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Death in the classroom Death in the classroom
(10 minutes later)
By Georgina Pattinson BBC NewsBy Georgina Pattinson BBC News
Mourning lost lives at Virginia TechVirginia Tech, Columbine, Jonesboro. The big question after every such shooting is why - a question novelists, filmmakers and songwriters seek to answer. Why does this crime resonate?Mourning lost lives at Virginia TechVirginia Tech, Columbine, Jonesboro. The big question after every such shooting is why - a question novelists, filmmakers and songwriters seek to answer. Why does this crime resonate?
Just days after Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-hui took his own life after gunning down 32 others, Jodi Picoult's latest novel was published in the UK. In a somewhat uncomfortable coincidence, Nineteen Minutes tells the story of a high school shooting.Just days after Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-hui took his own life after gunning down 32 others, Jodi Picoult's latest novel was published in the UK. In a somewhat uncomfortable coincidence, Nineteen Minutes tells the story of a high school shooting.
Queen of the bestseller lists and book clubs, Picoult typically grabs challenging subjects with relish. She is not the first to tackle the phenomenon of campus killings - so too did the novelists DBC Pierre with Vernon God Little, and Lionel Shriver with We Need To Talk About Kevin, and there are films, pop songs and documentaries aplenty.Queen of the bestseller lists and book clubs, Picoult typically grabs challenging subjects with relish. She is not the first to tackle the phenomenon of campus killings - so too did the novelists DBC Pierre with Vernon God Little, and Lionel Shriver with We Need To Talk About Kevin, and there are films, pop songs and documentaries aplenty.
But what is it about this crime that inspires art?But what is it about this crime that inspires art?
CAMPUS SHOOTINGS IN THE ARTS Novels include We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lionel Shriver)Songs include Rival (Pearl Jam), The Good Die Young (Tupac Shakur) and I Don't Like Mondays (Boomtown Rats)Films include Elephant and Heart of AmericaAnd Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine documentary Perhaps because we are so horrified - and fascinated - by the poignancy of young lives cruelly snuffed out. And a work of fiction seeks to get inside the unknowable mind of the killer - we want to know what turns a loner into a monster. The school shooter is walking a very fine line between killing himself and taking other people with him Jodi Picoult Perhaps because we are so horrified - and fascinated - by the poignancy of young lives cruelly snuffed out. And a work of fiction seeks to get inside the unknowable mind of the killer - we want to know what turns a loner into a monster.
And perhaps it is because it could happen to us. "It's not because we're immune: it's because we're lucky. It can happen anywhere at any time and I think there's that constant fear, even if we don't want to admit it to ourselves," Picoult says.And perhaps it is because it could happen to us. "It's not because we're immune: it's because we're lucky. It can happen anywhere at any time and I think there's that constant fear, even if we don't want to admit it to ourselves," Picoult says.
In Nineteen Minutes, 17-year-old Peter Houghton kills 10 and injures 19 of his fellow pupils. He is lonely and bullied, his self-esteem whittled away from the first day he goes to school. He is a sensitive boy who represents something "other" to the brash, hostile students around him. He is smaller than average, intelligent and tortured.In Nineteen Minutes, 17-year-old Peter Houghton kills 10 and injures 19 of his fellow pupils. He is lonely and bullied, his self-esteem whittled away from the first day he goes to school. He is a sensitive boy who represents something "other" to the brash, hostile students around him. He is smaller than average, intelligent and tortured.
From bullied to bullyFrom bullied to bully
Picoult is anxious to make clear that there are differences between her fiction and what happened at Virginia Tech (a topic on which she is now well versed, her book having been published in the US a month before the shootings). Peter, for instance, does not exhibit the disturbed behaviour that Cho's teachers and fellow students noted.Picoult is anxious to make clear that there are differences between her fiction and what happened at Virginia Tech (a topic on which she is now well versed, her book having been published in the US a month before the shootings). Peter, for instance, does not exhibit the disturbed behaviour that Cho's teachers and fellow students noted.
The school shooter is walking a very fine line between killing himself and taking other people with him Jodi Picoult The book asks what might have stopped Peter picking up that gun? His parents torture themselves with desperate questions; the local detective suffers pangs of conscience. CAMPUS SHOOTINGS IN THE ARTS Novels include We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lionel Shriver)Songs include Rival (Pearl Jam), The Good Die Young (Tupac Shakur) and I Don't Like Mondays (Boomtown Rats)Films include Elephant and Heart of AmericaAnd Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine documentary class="" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/americas/2007/virginia_shootings/default.stm">Virginia shootings The book asks what might have stopped Peter picking up that gun? His parents torture themselves with desperate questions; the local detective suffers pangs of conscience.
But the average stroppy adolescent will - at some point - look like a school shooter. There's no answer to why a kid on the margins should become a murderer.But the average stroppy adolescent will - at some point - look like a school shooter. There's no answer to why a kid on the margins should become a murderer.
"I think that when you have a history of being chronically bullied, three things happen," Picoult says. "You either deal with it - you're strong enough to deal with it - and you go on to become a very productive member of society; you take it out on yourself, the violence becomes self-directed; or you take your rage out on someone else. "When you have a history of being chronically bullied, three things happen," Picoult says. "You either deal with it - you're strong enough to deal with it - and you go on to become a very productive member of society; you take it out on yourself, the violence becomes self-directed; or you take your rage out on someone else.
"And even then, most psychiatrists will tell you that the school shooter is walking a very fine line when he walks into that school - between killing himself and taking other people with him.""And even then, most psychiatrists will tell you that the school shooter is walking a very fine line when he walks into that school - between killing himself and taking other people with him."
While researching Nineteen Minutes, she saw a tape in which Columbine killer Eric Harris is shoved to one side as he walks down the school corridor.While researching Nineteen Minutes, she saw a tape in which Columbine killer Eric Harris is shoved to one side as he walks down the school corridor.
"He doesn't even react," she says. "The psychiatrist said [it shows] it's so common for him he didn't have to react.""He doesn't even react," she says. "The psychiatrist said [it shows] it's so common for him he didn't have to react."
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Nineteen Minutes is now being taught in high schools and Picoult discusses the book with teenagers who tell her that they know people just like Peter. "They see him every day. They understand this."Nineteen Minutes is now being taught in high schools and Picoult discusses the book with teenagers who tell her that they know people just like Peter. "They see him every day. They understand this."
Picoult - who was herself bullied at school, and had three fingers broken in a locker - dedicates Nineteen Minutes to those who are a "little bit different, a little bit scared, a little bit unpopular". She adds that empathising with a victim of bullying is not the same as sympathising with a killer.Picoult - who was herself bullied at school, and had three fingers broken in a locker - dedicates Nineteen Minutes to those who are a "little bit different, a little bit scared, a little bit unpopular". She adds that empathising with a victim of bullying is not the same as sympathising with a killer.
"There's still a difference between a child who's fixated on violence and a child who just doesn't fit in," she says. "The minute the victim picks up a gun he becomes the biggest bully of all.""There's still a difference between a child who's fixated on violence and a child who just doesn't fit in," she says. "The minute the victim picks up a gun he becomes the biggest bully of all."
In the wake of these horrors, there is always a rash of copycat threats. "Because this is happening in every school - it's not just Virginia Tech, and guess what? It's not just Cho. It's everywhere. You've got to start looking at how you defuse that bomb before someone even lights the fuse."In the wake of these horrors, there is always a rash of copycat threats. "Because this is happening in every school - it's not just Virginia Tech, and guess what? It's not just Cho. It's everywhere. You've got to start looking at how you defuse that bomb before someone even lights the fuse."