Dylan posturing in his journal?

Today I was thinking a bit about how people here have claimed that much of Eric's journal was written for an audience, that he was posturing, that many of his hate filled, over the top rants about how hates civilization and wants to kill people are largely intended to shock the reader and make himself seem intimidating. And then I thought to myself, what about Dylan's journal?

Dylan's journal isn't a hate filled tirade the way Eric's journal is. Instead it's an excessively vain pity party where he seeks to vent about why he hates his life so much. Has it truly occurred to nobody that Dylan's rants about how his life sucks, how he'll never find a soulmate, and how he wants to kill himself could have been written for an audience? Is it not possible that when Dylan writes, he is inviting his audience to sympathize with him, to feel sorry for him, perhaps even excuse his actions?

I don't fully believe in this idea myself, but I wanted to sound it out, because I have heard nobody float the suggestion and I believe it warrants discussion at the very least.

Where were Dylans Journals found? In his bedroom, or in his car that was "supposed" to blow up into a million pieces? That would deffo point us into the right direction.

Adzybear wrote:

Where were Dylans Journals found? In his bedroom, or in his car that was "supposed" to blow up into a million pieces? That would deffo point us into the right direction.

Pretty sure it was in his bedroom. What was found in his car was the story he wrote about killing preps.

I think it is said Dylan's was littered around his room on sheets of paper in several hiding places, while Eric's was in a bound notebook left on his bed. Though both have a cover, so that makes me slightly skeptical Dylan's was not all together. But taken as a fact, that seems to make it unlikely Dylan's was for an audience, and was for himself and cathartic. The same is probably true of Eric's too, though it's just interesting to keep in mind if he thought others would read this. I have to imagine in eithers case they may have been putting on a persona but only unconsciously, in the way teenagers often do. "Just a phase" and all that, or indeed, as you mention, in the way one makes excuses. Consciously putting on a persona is something interesting to keep in mind in at least Eric's case, but probably just a cope for those who want to say they were good guys.

Nah, don't think he wrote it for an audience. At least not the first pages. He started his journal too early for that en there are some embarrassing things in it (foot fetish, masturbating, pretty pathetic love letters, etc)
But maybe he did leave it behind intentionally so his parents could read how he felt and his 'halcyon girl' would know how he felt about her. He erased his hard drive carefully, so i doubt he didn't know someone would find it. Not sure if he would've done that knowing we would be meticulously analyzing it 20 years later though

Yes, it’s somehow ironic. He felt so easily embarrassed by things and now the whole world can read his most intimate thoughts. Sue wrote that his journal consisted actually of scattered pages that were taken mostly from his school notebooks. Sometimes he had written on scraps which were tucked into books. It seems rather careless than deliberate. It’s also possible that he forgot some of his writings in his screwdriver frenzy.

LOL @ Screwdriver frenzy

I think he was just writing down scattered thoughts for himself and nobody else to see. He's barely understandable in some pages from his journal, even though he surely could paint interesting mental images of the type of existence he'd wanted for himself and his loved one

Anyone here ever kept a journal/diary?
I'm 28, by the time I was a teen with "woe is me" angsty shit to say social media was already a thing and everyone was using that as their personal diary. I'm  interested to know if it's at all the same. 

Your typical person will whine on Facebook for all to see, and you get validation through "likes". Did teens in the 90's secretly hope someone would read their journals?

I know it was a plot point for many 90's teen tv shows