Police and John Busby

The Year We Disappeared: A Father Daughter Memoir, by Cylin and John Busby, 329 pgs. 2. There were two significant external conflicts in this book. First, John Busby (Author) vs. Meyer Family (Crime Family responsible for the attack). Raymond Meyer organized the shooting of John Busby. Raymond Meyer drove the car when James Meyer shot John Busby in the face with a shotgun. John Busby was an honest police officer who had a family. He was working hard for the right reasons. Busby’s life was forever changed by this act of violence. This conflict created a different world for not only John Busby, but his entire family. In a quick moment the life of the Busby family was drastically changed. Their world was now full of fear, pain and uncertainty about the future.
The other significant external conflict is John Busby (Author) vs. Society. In this conflict, society would be represented by the dishonest dealings of the Meyer crime family, as well as a corrupt police department. Busby was confident that the Meyer brothers were responsible for the attack. The police department did little to pursue this investigation and when the Busby family left Falmouth to enter into protected hiding, the case of John Busby’s shooting was closed. The Meyer crime family had influence and the police department was subject to this influence in some way. Societal corruption played a very important role in the actual crime but also how things were handled afterward. If an arrest and conviction were to have happened, Busby and his family may have suffered less than they did. They likely would not have needed to go into hiding, which was disruptive and isolating. Also, with an arrest, John Busby would have felt some satisfaction and relief. Unfortunately, convicting a Meyer for this crime was not accomplished until the end of the book when one brother finally admitted his involvement to the police.

3. The most important internal conflicts in this book