Summary

Chapter 11 is focused on Sue’s journey to understand the depth of her son’s trauma and death by suicide. Although it took a great deal of time, eventually Sue gave up hoping for a single explanation for why Dylan and Eric did what they did. Sue cites the common theories that sprang up in the aftermath of the tragedy including: school culture and bullying, violent video games, negligent parenting and the paramilitarization of American popular culture but states, “I believe—as most of the investigators who examined the evidence do—that they were two different people, who participated for very different reasons” (151-152). Sue claims that it was Dylan’s depression and his desire to die that played an intrinsic role in his participation in the massacre. Aware of how controversial her statement is, Sue insists that she does not intend to imply...