Date : 2019
Type : Livre / Book
Type : Thèse / ThesisLangue / Language : français / French
Meurtre multiple en milieu scolaire
Accès en ligne / online access
Résumé / Abstract : The following master thesis comes within the scope of American civilization. It broaches mass murders, more specifically mass shootings, in the United Sates where such events happen more frequently than in any other country. It particularly focuses on school shootings. School shooters are typically young Caucasian males from the middle-class. Moreover, a school shooting is most likely to occur in rural zones or supposedly safe suburbs. The 1990s saw this type of violence culminate as school shootings became a permanent feature of the cultural landscape of the United States. The Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999 was the deadliest attack at that time. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, targeted their school, killing twelve students and one teacher and injuring twenty-four others before turning their guns on themselves. What had been intended as an explosion which would destroy the entire school building went down to history as the most famous school shooting of all times. Its unprecedented level of violence shocked the nation which viewed the unfolding of events live on television. The Columbine shooting led to the writing of numerous books, journal articles, newspaper articles... as well as to the release of movies and documentaries. This thesis primarily studies the attack through the lens of seven books written by different American authors who have been more or less directly impacted by the events. The first book is She Said Yes : The Unlikely Martyrdom Of Cassie Bernall (1999) written by Misty Bernall who mostly focuses on her daughter, killed at Columbine. The second book is No Easy Answer : The Truth Behind Death At Columbine (2002) written by Brooks Brown, a friend of the shooters, in collaboration with journalist Rob Merritt. The third book is Comprehending Columbine (2007) written by sociologist Ralph W. Larkin who studies the microcosm of Columbine High School and the American society in general. The fourth book is Why Kids Kill : Inside The Minds Of School Shooters (2009), a comparative study of ten school shooters including Eric and Dylan written by psychologist Peter Langman. The fifth book is Columbine : A True Crime Story : A Victim, The Killers And The Nation’s Search For Answers (2014), a detailed account of Eric’s and Dylan’s life written by journalist Jeff Kass with a foreword by writer Douglas Brinkley. The sixth book is A Mother’s Reckoning : Living In The Aftermath Of Tragedy (2016) written by Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, with an introduction by journalist Andrew Solomon. The seventh book is Columbine (2016) written by journalist Dave Cullen who investigates both what led to the attack and its aftermath. These books tackle several issues : the killers, the victims, the investigation, the repercussions of the shooting… However, this thesis makes Eric and Dylan its sole focus. Actually, perhaps it has been impossible to see Eric and Dylan clearly because nobody focused exclusively on them. This thesis confronts the seven aforementioned books to explore how the killers are represented and which of their characteristics are the most highlighted to give an image of them. A threefold analysis is developed through the concept of good and evil, the concept of influence, and the concept of identification. First, the concept of good and evil allows us to study the very first representation of Eric and Dylan as well as their physical and moral portraits. Eric and Dylan are positively represented when they match the physical stereotypes of the average American male and meet the moral expectations of the American society. However, they mostly stand out as more on the evil side than on the good side, both physically and morally, because they kill people. Such behavior is not accepted in the predominantly Protestant American society which advocates good over evil. The authors’ judgment is thus in line with the Christian morals of the United States. Secondly, the concept of influence enables us to study Eric and Dylan’s mutual relationship and their relationship to the society. We see that the authors represent Eric and Dylan as more influenced by each other than by their environment, be it at the local or the national level. Dylan appears to be the most easily influenced and the most dependent of the two and is more submissive to Eric than Eric is submissive to him. Furthermore, Eric and Dylan are not seen as playing the same role during the attack, Eric being more active than Dylan. Although both are seen as equally responsible for the people’s deaths in the end, Dylan is represented as less responsible for the preparation of the shooting. Therefore, Eric and Dylan’s roles are not balanced. Determining the levels and ways of influence helps define the levels of responsibility. Thirdly, the concept of identification leads us to analyse the link between Eric and / or Dylan and Superman, both the 1938 superhero and Nietzsche’s vision ; J.D. Salinger’s hero Holden Caulfield ; and German dictator Adolf Hitler. This helps us consider other aspects of the shooters. We are able to explore sadism, narcissism, the search for power and glory, and the God complex. Then we broach teenage behavior and feelings. Finally, we tackle antisemitism and racism, as well as interests in social Darwinism and natural selection. Besides, because the characters chosen to identify Eric and Dylan are internationally famous and are archetypes, we discuss to what extent Eric and Dylan too can be considered archetypes.