Analysis of Cut to the Bone by Jefferson Bass

Book summary

This book is a prequel, being an eighth Body Farm novel that comes after the Bones of Avignon of 2012. This book is from the writing team of Bill Bass and John Jefferson. Bass is a forensic anthropologist, who was able to develop the first facility in the world, which would be used to examine the decomposition of human corpses. In this book, Bass's fictional alter ego, Dr. William Brockton, is on the plan to do the same in Tennessee in the year 1992. Brockton expresses frustration being caused by his inability to assist the law enforcement agencies in identifying the death time (Bass, 2013). However, Brockton feels that an analysis of the period it takes cadavers to break down can suffice the situation. This would involve examining the insects obtained from the bodies of the corpses. Therefore, in essence, Jefferson turns readers back in time to 1992 to make an important revelation regarding the creation of the Body Farm. Brockton is in a fierce duel with a serial killer, Satterfield, in this book. These serial killings of prostitutes in the same manner significantly derail the efforts of Brockton to provide the law enforcement agencies with a facility that would aid them to deal with crime effectively (Bass, 2013). Brockton is affected by the fact that as the killings increase, the connection between the new corpses and him gets closer. Brockton discovers that the killings resemble a particular case that he had encountered in the past. A lot of the stories written in this novel are based on the real and actual events as well as places (Bass, 2013). For instance, it is factual that Bass is the real life founder an anthropology research facility at the University of Tennessee.

Book analysis

In this book, the Jefferson Bass takes liberty with the reality and uses fiction in a strong way, despite the actual events that make it up. Dr. Bass is fictionalized into a crime-novel hero where he is up to his elbows in death as well as dismemberment. It is only the sunny disposition of Bass that makes the story quite bearable. Brockton, who is the hero in this book, has so much to lose when compared to any other novels in this series. It is quite fictional just the way Bass tightens the screws on the forensic anthropologist. Another fiction is sympathetic and at the same time disturbing nature of the villain, who is a serial killer (Bass, 2013). The killer does so much evil things, but he is depicted as the victim of his experiences in early life. It is quite fascinating and unreal, the way the victims of the killer, who are prostitutes, are portrayed in three-dimensional detail (Bass, 2013). These prostitutes are not just the superficial parts of the story, but very critical elements of it.

Liberties from the reality and fiction have a huge impact on the perceptions of readers regarding crime and criminal investigations. This book turns the function of crime and criminal investigations into a fictional narrative (Bass, 2013). Its main influence on the perceptions of readers about crime and criminal activities is that of inspiring intellectual reasoning in them. Fictional narrative experience changes the way people feel and conducts themselves in their daily life. In this case, readers may start viewing criminality and the whole issue of criminal investigations in a totally different way. The fiction employed in this book, makes crime appear like a complex activity which only needs effective investigations to catch the perpetrators (Bass, 2013). 

Researchers have established the fact that those who read a lot of fictional narratives such as Cut to the Bone, tend to develop more empathy to the subject matter since fiction is simply a simulation of the social experiences of people. The best way to elicit strong emotional, as well as behavioral effects is trough fictionalizing a story. By fictionalizing Dr. Bass in Brockton, readers can develop a better understanding of how crime is done and the best way of carrying out forensic investigations. This cannot be achieved through non-fiction writing. A distinction can easily be made between fictional writing and the non-fiction one. Fictional writing in this book makes the subjects of crime and criminal investigations through forensic science to be more believable to the readers. Had the writers decided to stick to non-fictional writing, the whole issue of criminal forensic investigations would not be believable to the readers easily. 

Fiction normally pays much attention to the believability of the content fictionalized. The quality of a fiction text is assessed based on how it presents truth-like information. A fictional text such as this one is effective if it creates a world of narration that is real in its context. If the fiction is made to appear real in its context, the readers find it easy to associate with it hence they are given a chance to be drawn into the story. The purpose of using fiction in this book is to change the reader about the issues of crime and criminal investigations. Fictionalizing a story transports the readers to a new world, which changes their perceptions about the given subject matter. 

Fictional reading has a huge impact on the empathic skills of the readers. The fictional narrative can elicit feelings in the readers, which develop into affection for the subject matter of the story. Its consequences on the reader are always real. Empathy, in this case, refers to the ability of the reader to share into the emotion and situations of others. The integration of real-world events into the fiction stories may be linked to the processes, which people apply in life to understand happenings in the world. Through reading this fictional story, readers can have a better understanding of how crimes are done and the manner in which criminal investigations have to be approached to achieve success. Through this fictional story, it is possible to learn the human psychology of the criminals hence gain useful knowledge on the way to react to their actions through effective and strategic criminal investigations.

