TOW #12- IRB #2 First Half

          In the first half of my IRB, She Said Yes, the deep sorrow and heartbreak of Misty Bernall, mother of slain Columbine shooting victim Cassie Bernall, is intensely expressed. Waiting anxiously for her daughter to return home after hearing of the devastating news at the school, Misty questions whether or not Cassie is alive. Her sad yet insightful tone allows the audience to peer into the story of Columbine from a first person subjective point-of-view, making Cassie's encounter with the gunmen and Misty's extreme regret evermore real. With access to Cassie's private notes and by connecting with several of her close friends, Misty is able to put together the story piece by piece, learning to cope with it as she goes. She quickly realizes the truth behind Cassie's strange and satanic behavior prior to the school massacre, and is left with nothing more than a sense of remorse for not being able to fix any of it. She continues to try to understand what caused the gunmen to target her daughter, and specifically what she said that triggered the gunshots. This search for all the answers becomes a major part of the story, on top of explaining the emotional effects of the event and major changes that occurred in Columbine, Colorado.
          Throughout the memoir so far, Misty's somber tone appeals largely to pathos, causing the audience to experience the devastating sequence of events side by side with the desperate mother. It causes every word to seem a hundred times more realistic; making each new update on the shooting super shocking, even though I already know what the end result of the attack was. Cassie's battle with religious identification plays a significant role in the direction that Misty focuses her writing, and leads the audience to assume that her struggle between belief in Satan or God is a large contributor towards her death. Misty is able to add suspense to the story and explain the Columbine massacre in an entirely new light; one that even the most knowledgable on the event were not able to discover. This ability changes the impression of Misty's writing, making me at times forget that I am reading a nonfictional piece. I hope to uncover more behind Cassie's story leading up to her death, and see if her mother is able to come to terms with the murder of her innocent, conflicted teenage daughter.