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This paper is an attempt to offer some insight into the senseless violence that has been occurring among adolescent boys in suburban America. By exploring the cases of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the youths who stormed into their high school in April 1999 and shot and killed thirteen classmates in addition to themselves, I will consider the intra-psychic nature of violent children. A crucial element is shame, which Lynd defines as “a wound to one's self-esteem, a painful feeling or sense of degradation excited by the consciousness of having done something unworthy of one's previous idea of one's own excellence” (23). It is the feeling of being in a painful situation in which disdain of others is experienced, and at its center, an acute awareness of self. I use Harris and Klebold as examples in the hope that my speculative thinking about them will elucidate what is happening in the minds of other potentially violent boys. Shame involves the feeling of the entire self as negative or inferior, and is experienced when a destructive condition is present, when normal defenses cannot be used for some reason, or when guilty or self-abusive tendencies occur.
The actual feeling of shame involves the consciousness that the self is inferior, incompetent, and small. Without respect and proper treatment from those around him, a shame-prone person is vulnerable to self-blame and self-hatred. As such, he feels inadequate and unwanted, and experiences his self-esteem, well-being, and security as under attack. Shame involves a vicious cycle, as these feelings of inadequacy prevent him from presenting himself positively to others, leaving him vulnerable to further abuse and neglect.
Feelings associated with shame—normal or debilitating—are clear and painful because they increase a sense of self-consciousness. We are made more aware of traits that are central to our identities. These are traits that we mean to keep concealed from othe