Completely alone. Thats how teenagers with mental illnesses feel.

Mocked, patronized,
and cast out from society, these children tear themselves apart, piece by piece. Until it all
becomes too much, and the only end in sight lies at the edge of a knife or the barrel of a gun. In
the months following the Columbine shootings in Colorado in 1999, Anna Quindlen published an
article in Newsweek titled, The C Word in the Hallways. In this piece, Quindlen spurs the
audience into taking a stand on mental illness by creating a personal connection to the victims,
who she paints as innocent children, and by making the reader feel guilty for their suffering.
Quindlen begins her paper with a sharp punch, blaming nearly every authority figure in
contributing to the downfall of mentally ill teens. The audience is not exempt from this blame
either. In the very first paragraph she declares, Theres a plague on all our houses, and one
solution continues to elude us. By using inclusive pronouns, the reader is shepherded in with
those held responsible for these childrens transgressions. The accusatory mood of the piece is
set. Quindlen goes on to reject the opinions of, useless adult(s), (paragraph 3). Next come the
parents. In paragraph 4, she reveals the sad story of how Kip Kinkels mother had him placed in
a mental facility, when only days later he would go on to strangle another boy. Divulging this to
the audience shames both the parents of mentally ill children, and the mental health system
entirely, for their futile efforts. Lastly at the end of paragraph 5, Quindlen uses the word,
lectured, when referencing how a judge spoke with Sam Manzie. She expertly chose this word
because of its negative connotation. It creates an exact picture in the audiences head, one of an
unstable teen being disregarded by an adult. The judge did not talk to Sam, but instead told him
what to think. The reader feels guilty for not doing enough to help these children.
In her essay, Quindlen creates a sympathetic image of the mentally ill. She refers to Kip
Kinkel and Sam Manzie, both less than a year away from buying cigarettes, multiple times as,
boys, (paragraph 4). In the second paragraph, Quindlen states matter-of-factly that, Kinkel,
now 17, had been hearing voices since he was 12. Wording the sentence in this manner allows
the reader to infer that Kinkel probably suffered from schizophrenia, which had gone
undiagnosed for years. She assures the boys youth again in the third paragraph, with the line,
spanking may wind up being life in prison. Sams story strikes fear into every parents heart,
because of his, continuing relationship with a pedophile, (paragraph 4). This reinforces the
idea that the boys are not responsible for their actions. The reader is stirred by this picture of
corrupted innocence. Quinlen goes on to describe how these children feel trapped in a cycle of
humiliation and ignorance. They were threading their way through a mental-health system that
is marginalized by shame, ignorance, custom, the courts, even by business practice, (paragraph
5). Now the audience doesnt see these young men as psychotic murderers, but rather victims of
a cruel society.
Near the end of the paper, Quindlen turns up the heat. Its time for the audience to be
afraid. She blatantly begins with the fact: The Federal Center for Mental Health Services
estimates that at least 6 million children in this country have some serious emotional
disturbance, (paragraph six). This is a blunt reminder to the audience that mental health
problems can affect anyone. Using the FCMHS as a source legitimizes this shocking truth. In
the sixth paragraph Quindlen uses vivid language to depict a horrifying picture of medical
malpractice. A doctor flying blind with an ice pick might have performed a lobotomy, gives
readers a glimpse of the terror felt by mentally ill patients. However the most frightening portion
of the essay comes when Quindlen compares mental health treatment to immunization. Imagine
how we would respond if two thirds of Americas babies were not being immunized, she warns

(paragraph 7). There is no better method of getting Americans to rally around a cause than
alluding to the safety of children. The last two paragraphs hold chill-inducing phrases such as,
horror of depression, delusions, crazy, and, the valley of tragedy, which all leave the
reader in an anxious, fearful mood. These examples, coupled with the horrifying shootings that
were rocking the nation at this time, make the issue more personal to the audience, who can now
relate to the problems.
Quindlen leaves lingering questions in the audiences mind long after they have put down the
article. The ever-present terror of the mentally ill leaves them wondering: What will it take for
this to stop? How many more families must be destroyed? How many more boys like Sam and
Kip must self-destruct? How much more escalating violence must occur before it all comes to an
end?