Through reading this book, the readers learn how to tell the moves of criminals through attempting to predict what happens in the book. They can predict the actions and reactions of criminals even in the real life situation. The reader expresses sympathy with some characters in the story by assuming their situation and perspective and experiencing the event as direct participants. Furthermore, a story like this one can make sense from what is senseless hence presents the opportunity of understanding other individuals across time and space. Such an opportunity may not be readily present in non-fictional life situation. This sympathy, which readers develop for some characters, is integrated into their daily life and self-concept. Therefore, readers get to understand the perspective of others and feel empathy. Additionally, the enhancement of the empathic skills through reading a fictional text such as Cut to the Bone can be of high contribution to the goals of people in life. For instance, the use fiction in the text Cut to the Bone helps readers understand the reason crime is regarded as a vice and the need to shun it. Readers of this book have the opportunity of thinking about better criminal investigation practices. Therefore, sympathetic reactions to fictional characters are normally simulated into the wider response patterns in daily life. 

The fictional experiences also do enhance the imaginative thinking of the readers about the subject matter. It has been explained that the fictional stories normally activate the neural processes, which reflect the events that are real and related to the narrative. The reader is then able to integrate what is read with the actual life events going on the mind. 

Readers of the story Cut to the Bone develop perceptions about real life criminal activities and try to understand the motive behind these activities through reading the actions of the book's villain, who is a serial killer. The better criminal investigation strategies are proposed in the story in a fictional manner giving the reader new discoveries about ways of overcoming crime. The liberties employed by Jefferson Bass in the story Cut to the Bone affect the reader's perceptions about crime and criminal investigations by making them understand these two issues in a better manner. They can predict the actions of criminals and imagine the necessary reaction that security agencies should take. This fiction story affects the perceptions of the readers regarding the most effective and best criminal investigation techniques. For instance, the story proposes the use of insects from the corpses to find out the time taken by the lifeless body since the death of the victim. 

The social issue that is presented in this story is the rampant incidents of homicides, which have to be resolved through enhanced forensic investigations. At the heart of these efforts to search for the solution to this homicide social problem, is Brockton who is greatly determined to revolutionize the study of forensics. The forensic study is meant to help the law enforcement agencies solve the issue of homicides. As the bodies murdered by the story's villain increase in number at a very high rate, the issue of homicides continues to astound Brockton. Every victim's body grows more distinctive as the killings increase. Therefore, Brockton together with the law enforcement agencies is faced with the urgency of catching the serial killer or else the killings could worsen. Brockton is even worried that the list of death victims may include him as well as dear relatives considering the fact that those being killed are people who are closely related to him.

The study of serial killers has for long been classified as a social phenomenon. This research about serial killers always concentrates on finding out the biographies of the offenders as well as motives behind their conduct. Serial killing is a modern social phenomenon, which is the outcome of the recent social as well as cultural conditions. This crime is a form of homicide, which normally takes place after a person has murdered over three people who were not known to him before the killings. It is vital to note that there is always a cooling off break between every murder. It I a description of serial killing that is admitted by the law enforcement agencies. 

Serial killings have become a thriving vice in the modern society because of the mass urbanization that is taking place. The status of relations among human beings has greatly changed as a result of this mass urbanization. Mass urbanization leads to a level of anonymity among people. Within the traditional societies, people were able to know each other by their name. They had knowledge about the profile of all their neighbors hence strangers were not often met. Additionally, whenever a stranger was encountered, it would be a major cause for alarm and concern in the entire neighborhood until the person is known. However, the increase of capitalism and mass migration of people from the rural to urban centers for job search has led to people living in the neighborhood of strangers. It is against this backdrop that serial killing emerged as a major crime in nations. One outstanding feature of serial killers is that they normally target strangers. Considering this fact, the densely populated urban areas have become the prim setting for serial killings.

Despite the fact that serial killing is not common, it has become a social phenomenon and is currently taken as a media event. Today books commonly make reference to serial killers. For instance, this book deals with this issue of serial killing expansively giving the reader the opportunity to have a better understanding of how it is done and investigators react to it. Therefore, the issue of serial killing has been popularized by mass media to the extent that those who wish to become criminals in this sector do learn from these outlets. 

