AN ISMAIL IS AN ISMAIL IS AN ISHMAEL
Speculation is rampant about the origins of IsMail - the name the killer finally assigned himself capping off his historic blood bath at Virginia Tech University. One theory was advanced by tonight's Night Line that IsMail refers to Ishmael in the Old Testament.
I think that a careful examination of the facts reveals the solution to this murder mystery.
Clues:
- The killer was a highly intelligent, presumably well read English major.
- He was clearly on an identity quest - signing his name question mark until just before the completion of his final 31 person execution.
- In his mixed clear and confused packet sent to NBC he names himself IsMail.
- He was obessed with the theme of good and evil - believing himself to being all good - identifying himself as a Christ-like martyr - battling the forces of evil - personified in rich kids who are self indulgent, hedonistic, and cruel - particularly towards him.
- Among other forceful assertions he said: "Dick Must Die."
A P0SSIBLE SOLUTION:
One of the great classics works of American literature is Moby Dick by Herman Melville. The first line of the book is: "Call me Ishmael." Excerpts follow:
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me. <cite>--opening paragraph</cite>
"Now, three to three, ye stand. Commend the murderous chalices! Bestow them, ye who are now made parties to this indissoluble league.... Drink, ye harpooneers! drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful whaleboat's bow -- Death to Moby Dick! God hunt us all, if we do not hunt Moby Dick to his death!" <cite>--Chapter 36 (The Quarter-Deck)</cite> [http://www.melville.org/hmmoby.htm]
Another article says that Moby Dick is "a story of a common ocean loving seaman caught up in another man’s abnormal and eccentric hunt for a whale of which he has held a grudge for many years. " [http://www.online-literature.com/melville/mobydick/]
The article goes on to analyze the character of peace loving Ishmael and the mad captain Ahab.
"The characters of captain Ahab and Ishmael are almost opposites. About the only things the two share in common are that they are both seamen and they both are on a hunt for a whale."
Note in the analysis that follows that the Virgina Tech killer - Seung Hui Cho - appears to be a combination of Ishmael and Ahab.
"The characters of Ishmael and Ahab are two that have a great and critical impact on the book. Ishmael’s character allows the reader to relate to a love for nature and the earth, as well as a feeling of inner peace and serenity. While on the other hand, Ahab’s character is one of chaos and udder madness. The two characters’ attitudes, thoughts, and feelings permit the reader to explore two polar opposites of the human personality. Ahab’s character is critical to the story element in that without him, the reader could not really experience the insaneness of the voyage and the cruelty of the mission that they have set out to accomplish. On the other hand, without the character of Ishmael, the reader would not know how to react to Ahab, and furthermore would only be able too experience one side of the voyage. The reader would be unable to relate to Ahab’s demented character, and therefore would have no one in the story to relate themselves to. Ishmael’s character gives the reader someone to relate to and identify with. All in all, both characters let the reader better understand the story, and allow for an intense reading experience."
The commentator concludes that the basic message of Moby Dick is "the most prominent lesson ... can be summed up in one sentence; don’t become to focussed and obsessed with one goal to the point that you exclude the more important things in life.
CONCLUSION:
If I am accurate, this complicated tortured student killer and killer of students was literally enacting the story and plot of Moby Dick in his perverted quest for his own identity - one which, he indeed attained with his take them all down with me - heri keri like - act of mass distruction and self destruction - to be forever remembered as a household name - the notorious culmination of an all consuming quest for fame and revenge. In the end of his sad tragic story Question Mark assumed the identity of Ishmael telling the story of his crazy captain Ahab possessed by the obsessive need to kill Moby Dick thereby extracting his long sought revenge.
How terribly sad for all of the innocent students, teachers, administration, parents, friends, and all human beings who can so readily identify with this horrible event who have unwittingly been caught up in the personal internal whirlwind of this extraordinarily troubled young man.
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Comments: 9
We are trying to understand insanity.
This really has shattered my psychic for now, worse than 911 when it seems at least we had an enemy to direct our anger towards. With this there seems no point in anger, and although anger probably is not a good thing, it at least is less frustrating than having the one and only one responsible for this beyond any punishment.
Anyone who has been reported to the police as being a possible threat to others or themselves, should certainly be on a government watch list for gun purchases.
The whole problem with any of this (and everything else in this world) is the tendency to need pat answers that are easy to understand ... people just do not seem to want to mess around in the grey areas where things may overlap some ... thus so much polarization all around.
To me I do not see him so much as a crazed killer and evil, as he could be, but as a very confused person that snapped and wanted to make a final statement on his way out of a life that had not been very rewarding to him.
All 'normal' people see things pretty much the same way, and they seldom can understand someone that comes from a different perspective, someone that desires acceptance for what he could be, if not what he is, someone that does not want to be as 'competitive' as society seems to demand, where the most rewards seem to go to those the most aggressive and lying having rewards in the process.
There are many that desire to tie him to the Koran and Muslim terrorists as well as 'against' Christianity ... that seems to make those that do, either feel better by giving them a more easy reason to return some hatred, or a reason to hate all that they feel is a threat to them as they see Muslims related to that, thanks to the recent media propaganda campaigns. IMnsHO.
A shrink friend once told me that in certain mental states it's a toss-up whether the outcome is going to be murder or suicide -- or, as in this case, both. I'm not convinced there's all that much to gain by trying to unravel what he was thinking. It goes in every possible direction, all the directions leading to one outcome, murder and suicide.
His English Professor accurately identified his penchant for potential destruction.
Another reason for attempting to figure out his thoughts is to educate those who are insisting on easy answers {hes crazy, he is pure evil, he snapped, he was sexually abused and the likes, that the horrible truth is that anyone is capable of doing what he did and that it behooves us to be able to accurately read the signs.
You brought up some good points. What we need to realize in situations such as this, is that often, the person who we think is completeley mad, thinks of themselves as completely sane, and all others around them are the mad ones. I went through that exact situation with my mother who had paranoid schyzophrenia, but she never got violent in any way, luckilly. She did believe that we were all out to get her, and mess up her life though! Thank God...they invented some drugs in the 1990's that completely fixed her paranoid mind to the point where she lived a normal life.
We seem to forget how fragile the human mind can be in many instances. This young man was obviously not treated well in high school, and made no friends...a classic case of a person headed towards mental problems later in life.
Meryl is wrong, with love, and understanding, and drugs, and support, it is not always a case of murder or suicide. In this particular case, there seems to be no proper drugs, no family support, and no understanding...certainly a recipe for disaster!
The system really fell apart on this case, since, obviously, this young man needed huge support and treatment. I commend his roomates, and those around him who alerted authorities that he had mental problems, and could be suicidal. No student should be allowed to remain on a college campus after those allegations are made unless they prove to be false in nature.
Obviously we need to add mental instability problems to the list of things recorded by our law enforcement in order to prevent potentially suicidal persons from buying guns. I would think resident aliens should also be excluded from that list too! I had no idea that non-permanent citizens could buy guns here legally, and even over the internet. I hope the gun dealers never sleep another night for the rest of their lives without a nightmare of what they have caused, and the lawmakers also suffer the same!
There is simply no reason to sell a handgun to a resident alien with severe mental problems.