The high school shooting at Columbine seen from Francie
Brady´s perspective

Abstract: In this essay a fictional novel is used to understand a real life event.
In the novel The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe, young Francie Brady kills
his neighbour Mrs Nugent. In the real life tragedy which unfolded on April
20, 1999, in the state of Colorado, U.S.A, Eric Harris and his friend
Dylan Klebold killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at Columbine High
School. In the essay the insight into Francie Brady’s troubled life that we
get from Patrick McCabe’s The Butcher Boy is the point of departure for
understanding why the Columbine shooting took place. The chapters in this
essay deal with the issues of friendship, peer pressure, and how being part
of a group or outside a group generally can affect young people during
their adolescent years. Additionally, the significance of the family
situation of Francie, Eric and Dylan is discussed, as well as the
similarities and differences in their respective societies.