What is so worrying about serial killers is that they randomly appear to finish their targets. Therefore, finding them is a difficult task that Brockton is trying to meditate upon in the book. One striking characteristic of these serial killers is that they do not just target anybody. The group of people targeted by the serial killers is the marginalized or rejected members of the society. The society has its way of rejecting a particular faction of its members based on what they do. Serial killers target people like those who lack homes, prostitutes, patients in hospitals and drug addicts. In this case of the story Cut to the Bone, the serial killer targets prostitutes. 

Acknowledging the dynamics that exist in victim marginalization is important in the study of the serial killers. This is a point that this story did not consider. Every social class is normally associated with a particular opportunity structure for murder. Opportunity structures are some of the concepts that criminology experts have always emphasized. This can give clues on certain criminal behaviors. It is vital to recall the fact that killers normally target people are accessible. Their accessibility is increased by their distance from the security agents.

The story Cut to the Bone uses Brockton as the fiction representative of Dr. Bass. Therefore, Brockton is developed with human characteristics of Dr. Bass to represent his work in trying to help law enforcement agencies in finding serial killers (Bass, 2013). Bass was an American forensic anthropologist, who specialized in human osteology as well as decomposition (Bass, 2013). Dr. Bass has also helped the law enforcement agencies in identifying the remains of human beings. Dr. Bass was a lecturer at the University of Tennessee. He is the one who started the anthropology research facility at the university, where he did much of his work. Through character development, Jefferson Bass give Brockton the features of Dr. Bass to represent his work in the story. The anthropology research facility that Bass founded is known as the Body Farm in this story. Brockton proposes the study of insects in dead bodies as the effective way of finding out the serial killers. Therefore, Brockton is the character that effectively and well represents Dr. Bass's work. His character compliments the overall quality of work done by Dr. Bass.

If I were Jefferson Bass, I would additionally focus on making Brockton delve into the study of the reasons for the target of prostitutes by the serial killer. This is also an effective starting point for any effective criminal investigation process. Brockton should not have just focused on finding out the time taken from the murder of the victim. Trying to understand the profile of the victims, in this case, the prostitutes would have helped the law enforcement agencies find out ways of catching the serial killer before many killings get committed. 

Moreover, I would also try to improve on character development to make them more compelling. The most compelling characters are the ones who tend to be internally consistent yet are surprising. Crafting a compelling character that is fully realized may require important elements such as a driving need, desire, goal, vulnerability, and contradiction. Jefferson Bass scores well on developing a character that has a clear driving need, desire, and ambition in Brockton. Compelling characters must have something in mind, which they want. What lets down Jefferson Bass is that they do develop a want that is quite strong to make Brockton a more compelling main character than he is now. I would, therefore, give Brockton a stronger want and goal that would make him become a more compelling character in the story. With a stronger want for Brockton than it is now, the resulting drama would be quite interesting hence making him compelling. Desire is what leads to a conflict. This ensuing conflict is what then forms a given character in a literature story.

There is also a more compelling secret to be created in Brockton, which Jefferson Bass fails to do in their story. For a more compelling character than the current Brockton, there must be a secret or a given trait that must not be revealed since its revelation is tantamount to a complete change of the status of the particular person in the world. Jefferson Bass should have assigned a more compelling secret to Brockton, apart from the villain. It is agreeable that the villain of this story is developed into a more compelling character than the protagonist. The villain has a very sensitive secret of his identity. He has to keep hiding his identity from the law enforcement agencies since if known; it would be easy for him to be tracked on account of his serial killings.

For better character crafting, there must be a contradiction. A character must possess two contradicting traits, for instance. On this front, Jefferson and Bass fail terribly because Brockton has only one trait. For Brockton, there is no contradiction about his character. He is only known for good things in the story. Additionally, the villain has no contradicting trait. He is only known for the vice of serial killings. For both the villain and the protagonist to be compelling characters, they must be given both bad and good characteristics. I would give Brockton a bad trait in one chapter, which would contradict his good demeanor. I would also let the villain participate in something good in a few passages so that they become compelling characters. A character may be rude and at the same time polite. This contradiction of traits in a single character is essential in crafting compelling players in novels. 

Lastly, I would also improve on the vulnerability of the main character. Jefferson Bass underperforms regarding the vulnerability of Brockton, who is the main protagonist in the story. With a high level of vulnerability on the part of Brockton, a lot of readers would be drawn into him to feel with him. For instance, I would make a case where the villain targets Brockton himself and his family. 

Reference

Bass, J. (2013). Cut to the Bone: A Body Farm Novel . New York, NY: William Morrow.