Ur posts r so informative and relatable. I got a question for u. What did u think of Dylan's drawing of the five coffins?
On the subject of dylans drawing I have opinions on the theories of others as well as my own thoughts on the significance of the drawing.
I've seen a lot of people connect the drawing to the number of people Dylan killed (excluding himself). Some take it as evidence that he somehow had prophetic insight into Clmbn, similar to the way Rachel Scott's writings and drawings are sometimes interpreted. Personally, I dont believe there were any kind of genuine premonitic connections between the events and the people involved and see these interpretations as retrospective foresight.
Ive also seen people argue that this drawing shows Dylan preemptively planned his final kill count. I personally dont find this convincing either. Both E and D made it clear that they expected their original plan to result in far more casualties than it ultimately did. Even if we're only talking about fatalities from the shootings themselves, Dylan wounded many more people than those who died, and whether those victims survived was completely outside of his control.
While I don't think this drawing foreshadows any specific aspect of the massacre, I do think the number of coffins is significant in a different way - specifically in relation to Dylan himself. Throughout his journal, Dylan repeatedly references the number five in both his writing and his drawings. It appears to have been a personal symbol for him, similar to the everlasting contrast symbol.
He seemed to have viewed himself as living in the 5th layer of existence, away/above others.
He also makes multiple connections to the number 5 in one of his last writings.
"Because I cant stay thinking in a 2nd dimension, I go to the 5th! Haha, so I wait 5 more days. 5 more days. 5 eternitys"
I've never seen a confirmed origin for the numbers significance in Dylans life, but I've seen a few theories relating it to experiences events that may have happened in his life around that age however I've never seen concrete evidence for this. Because of that, I think the most reasonable explanation for repeated use of the number is that it's another part of Dylan's personal symbolism that he connects to the nature of his existence.
I also see the coffins themselves as fitting into Dylan's recurring themes of death and suicide, which appear throughout his journal. They could simply reflect his preoccupation with death in general, his awareness of the attack he was planning, or his own suicide, which his writings suggest he increasingly viewed as inevitable.
I think, like with most things regarding this case, it's impossible to know exactly what he intended to show with his drawing, but I personally don't think it should be attributed directly to any kind of specific kill count and should instead be seen as an example of reoccurring patterns shown throughout his journal.
