So many on this list are victims of grisly crimes, and though their degrees of personal innocence may vary, they are all deserving of sympathy. And while the untapped potential of the lives that were taken is vast, I cannot help but feel that although he was a killer himself, Jack Abbott is deserving of the most sympathy. Although the others met with gruesome ends, they were at least given the opportunity, however brief, to try to discover their place in the world – to be ordinary. Abbott was never afforded that chance. His life was taken before he was able to live it, and yet he was left to experience what was left over.
I agree with the original post- I think Jack Abbott is most deserving of sympathy among the killers profiled (the victims, as was mentioned in Sarah’s post, including the 22 year-old Abbott killed, all deserve sympathy). For somebody incarcerated from the age of 12 onward (for what were originally, it seems, non-serious offenses) and who presumably knew no other kind of life, the odds were always slim he’d be able to function in society- and certainly not without a gradual, carefully managed transition from prison, which, even with the halfway house, it doesn’t seem like he had. The positive review for his work in NY Times papers delivered the morning of the altercation in the restaurant is a great detail of the story and really encapsulates the over-before-it-began nature of the man’s life.
I have more sympathy for Jack Abbott than say Norman Mailer in the overall picture. However, I think the literati/glitterati have a subconscious contempt or perhaps guilt for the society and culture which has been so lavish to them and so often take cause with little or no practical or qualitative thought.
Poor, Poor Jack. Jack was dealt a bad hand. His bad luck followed him through his whole life starting most likely way before he was even put away at the age of 12 and ending with killing someone with ONE THRUST OF A PARING KNIFE! And quite possibly the unluckiest of all, being killed/killing himself with his last words never to reach the eyes and ears of people that would have cared. A silent loser.
Murdered - The Web
July 14, 2010 at 4:40 pm
So many on this list are victims of grisly crimes, and though their degrees of personal innocence may vary, they are all deserving of sympathy. And while the untapped potential of the lives that were taken is vast, I cannot help but feel that although he was a killer himself, Jack Abbott is deserving of the most sympathy. Although the others met with gruesome ends, they were at least given the opportunity, however brief, to try to discover their place in the world – to be ordinary. Abbott was never afforded that chance. His life was taken before he was able to live it, and yet he was left to experience what was left over.
July 19, 2010 at 4:42 am
I agree with the original post- I think Jack Abbott is most deserving of sympathy among the killers profiled (the victims, as was mentioned in Sarah’s post, including the 22 year-old Abbott killed, all deserve sympathy). For somebody incarcerated from the age of 12 onward (for what were originally, it seems, non-serious offenses) and who presumably knew no other kind of life, the odds were always slim he’d be able to function in society- and certainly not without a gradual, carefully managed transition from prison, which, even with the halfway house, it doesn’t seem like he had. The positive review for his work in NY Times papers delivered the morning of the altercation in the restaurant is a great detail of the story and really encapsulates the over-before-it-began nature of the man’s life.
July 22, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I have more sympathy for Jack Abbott than say Norman Mailer in the overall picture. However, I think the literati/glitterati have a subconscious contempt or perhaps guilt for the society and culture which has been so lavish to them and so often take cause with little or no practical or qualitative thought.
July 27, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Poor, Poor Jack. Jack was dealt a bad hand. His bad luck followed him through his whole life starting most likely way before he was even put away at the age of 12 and ending with killing someone with ONE THRUST OF A PARING KNIFE! And quite possibly the unluckiest of all, being killed/killing himself with his last words never to reach the eyes and ears of people that would have cared. A silent loser.