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http://community-matters.org/programs-and-services/safe-school-ambassadors

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https://www.stopbullying.gov/index.html

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More Information on the Events at Columbine

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More Information on the Events at Columbine

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http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/21/us/terror-littleton-overview-2-students-colorado-school-said-gun-down-many-23-kill.html

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http://bit.ly/2oleu25
http://bit.ly/2nJyyd4
http://bit.ly/2mXsFKo
http://bit.ly/2orx5Xd
http://bit.ly/2ok0AN7

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One of the big ideas brought about in this book is the concept of the instability of life. As demonstrated by the event that triggers the novel, a seemingly normal day can spiral out of control in the span of a heartbeat. One moment things are okay, but then one person makes a choice that affects their own life and the lives of those around them in a massive way. In this case, this change is brought by Nick's attack on the school. A seemingly normal, stable day was shattered in a moment. As I read, however, I realized that this supposed instability was an illusion. There were so many seemingly meaningless things that built together to cause this event. It's a butterfly effect scenario - alone, all those small things that occurred over the years did not have much of an impact. However, once they amassed too much, they spilled, cascading down and ripping everything apart. Life wasn't unstable; it was completely stable the whole time. The issue is that no one ever realized in what minimal ways it was shifting. No one questioned the small events that had always occurred and hinted at the outcome until they reached that point. The novel emphasizes the importance of small actions, and their relevancy in the bigger picture.

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Although the comparison seems rather obvious, as a reader, I was reminded very heavily of the Columbine Massacre while reading this novel. On April 20, 1999, two students entered their high school with guns and explosives, killing 23 people and injuring 20. The two gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, ended their siege in suicide. Almost instantly, there are similarities that can be drawn between Nick Levil's attack on his school and the Columbine shooting. Both parties ended their attacks in suicide, but that's only one of many similarities. Both Levil and Harris and Klebold were considered social outcasts, Levil being shunned and bullied and Harris and Klebold were a part of a group of misfits. This group called itself the Trench Coat Mafia, and they were often discriminatory against racial minorities and athletes. During the shooting, the pair seemed to target these groups, some of which were off of their own personal hate list. Similarly, Levil targeted people on his and Valerie's hate list. One of the victims of the Columbine shooting was reported saying the a gunman had pointed a gun in her face and had said it was because people were mean to him the year prior. Similarly, people who had bullied Levil had made their way onto his target list.

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Many reviews of this novel cast it as being a "raw" piece, I would say the opposite. Although it seems like this novel is a dark representation of the cruel realities it addresses, I personally think it is a very romanticized and stylized portrayal. I already addressed this a bit in the audio, but there is another thing that I've found is romanticized: mental illness. This, along with bullying, is one of the main factors that drove Nick to make the actions he did. In the novel, the way that these things are portrayed is rather wrong; the novel gives off the typical media idea that these problems only exist in the outcasts, and that they push a person completely over the edge, with no chance of redemption. However, it never touches on the conquerable aspects of it, and the horrific commonness of such things. In modern society, the goal is to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illnesses and bullying victims, but some forms of media and literature make that difficult.

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https://youtu.be/6KwKOozL2hQ