The Character Analysis Of Dave Cullen's 'Columbine'

April 20th, 1999. Do you remember where you were when you heard the news? The tragedy shocked the world, being that it was the worst school shooting at the time. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve students and a teacher. Injuring more than twenty other people, then ending it by turning the guns on themselves. In Columbine by Dave Cullen he gives insight into the lives of the shooters, the victims and the police force behind the case. Cullen conducted nine years of research with various interviews, 25,000 pages of police evidence and countless hours of audio and video. Being Publishes Weekly “Nonfiction Best Book of the Year”, truly captivates the writing for the work itself.
Columbine captured the world’s attention by being so different than anything the world had ever seen before. From the warning signs the perpetrators left, to the era, and the fact that it was a duo. Cullen is able to go into great details of the boys since they left so much behind. Personally, I found Dylan’s character to be striking. Obviously, what he did is abhorrent but looking at this case study there is much to learn from. As the main question people ask is, why? Dylan was truly the sidekick, and followed Eric’s lead. Even though he was much more physically dominant, he was never the leader. “Eric slathered chicks with
Through the diction and tone to subtle uses of personification and irony he’s able to interweave helps the reader to understand. “All the columbine myths worked that way. And they all sprang to life incredibly fast-most of the notorious myths took root before the killers body were found.” (149) This helps the theme by saying how the myths ‘sprang’ it gives a human quality making it seem more powerful and dramatic. Irony helps to support the theme by stating the tragedy of such myths so soon while still proving that they are