The Silent Killer Short Story

Fifteen year old Conrad Clark just came home from basketball practice where he was absolutely exhausted. He is the best player on his undefeated school basketball team. He lives with just his mom and only sibling Thomas after his father had recently been murdered by an unknown killer. As he approached the front door of his massive three story mansion located basically in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a lake and lots of wildlife, a gut punching feeling went through his body. He was remembering what had happened before he left for practice. He got in a huge fight with his mom about his grades in school, and was regretting some of the things he said. He goes through the front door and goes up to his bedroom on the third story. He lays down on his bed and he sees a note telling him that his mom and Thomas, are at a party and will be gone all night. He puts the note down and closes his eyes. About forty five minutes later he wakes up to his alarm going off. He turns off the alarm clock reading 10:30 p.m and is wondering why his alarm went off for no reason. He lets it go past him and goes down to the first floor and turns the television on. He turns on his favorite show, Criminal Minds, when Bang! At that moment Conrad knew that something bad

William Damon is an educator/researcher on psychology and education. In William Damon’s work, he has proposed that children’s friendships are developed in three specific stages. In Level 1, children are about 4-7 years old. During this level children see each other as momentary playmates. During this stage children are all about having fun, with limited perspectives. Children want things their way and do not wish to hear different opinions other than their own. As the child gets older, at the age of 8-10 years old a more profound friendship is formed, this is called Level 2. During this time a child start to build trust and start to think of other rather than just themselves. Children learn the value of sharing and learn how to compromise. Lastly, Level 3 is during the approximate age of 11- 15 years old. During this time, friends are valued the most to a child. This is a more mature stage where children build trustful relationships and a high level of emotional closeness is built. Regardless of age cliques and crowds always develop among children and adults. A clique is a group of member that share common interests, often are of the same gender. The members of the group are often labeled or stereotyped. Crowds are very similar to cliques, both shape the minds of children on how they should act or how they should be. Both add pressure to adolescents under peer pressure such as drinking, smoking, skipping school, or sex in order to fit it. Cliques and crowds develop as a way

When I play football, one thought always flies in my mind it motivates me never to stop, never give up, and never back down. I always believe that I should never stop no matter what happens. It doesn't matter if you are tired, hurt, or dizzy. Once you enter the football pitch, all of your teammates depend on you. However, eventually, you will know how bad exceeding your limits can hurt you.

In the essay “Thirty-Eight who saw Murder didn’t call the Police”, Martin Gansberg describes how selfish and inconsiderable some people can be. He claims that society should be more involved in taking action when seeing violent or life threatening events occurring in their communities.

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Loneliness has become an epidemic among young adults and spared out in elders’ everyday life where social isolation has become a cause of early death because we cannot cope alone.

Loneliness and exclusion from society hurts and affects everyone; the emotional strain a person endures from it creates the image they present to others, but deep down they are not the display image they manufacture. As an illustration, while opening up to Lennie in the barn Curley’s wife states, “I get lonely… You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad.

Every individual has times in their life where they feel isolated and alone. When this occurrs a person will search for ways to connect or feel important.. The person will do anything they can to be noticed and appreciated. In the novel, Famous All Over Town, by Danny Santiago the main character, Chato, has many reasons to feel lonely. In almost every aspect of his life he is being let down in one way or another. He has to try to deal with a family on the brink of falling apart, he has to go to a school which doesn't teach anything "fun," and he has friends that are a bad influence on him. The novel reveals how he has to endure hardships, most of us do not have, to get through a day. By the end of the novel the reader begins to understand

Sukarno, the former influential Indonesian President once said, “The worst cruelty that can be inflicted on a human being is isolation.” These wise words of Sukarno and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein intertwine with one another on the account that they both display the struggles of loneliness and isolation, and the effects they both have on individuals. Hence the reason why after being isolated for so long, aggression was displayed. Loneliness and isolation are two common cruelties that are constantly inflicted on human beings today. People will shun away from individuals simply because they are different. It is hardly ever noticed when a person is being isolated, because it never comes across the minds of people as a big deal. People are not

