The Final Hours: ANALYSIS

My longform piece from an interview can be found here. The piece focuses on the final interview between Ted Bundy and Rev. Dr James Dobson, hours before his execution.

The narrative structure I decided to use was Freytag’s Pyramid which is a modification of Aristotle’s structure, where he transformed the triangle into a pyramid and added two other levels.

Exposition

The first paragraph and short paragraphs following sets the scene so that an audience is able to understand where we are beginning. In this case, we are beginning at the arrest of Ted Bundy, without mentioning his name throughout the piece until the final paragraphs (which there is a reasoning for that I will discuss later).

Additionally, I explain the significance of the main character and why it is so important we know the reason we are exploring this particular interview.

Despite not mentioning his name throughout the piece, I did include an image of the F.B.I’s most wanted poster to encourage interactivity and keep the reader intrigued which is now needed for a mobile and web audience. However, this is one of the few times that our principal figure is mentioned.

Inciting Incident

I end the exposition with the inciting incident of explaining how he only had 16 hours and 45 minutes left before his execution, highlighting the importance of the words that would be told, since these were the last that anybody would ever hear from the serial killer.

Rising Action

Continuing from the inciting incident and developing the rising action, we explore “the beginning of a monster”, where questions such as what has he been thinking for the past few days, what the antecedents of the behaviour the world has seen from him and how it all happened.

We are able to start understanding the reasons as to why he carried out the gruesome and senseless killings that he inflicted upon his victims.

Furthermore, we get an insight into his past, from his childhood and the development of the “fantasy” he began creating.

Throughout these paragraphs and answers from Ted Bundy, there is a common theme of him trying to inform an audience of the consequences of violent pornography within society, as well as his addiction to this medium and alcohol diminishing his inhibitions.

Despite trying to convey a message to an audience, you are able to attempt to understand why he did what he did.

Climax

I believe that the explanation of his past and his addictions lead the narrative to the climax where he explains the first murder and the emotions during the aftermath.

The rising action allowed you to become more intrigued with the principal figure and the character as a person. They are no longer just a two-dimensional person, we have been granted access to understand the way their brain works and their emotions.

The climax allows the reader to become involved within the thought-process of the first murder he ever committed. Describing how the days after can only be explained as if “coming out of some kind of horrible trance or dream”.

Despite the climax only lasting a couple of paragraphs, this is the moment that many readers want to see and be informed about. What was the thought process and how did he feel?

Yet, he still attempted to convince an audience that he was a “normal person” despite the crimes he committed, saying that nobody expected it from him and if you were to look at him in the street, you would never suspect a thing.

Falling Action

We then begin the falling action, exploring the message that Ted Bundy is trying to convey through this final interview, which is that “hardcore pornography is doing untold damage to other people and causing other women to be abused and killed the way he did”.

Casting on his experience in prison and from what other inmates told him and studies by the F.B.I, he believes this is a common issue within society that must be addressed.

Resolution

The resolution to this interview is the question that revolves around the what-if he hadn’t committed the crimes he did and what do the last hours of his life contain?

We begin to close on the interview and have explored the past, the reasonings why, the broad questions that an audience want to know and the pivotal moments. We now begin the movement towards the denouement where we hear his final words, what he wants to end the interview with, what his last words to a public audience are.

Denouement

The denouement, the ending is “The murderer is killed”. Within these paragraphs, it goes into detail the date and time, the final words, the moment he was pronounced dead, and finally mentions his name.

This brings to a close the information we have obtained and as an audience, we are able to reflect on the material that we have had access to. This reflection may include further research into Ted Bundy and further considerations into why he did what he did.

This may include exploring similar serial killers and trying to find the similarities in thought-processes and trends they each share.

Many will argue that not mentioning his name throughout the piece will take away from the impact that the interview has. However, I dispute this as I feel there are judgements and existing opinions that we as humans form when we obtain information about people.

As the interview allows Ted Bundy to convey a message to an audience and allows him to speak freely about his emotions, many people will automatically shut off and not want to listen. Understandable, why should anybody listen to anything from a man who has inflicted so much pain upon innocent people?

However, the common themes of violent pornography and the FBI’s study on serial homicide showing that the most common interest among serial killers is pornography, highlights an issue within society that needs to be addressed.

Being told this by a person that has experienced the feelings evoked from this medium and acted upon them are something that I believe, should be listened to and acted upon to avoid similar tragedies in the future.