3. Summary on “Wolves and Widows - Naming, Metaphor, and the Language of Serial Murder” by Wendy M. Zirngibl
Introduction
In this chapter, the author, Windy Zirngibl, takes the stories of two killers in Montana as the starting point, analyzing the mode of naming the serial killers and the metaphor in the nickname of serial killers, based on specific philosophical theories. Therefore, this passage will endeavor to summarize the author’s ideas in detail.
Summary
In the first part, the author utilizes narration as a way of introducing the origin of “White Wolf” and “Black Widow”. The story of “White Wolf” took place in Montana, when the serial killer followed two young girls and murdered the older girl in brutal ways. In fact, the serial killer was notorious in Montana for 15 years, because the murder methods of the killer
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On the one hand, negative metaphors of wolf have a long history, as the wolf has always been regarded as an evil creature in the human culture, for example, wolf metaphor can be used to describe pervert men erotically dreaming of women (Zirgnibl 172). In this way, the nickname “White Wolf” for serial killers has become extremely convincing to the public, because the wolf metaphor has the ability to combine people’s negative feeling about the wolf with their condemnation to killers’ villainy (Zirgnibl 173). On the other hand, the author demonstrates that metaphor plays a role in comparing two subjects sharing similar features (“substitution theory”), and in speaking of the wolf, it enables people to focus on the negative features of wolf that the serial killer shares (Zirgnibl 173-74). And due to the process of “mutual enhancement” (“interactionist theory”), the metaphor also has the power to elevate the meaning of wolf and serial killer, which makes the nickname become more meaningful and believable (Zirgnibl
“Killings”, Andre Dubus’ short story, revolves around a father who seeks vengeance against his son’s killer. The story is about the murders committed by Richard Strout and Matt Fowler in their attempt to get retribution and ease the pain in their hearts. The circle of killings is first caused by the murder of Matt Fowler’s son, Frank, by Richard, which leads to the retaliatory killing of Richard, by Matt. This infinite, unforgiving circle of killings and attempts at retribution is what Dubus portrays in a nonjudgmental view. The readers are left to see how the act of killing affects Richard and Matt and decide how much their retribution costs them.
Throughout history there have been many cases in which defiant people commit horrendous acts that one cannot even fathom. Often times if these individuals perform acts in violation of moral laws and regulations, they are subject to confinement in a jail or prison. Of these non-obedient individuals are those who are known as serial killers, who murder innocent lives, due to their desire to receive relief. A famous example of a devious serial killer who raped, tortured, and fed the remnants of human flesh to his captives was Gary Heidnik. Like most criminals, his story is revolved around the achievement of a particular goal, which in his case was to create a ‘baby factory’ from the women he kidnapped.
Killers Often remembered and memorialized are the unfortunate victims of a homicide, and the executioners of the crime, the killers, are left away to rot in their graves, with their stories buried under the soil with them. In the true crime novel In Cold Blood, the author Truman Capote recounts the slaughter of a family of four in the quiet, once-ordinary town of Holcomb, Kansas by a pair of seemingly ruthless murderers. However, unlike most recounts, Capote’s work also focuses on the story and point of view of each criminal, letting readers familiarize with them. His comprehensive coverage of the killers, Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith, provides readers with a greater understanding of the two men.
The film “Murder by Number” also includes medical issues, including brain damage, as contributing to the violence of many serial killers. Some criminologists and psychiatrists believe that serial killers kill because of issues with their families. These issues include failure to properly bond with
Paralleling their ambivalence toward the wolf form, they see humanity in a light that is actually absent from the human in the story. The tribe’s desire and inaccurate belief that the human is the coveted form masks the reality of the darkness that is intertwined with humanity. The story finalizes with the “shadows quite long” and the “sun was low” and like the light disappears, so does the wolf tribe, unlike the greedy grandmother that prevails with the
A Deliberate Revenge At the end of the story “Bisclavret”, the werewolf punished his ex-wife brutally to punish her disloyalty. His revenge pushed the story to the climax, but what the story did not explain was how he planned for the revenge or if he even planned for it at all. The werewolf’s special identification as a mix of animal and man makes this problem confusing but interesting. By analyzing the story and applying theories like “The Prince” and “Homo Sacer”, this essay will draw the conclusion that his revenge was intended and planned out of human reason.
