School Violence in Empire Falls Anonymous 11th Grade

School violence, from the events of Columbine to the more recent Newtown shooting, and the 31 school shootings in between (Shen), is prevalent in American society. Unfortunately, the perpetrators of these crimes are often not noticed - and therefore, never taken care of - prior to the attacks; because the signs of their worsening mental state are gradual, the people around them fail to help - they believe that there is time for the children to change. The concept of school violence in relationship to the fatality of the belief that “there’s plenty of time to prepare” is frequent in everyday life, but it is also shown in the novel Empire Falls by Richard Russo.

School violence in the novel is shown specifically through John Voss, the boy who is befriended by Tick but bullied by the rest of his peers. At the end of the novel, John comes to school after disappearing for five days, pulls a gun out of his bag, and opens fire, killing three people. He then attempts to shoot himself, but the one bullet left in the gun does not fire. As with many criminals of this sort, John Voss has a long history of physical and emotional abuse. When Tick Roby meets John, she is well aware that he is subject to frequent bullying. She notes that he,...