A parent never wants to hurt somebody, but once a person hurts their kids- they need to hurt somebody. Andre Dubus’ short story, “ Killings” begins with Matt and Ruth Fowler attending their 21-year-old son, Franks, funeral. The reasoning behind his death was because Frank had been dating Mary Anne Strout, soon- to- ex wife and mother of Richard Strout’s two kids. Franks first encounters with Richard results in a fight. This act caused Franks parents, especially Ruth, to question their son’s relationship with the older woman. After Frank refused to end the relationship, Richard proceeded to get his vengeance by shooting Frank in front of Mary Anne, and the two young sons. Matt couldn’t stand the thought of Frank’s killer walking freely on the streets

For decades now, neurologists have studied the effects of social isolation on a human’s physical and mental health. “The effects of social isolation or rejection are as real as thirst, hunger, or pain”(Cacioppo). Scientists have come to the conclusion that the toxic effects of chronic loneliness can impair cognitive behavior, impair social skills, and eventually lead to death. Humans who choose to live in this manner are more susceptible to stress induced illnesses and ultimately death. The book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer tells the real life story of a man who put himself into social isolation in the Alaskan wilderness, making him vulnerable to the toxic effects of loneliness. Similarly, character Jay Gatsby, in the book The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald sets himself up to encounter the same effects when he moves away from his family into a giant mansion by himself. The Great Gatsby and Into the Wild prove that human interaction is

In a society like the one we live in today, we are used to seeing many people each and every day. The thought of being in complete isolation from society may seem very abnormal to us but it in fact, it is completely normal. Many people live in isolation as it is defined as being in your own little bubble of people. These people could include family, a small group of friends or just one individual with themselves. This is prominent even in school as everyone has their own little circle of friends that they hang out with and essentially “live in isolation” with. In the novel, The Road, the theme of isolation is taken to the extreme as all the two main characters have are each other in a desolate world of nothingness. Isolation can be beneficial

Although people may feel isolated and alienated from everything around them, they are never alone. It is not possible to be completely disconnected from everything. For example, a man who has

In their society, they can’t develop connections with people because they do not know how to interact with others. From a young age, the people in Montag’s society develop unhealthy relationship habits because of their parents. For example, Mrs. Bowles explains, “I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a month; it’s not bad at all. You heave them into the ‘parlor’ and turn the switch. It’s like washing clothes; stuff laundry in and slam the lid,” (92-93). The parents in Montag’s society don’t show any love to their kids, which causes the kids to be distant. Those same kids grow up and have fake relationships, and they pass the same habits down to their kids. This is different from our society because we actually have bonds with people and we grow together. Also, many people in our society have close relationships with their parents. Our society inherits a sense of emotion from our parents, which allows us to have meaningful bonds with other people. Since the kids in Montag’s society do not even interact with their own parents, they do not interact with people at school. Clarisse explains, “...Being with people is nice. But I don’t think it’s social to get a bunch of people together and not let them talk, do you?” (27). When Mrs. Bowles sends her kids to school all of the time they do not interact. They sit in a room for multiple hours at a time where they are given answers. Kids in Montag’s society do not work with others to get answers. In Montag’s society, youth are deprived of their basic communication skills when they cannot interact with others. In our society, we interact with others, especially during school. In our society, kids are taught communication skills and what it is like to work with others. Our society depends on interaction and developing relationships,

Isolation is common in the world today. Isolation is the process or fact of someone being alone. People find comfort in others that they have an idea of what they are going though. In the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Ethan tries to escape isolation, However his father’s death forced him to give up college to help his ill mother. "Somebody had to stay and care for the folks. There warn't ever anybody but Ethan. Fust his father-then his mother-then his wife." (Wharton.11) The isolation made Ethan take care of the farm, millwork, and taking care of Zeena. When Zeena cousin Mattie came to live with