Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a novel involving a mass shooting in a high school. Peter Houghton is a seventeen-year-old student in Sterling high school who goes berserk and shoots his colleagues. The chapters in the novel alternate between past and present to give readers an insight into how bullying in school can lead to the mass shooting. Peter is always subjected to harassment and oppression by fellow students. Guilt, shame, and panic overwhelm him. During childhood, Peter’s best friend is Josie. The friendship starts drifting apart as the two grow up. Peter is ridiculed both at home and at school.
Josie’s mother, Alex Cormier is a judge and is in a romantic relationship with a police detective named Patrick Duharme. When an explosion occurs at Sterling high school, Patrick rushes to the scene and finds several dead bodies of students lying haphazardly. Peter is the main suspect and has carried out the massacre following the guilt and shame he endured when he tried to seduce Josie. Josie dates Matt and the two young students love each other. Peter is also attracted to Josie but his efforts to lure her are thwarted by Matt.
Peter writes a love letter to Josie but becomes a laughing stock when it leaks to the whole school. Matt bullies him in front of the other students. One fine morning, Peter comes across the same love letter on his email while going through his computer. Emotions overwhelm him and he decides to kill all the students who laughed at him. The main target is Matt. Therefore, he goes on a shooting spree and causes much pain to the parents. Eventually, he is arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. One month after his sentencing, Peter commits suicide inside the jail. The incidents occurring in the book are a clear indication that bullying causes trauma.
