In many societies and cultures murder is listed among the most serious crimes. For this reason,

Mass murder is defined by the FBI as the killing of three or more people in a single event or in the same day (Petersen & Farrington, 2007). Mass murderers are complex and can be examined by the many factors that regularly appear among them, such as violence precipitating events, weapon of choice, and mental illnesses. The motivations and methods for committing mass murder are easily broken down into specific groups, and through the examination of these definitions and specific cases there is much to learn about the mind of a mass murderer.

In the short story A Good Man Is Hard to Find, written by Flannery O’Connor, the theme that the definition of a ‘good man’ is mysterious and flawed is apparent. The reader must realize that it is difficult to universalize the definition of a good man because every person goes through different experiences. Thus, these experiences affect his or her viewpoint and in turn flaw ones view on a good man. O’Connor conveys this theme through her excellent use of diction, imagery, foreshadowing, and symbolism as well as through a creative use of repetition and an omniscient point of view.

While writing “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor uses a modernist lens to fully flesh out the characters and theme of her story. One of the most visible examples of Modernism in the story, is when the Grandmother, staring down the barrel of a gun, tells the Misfit “To pray so that Jesus will help him,” (O’Connor, 306) which the Misfit replies with “I’m fine on my own.” (O’Connor, 307) The interaction between these two characters near the end of the short story exemplifies modernism, as it departs from long time, set, orthodox religious thought and defies tradition. Another example of modernism in this story, is the misfit himself. Established in the beginning of the story, the stereotypical, religious, traditional

Mass murderers are a diverse group of people. They are a danger to society and it is important to understand the wide variability among these people. The kinds of mass murderers revolve around two central types that branch off to several subtypes. The profile of a mass murderer generally contains a specific set of traits. These people are often driven by one of a series of different motives. In order to achieve their goals, mass murderers have plenty of different methods and weapons at their disposal. Inevitably, the discussion of punishment always ensues when the subject of dangerously destructive killers arises. The study of mass murderers is one that requires analyzing and profiling all of the components that make up a killer, from

In 1955, Flannery O’ Connor published the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” which became her best-known short story. Although many appreciated her work it received much criticism for its peculiar character, The Misfit. His callous violent behavior made people uncomfortable with her work describing it as consistently distorted and manipulative. The Misfit’s unsentimental and cruel behavior characterizes true psychological disturbance similar to that of Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer. Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Is an accurate representation of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Through The Misfits recollection of his past, his trauma, and his lack of guilt he depicts a severe case of ASPD.

Exploring the idea that all men are born sinners, O’Connor demonstrates immoral indulgences entertained by various characters. Readers are introduced to grandmother, an elderly woman whose consistent unscrupulous behavior exhibits her inner motives. Grandmother uses subtle, indirect confrontation to get her way until she is faced with The Misfit, a runaway criminal who believes that crime is a justifiable. In “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” Flannery O’Connor uses characterization to display a loss of morals, imagery to portray evil in society, and symbolism to emphasize the struggle of obtaining grace to prove how life is nihilistic without religion.

A quote from well-known Scottish killer, Dennis Nilson, states exactly what his motives were for viscously killing his innocent victims. “I did it all for me,” he says, “purely selfish. I worshipped the art and act of death, over and over. It is as simple as that. Afterwards, it was all sexual confusion, symbolism, honouring the ‘fallen’. I was honouring myself. I hated the decay

The grandmother feels that God provides the answer to any underlying problems, and the Misfit knows and feels that all of the horrible things he has done are truly not considered morally wrong from his perspective. Towards the end, when the grandmother experienced an epiphany before the Misfit shot her in the chest she stated, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children” (11). This made the grandmother realize that she was expressing the true Christian belief that we are all seen as equal in the eyes of God, no matter how murderous someone may be. O’Connor’s use of spiritual insight stripped away the grandmothers self-centeredness, and helped her discover the ability to see others with compassion and understanding. Nonetheless, within “A Good Man is Hard to Find” O’Connor provides great amount of spiritual insight in her short stories mainly as a way to connect her characters with God and to make them recognize the true meaning of individual equality.

James E. Faust once said, “In this life, we have to make many choices. Some are very important choices. Some are not. Many of our choices are between good and evil. The choices we make, however, determine to a large extent our happiness or our unhappiness, because we have to live with the consequences of our choices.” In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O’Connor discussed the difference between good and evil within the characters of the short story. The Misfit has his henchmen kill the family, and the grandmother ultimately only thinks of herself and not the rest of her family. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Flannery O'Connor shows the readers multiple meaning of symbolism throughout the characters relations to faith, places, and outlook on their surroundings.

In Flannery O'Connor's eccentric short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the reader is introduced to her fundamental theme of Identity through a typical southern family. O’Connor’s exceptional use of fictional elements such as characterization, point of view, and setting further develop this theme in her work. She does so by familiarizing the use of violence, humor, and salvation along with point of view and setting to create a deeper connection between her work and the reader.

The idea of serial killers and the role they play in our lives has fascinated people since the cases of Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes, although serial murderers existed before them. The infamous and mysterious complexities of these cases have puzzled and terrified people for over a century. Perhaps due to the deviant and taboo nature of serial killings, people in our society and others have tried to attribute many reasons for why they occur. In this search for answers, one major scope has been widely left out of the research: the sociological imagination. It is through this method of understanding that I will attempt to explain the development of serial killers and apply theories that explain the frequency of serial killings in our society.

They often store many of the disappointments, grievances and frustrations inside until one incident makes them explode with violent rage. After carrying a burden of the many elements of anger and sadness that keep inside, he or she reacts like a bomb setting out for the people the murderer blames for his burden. Although many of these murderers kill out of hate and anger, many kill out of love and passion. Most people who have been rejected by a lover or spurred by a spouse and have been heartbroken and humiliation eventually get on with life. For a few, however the injured lover’s emotion turns inside out and takes on lethal proportions. The price expected for betrayal is death, in some cases from faithless partners, in others from an unsurprising rival. However the victim, a crime of passion is a reverse act of devotion, a murderous testament to the killer’s depth of feeling that is as powerful as any declaration of love. Crimes of passion are a perfect example of insecurity. These killers who commit these crimes seem to turn against their lover because they feel like their lover hurt them intentionally. The killer does not understand how someone they cared about so much could turn on them. This passion becomes frustration and hate takes over, the killer feels that killing the perpetrator will bring him ease the pain. However, murders of passion, along with any

(pg.59). Although he is aware of the destructive actions he is performing, he does not show any initial remorse or values in the killing, enough to concern himself with

This is why murderers cannot appeal to the nation by stating their will. In forming a society Rousseau states, “the total alienation of each associate, together with all of his rights, to the entire community” (pg 24), the keyword being ‘entire’. This alienation is nothing more than the ritual ignorance of your private will, which eliminates the potential for one person in a society to demand things of the whole. Your private will is consumed by the general.

Throughout the criminal justice system, news, and in many other situations the term “murder” is used quite frequently however usually incorrectly. Some people say animals or even trees get murdered, but under the law it is not murder unless a human takes the life of another human. Homicide is a lawful term for any killing of a human being by another human being. Homicide itself is not automatically a crime, some homicides are legal, such as the justifiable killing of a suspect by the police or a killing in self-defense. Unlawful homicides are classified as crimes like murder and manslaughter. This paper will explain the important but often overlooked distinctions between murder and manslaughter, and the