Eric: "I have to turn off my feelings"

Miss_Reynolds wrote:

Eric scared of his future? Dylan scared of his future? No I don't think so....Why would they be when they were smart? And nothing in their journals indicated that they were scared of their future.

Being smart doesn't guarantee happiness or success or acceptance or respect. People don't just start accepting "different" people once high school ends. The adult world is made up of the same people that torment the outsiders in high school. Some people mature but there is always pressure to conform to the majority. If you are truly different, you will always deal with alienation to some degree.

They never said that they were afraid of what would happen in the future but look at the timing of their massacre. They didn't do anything until the very end of their senior year. It doesn't suggest that they were pushed so far that they snapped because they couldn't bear to go back into that school for one more day. They waited until they were weeks away from being free of Columbine forever. Most of their bullies were already gone. They were supposed to be moving on too, very soon after that. Blowing up and shooting up their school weeks before graduation suggests that they couldn't see a future for themselves. Eric was repeatedly uprooted in his life. I can easily see how the thought of being uprooted once again could add to the turmoil he was experiencing, even if he hated a lot of things about Columbine. Instead of having to figure out what he was supposed to do now and face an uncertain future, he could go out in a blaze of glory and show everyone who was in charge. The idea that Eric and Dylan were afraid of moving on is a very reasonable possibility.

sscc wrote:

Miss_Reynolds wrote:

Eric scared of his future? Dylan scared of his future? No I don't think so....Why would they be when they were smart? And nothing in their journals indicated that they were scared of their future.

Being smart doesn't guarantee happiness or success or acceptance or respect. People don't just start accepting "different" people once high school ends. The adult world is made up of the same people that torment the outsiders in high school. Some people mature but there is always pressure to conform to the majority. If you are truly different, you will always deal with alienation to some degree.

They never said that they were afraid of what would happen in the future but look at the timing of their massacre. They didn't do anything until the very end of their senior year. It doesn't suggest that they were pushed so far that they snapped because they couldn't bear to go back into that school for one more day. They waited until they were weeks away from being free of Columbine forever. Most of their bullies were already gone. They were supposed to be moving on too, very soon after that. Blowing up and shooting up their school weeks before graduation suggests that they couldn't see a future for themselves. Eric was repeatedly uprooted in his life. I can easily see how the thought of being uprooted once again could add to the turmoil he was experiencing, even if he hated a lot of things about Columbine. Instead of having to figure out what he was supposed to do now and face an uncertain future, he could go out in a blaze of glory and show everyone who was in charge. The idea that Eric and Dylan were afraid of moving on is a very reasonable possibility.

I was about to say this. I strongly believe they were both very scared of life after high school, or else they would have just waited to graduate. The school itself wasn't the only issue to them. While they did not explicitly state they were scared of the future, they both wrote at length about controlling their destiny and going to a better place because they were more "aware".

I can’t take his journal serious for some reason
Ask his “booga booga heh.”
It was 100% for the Audience &he knew what he was doing& he knew it would be found.
Maybe he wanted to act that “psycho “ role and not Being the “wimp “kid.

He was no doubt writing for an audience. But I think some of the things he was saying he truly believed too.