Pattison 1

Jake Pattison

Pd.2

Mrs.Cramer

Comp 1

The Building Blocks of Nineteen Minutes

Nineteen Minutes is a tragic story about a school shooting and how the community is

affected. Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen minutes causes the reader to focus on what is happening by the

structure of the book. The structure in the novel is well organized and helps the reader

throughout the novel. In the book Nineteen Minutes there are many characters you get to learn

personally leading up to the conflict and after the conflict. In Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult uses

multiple flashbacks and several points of view to show the effects of a school shooting on the

community.

In the novel Nineteen Minutes the author uses multiple flashbacks to show the readers

what happened leading up to the conflict and what happens after. The author flashes back to

Peter’s (the shooter) life “twelve years before” (Picoult 65) the shooting to show the readers why

he did the terrible deed. She also flashes back to Alex’s life before the shooting to when he was

just starting out as a judge. The author did this to show why Alex was the judge for the trail and

everything that happened. In Alex’s flashback she was picking up her daughter from Peter’s

house and that is when she saw Peter showing her daughter how to use the rifle. As you can tell

Alex was not impressed by that and scared for everyone’s safety. Her daughter kept going over

to Peter’s house and they had guns in the house. (Picoult 81)
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Flashbacks is the main structure to the novel because they help make up the book. All

these flashbacks connect all the characters leading up to the conflict in the novel. Jodi uses these

flashbacks to tell a story through the characters. She also uses these to help the reader remember

certain events during the book. Jodi uses these memories after every chapter, so the reader knows

the whole story behind the shooting.

Picoult does a really good job letting the reader get to know the characters by using

several different points of views. She uses the shooter’s point of view before and after the

shooting, so the reader will get to know how he ended up doing it. Peter suddenly spoke and

asked his lawyer how many he shot. (Picoult 99) Jodi also uses the lead police officer’s point of

view who arrested Peter. She uses this point of view, so she could show the readers the roll of a

police officer during and after a shooting and how they act to it. Patrick turned the car around

and started speeding towards the school. (Picoult 20) In her book Nineteen minutes, she helps

show the communities reaction to the school shooting by using all these points of views.

Point of view in the novel are key to the structure because it helps the reader know what

all the character know and feel before and after the conflict. Jodi uses these viewpoints in the

novel to help the reader comprehend what is happening in the book. She uses a different point of

view almost three times in every chapter throughout the novel. She does this to help the reader,

so she knows the reader can remember what is happening.

Jodi uses multiple flashbacks and several points of views so that the reader could connect

to the community. She does a really good job helping the reader feel like they live in the

community by showing all the events leading up to the shooting using flashbacks. Picoult also

helps the reader know the community well by using different point of views so that you knew

what was going on in the community and showing how they feels and reacts to the shooting. The
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community is a huge role in this novel since it was a major event within the town, so everyone in

the community was affected. Picoult does a good job by proving that the community was hurt

and how they wanted to see Peter guilty in the court room. “I don’t Care” (Picoult 428)

In the novel Jodi uses these writing techniques to help show a tragic story through a

community’s eyes. Picoult shows in the novel how something that tragic can really influence a

community even if they knew people involved in the shooting. Point of view can really tell a

story through someone’s eyes, while flashbacks can really show how someone feels about

something, as shown in this novel.

As you can see Jodi Picoult structures the novel Nineteen Minutes well by using multiple

flashbacks and several points of view do show the effects on a shooting in the community. She

uses all the flashbacks and different point of views to show that the community wants to see

Peter guilty. Jodi used these structures to create a well-organized and action backed novel.
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Work Cited

Picoult Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. New York: Washington Square Press, 2007.