Eric seemed to hate the world and Dylan seemed to hate himself, both were capable of good, though later in the book, Cullen notes that manyof Eric’s good acts or behavior were a figurative mask worn commonly by clinical psychopaths. 

“Four minutes into the mayhem, much of the student body was oblivious. Hundreds were running for their lives, but more sat quietly in class. Many heard the commotion; few sensed the danger. Most found it annoying. The chaos and solitude went on side by side, often only yards apart.” 

Even while Harris and Klebold are actively shooting at their fellow students, literally hundreds more students are entirely unaware that anything is occurring. There are three prime reasons for this being the case: 1) school shootings, while certainly known, were less anticipated and planned for in 1999; 2) the sheer size of the school, without an active-shooter notification system in place, could not have possibly been aware of what was occurring; and 3) some students and faculty believed the shooting to be a joke or prank and did not take it seriously.