Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes is a story of the complexities unveiled by the events surrounding a school shooting. The novel is composed in time frames in accordance to the shooting, beginning with the day of the event, and then flashing back seventeen years, then flying forward to a few hours after the shooting, and so on. These time sequences are told from the points of view of up to six different characters, each revealing the multifaceted parameters of intent, revenge, justice, and guilt through their own thoughts and actions, and the actions of those around them.
The story begins on March 6, 2007 with Josie Cormier getting ready for school. Josie is the angst ridden teenage daughter of Superior Court Judge Alex Cormier, who is disillusioned with her pseudo-reality and has therefore been inconspicuously stealing sleeping pills from her mother for months, just so that she can down them in a lethal dose of alcohol when her "friends" discover how different and unhappy she really is. Josie's character deals mostly with the emotional aspects of the shooting and its aftermath, like missing her murdered boyfriend to the point of debilitation and playing six degrees with the wounded, and not so much with justice or law.
Justice is portrayed in this story in many characters, however, including Alex Cormier, Josie's mother. She is the youngest and reportedly fairest Superior Court Judge in Grafton County, New Hampshire, and while she seems completely oblivious to Josie's dark musings, she does care for her daughter dearly. Unfortunately, her talents lie with the repeat offenders that wander through her courtroom, not making an emotional connection with her daughter.
Judge Cormier's friend and OB GYN, Lacy Houghton, is another character of justice in Nineteen Minutes. Lacy delivered Josie when Alex was still a lawyer, struggling to understand how she would mother a child when she could not even keep a house plant alive. Lacy is also the mother of Josie's childhood friend, Peter Houghton, who, through a long series of unfortunate events becomes the school shooter.
Before Peter Houghton was an outcast, he was expected to follow in his older brother Joey's shoes as a great high school athlete. Sadly, Joey's tragic death during his senior year only alienated Peter further. Until one day even his best friend Josie left him for the "in crowd" on a promise that she would make them stop picking on him. The bullying did not stop for Peter, however, and he became a time bomb.
The story opens with Peter's suicide note, but he was apprehended before he killed himself so the story continue
s on with the preparation for his trial. Lacy tries to buy milk at the store, and ultimately cannot because she sees a change tin for the victims of the shooting and listens to the cashier's blind accusations of, "It makes you wonder about the parents, you know?" Lacy's justice is far different from that of the victim's parents, but Lacy stays silent. She wants everyone to understand that she lost her child, her Peter, too--just a long time before. She feels that she is blamed for not keeping a closer eye on Peter, for not knowing what he planned to do. After Joey died, Lacy found heroin in his room, so her theory was that if she did not want to find anything she did not want to see, then she would not pry.
Detective Patrick Ducharme was the first officer in the high school during the shooting, and was the officer to apprehend Peter. The Detective's character deals with the aftermath of crime and procedural law. He is on his way to the crime lab to have some evidentiary cocaine processed when he heres the code 1000. Patrick was the one to find Josie, scratched, but otherwise unharmed, and remove her from the wreckage with noticing her dead boyfriend lying next to her. Detective Ducharme is the character who plays Peter's video game simulation of nerds creating weapons and killing all the jocks, bullies, and popular kids, which results in a massacre of a SWAT team. He also investigates the suicide of a victim's mother in a local gun shop could be argued as an indirect result of Peter's shootings, but would not likely hold up in court.
Peter spends most of his time in detention fighting the counsel of his Defense Attorney, Jordan. Jordan saves Peter from a probable cause hearing that would put his family under the microscope and most likely discover his mens rea. Apparently, Jordan has discovered an untested yet valid defense, but the reader is unaware of the details of this defense at this point.
The story begins on March 6, 2007 with Josie Cormier getting ready for school. Josie is the angst ridden teenage daughter of Superior Court Judge Alex Cormier, who is disillusioned with her pseudo-reality and has therefore been inconspicuously stealing sleeping pills from her mother for months, just so that she can down them in a lethal dose of alcohol when her "friends" discover how different and unhappy she really is. Josie's character deals mostly with the emotional aspects of the shooting and its aftermath, like missing her murdered boyfriend to the point of debilitation and playing six degrees with the wounded, and not so much with justice or law.
Justice is portrayed in this story in many characters, however, including Alex Cormier, Josie's mother. She is the youngest and reportedly fairest Superior Court Judge in Grafton County, New Hampshire, and while she seems completely oblivious to Josie's dark musings, she does care for her daughter dearly. Unfortunately, her talents lie with the repeat offenders that wander through her courtroom, not making an emotional connection with her daughter.
Judge Cormier's friend and OB GYN, Lacy Houghton, is another character of justice in Nineteen Minutes. Lacy delivered Josie when Alex was still a lawyer, struggling to understand how she would mother a child when she could not even keep a house plant alive. Lacy is also the mother of Josie's childhood friend, Peter Houghton, who, through a long series of unfortunate events becomes the school shooter.
Before Peter Houghton was an outcast, he was expected to follow in his older brother Joey's shoes as a great high school athlete. Sadly, Joey's tragic death during his senior year only alienated Peter further. Until one day even his best friend Josie left him for the "in crowd" on a promise that she would make them stop picking on him. The bullying did not stop for Peter, however, and he became a time bomb.
The story opens with Peter's suicide note, but he was apprehended before he killed himself so the story continue
s on with the preparation for his trial. Lacy tries to buy milk at the store, and ultimately cannot because she sees a change tin for the victims of the shooting and listens to the cashier's blind accusations of, "It makes you wonder about the parents, you know?" Lacy's justice is far different from that of the victim's parents, but Lacy stays silent. She wants everyone to understand that she lost her child, her Peter, too--just a long time before. She feels that she is blamed for not keeping a closer eye on Peter, for not knowing what he planned to do. After Joey died, Lacy found heroin in his room, so her theory was that if she did not want to find anything she did not want to see, then she would not pry.Detective Patrick Ducharme was the first officer in the high school during the shooting, and was the officer to apprehend Peter. The Detective's character deals with the aftermath of crime and procedural law. He is on his way to the crime lab to have some evidentiary cocaine processed when he heres the code 1000. Patrick was the one to find Josie, scratched, but otherwise unharmed, and remove her from the wreckage with noticing her dead boyfriend lying next to her. Detective Ducharme is the character who plays Peter's video game simulation of nerds creating weapons and killing all the jocks, bullies, and popular kids, which results in a massacre of a SWAT team. He also investigates the suicide of a victim's mother in a local gun shop could be argued as an indirect result of Peter's shootings, but would not likely hold up in court.
Peter spends most of his time in detention fighting the counsel of his Defense Attorney, Jordan. Jordan saves Peter from a probable cause hearing that would put his family under the microscope and most likely discover his mens rea. Apparently, Jordan has discovered an untested yet valid defense, but the reader is unaware of the details of this defense at this point.
It's a really good selection for this assignment. But, I didn't see much reflection and connection to the material (other than a superficial discussion about general notions of "law and justice"). For instance, you asked the question about the parents. Why not discuss vicarious liability here? That would have been good.
ReplyDeleteYour writing needs some improvement. Watch your commas. You tend to use them a lot. For example, take the following sentence:
"Lacy tries to buy milk at the store, and ultimately cannot because she sees a change tin for the victims . . . ."
The comma is not necessary. In this instance, a comma is only needed before conjunction if the two phrases are independent. The second phrase is not independent (there's no subject). Watch those grammar rules.