The fictional story, “Tell Them Not to Kill Me,” contains literary elements within the story such as point of view, setting, flashback, irony, symbolism, imagery, diction, and metaphor. Which fit well with theme of the story that is death and vigilante justice. The aim of this paper is to go in depth about the characters in the story as well as the theme and literary elements within the story. The literary elements covered in the analysis starts with point of view, setting, flashback, irony, symbolism, imagery, diction, and metaphor all the while reinforcing the theme of the story which is death.
Rhetorical Analysis of “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” Many people believe monsters are imaginary creatures that are seen in movies or even for others, it could be a serial killer that was heard about on the news. Stephen T. Asma wrote “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” which “first appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education in October 2009” (Hoffman 61). Asma, who is a professor of philosophy, examines how different individual’s perceptions of a monster can be different depending on the era or even events happening around them. In “Monsters and the Moral Imagination,” Stephen T. Asma wrote a nonfiction, persuasive article for an educated and possibly specialized audience to examine how the idea of monsters have changed over time, what could be the motivation to create them, or even how life experiences could change an individual’s perceptions.
This essay is regarding the ‘Green River Killer’’ case which started to happen in 1982 in Washington. The serial killer is Gary Ridgway which at the time was 33 years old and in 2001 he confessed to having killed 75-80 women between the years of 1982 and 2001. Gary was first introduced to Necrophilia by his father when he was only a teenager. Gary loved the idea of having sex with a dead person as there would be no feelings involved and he would not get caught. Due to a traumatic past, he began to grow mentally disturbed and failed in multiple relationships.
Facts and Fiction: A Manipulation of Language in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood English is a fascinating and riveting language. Subtle nuances and adjustments can easily change the understanding of a literary work—a technique many authors employ in order to evoke a desired response from their readers. This method is used especially in In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, a literary work which details a true event about the murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small community of Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. Although Capote’s 1966 book was a bestseller nonfiction and had successfully garnered acclaim for its author, there is still a great deal of confusion about the distinction between the factual and fictional aspects in the book.
Serial killing is a kind of macabre art perfected by psychopaths, who are either on a pleasure trip or a trial of revenge, who kills at least three victims one by one in a series of sequential murders, with a form of psychological gratification as the primary motive. There is a deep connection between the actions and the psychology of a serial killer. Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon (1981) is a crime thriller and features a serial killer whose cleft lip is the primary factor motivating his murderous behaviour. With particular attention to the image of the mirror, this assignment is concerned with offering a psychoanalytic reading of the novel, through the Lacanian concept of the mirror stage. It also aims to analyse the reasons and motives of the serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in the light of psychological theories like psychoanalysis and behavioural theory.
In the tantalizing novel, Night by Elie Wiesel, the author uses figurative to convey his thoughts and emotions. There are two cauldrons of soup left laying in the middle of the road with no one guarding them and the starving jews are looking at them. The author uses the metaphor, “ Two lambs with hundreds of wolves lying in wait for them.” ( Wiesel 59), to vividly describe this moment in time in the book. This is an accurate comparison of the two cauldrons of soup to two helpless sheep and the Jews to hungry wolves.
Richard "Iceman" Kuklinski was viewed as a normal man by society for much of his adult life. This man was far from normal. Kuklinski was a psychopath and a sociopath who was driven to kill by his troubled childhood and his lifestyle as a paid hit man. This paper will focus on the criminological theory of why Kuklinkski committed these murders. Richard Leonard Kuklinski was born in 1935 to Stanley and Anna Kuklinski ("Meet Notorious Contract Killer Richard Kuklinski").
In the mystery novel And Then There Were None by Agatha Cristie, a retired judge named Justice Wargrave feels the system has failed to punish people who have committed murder in some way. He takes it upon himself to kill them all because he’s decided they are unfit to live. In Wolf Rider by Avi, Andy receives a phone call from a man calling himself Zeke claiming to have killed a girl named Nina.
Metaphor has been an object of discussion since the 1980s, where serious consideration of it started with the publishing of Lakoff’s and Johnson’s work called Metaphors We Live By. Not since the times of Aristotle have metaphors been discussed in a new light as in this work. The most important idea mentioned by the two authors is that conceptual metaphors are a matter of not only language but of thought as well. In other words, the conceptual metaphor is the framework in which literal instances of metaphorical expressions belong. Conceptual metaphor reveals patterns of human cognition, showing typical culturally determined understandings of a concept, while metaphorical linguistic expressions are ways in which these understandings are expressed