Night Train by Martin Amis

Jennifer Rockwell appeared picture perfect from the outside. She came from a prestigious family, her body was like that of a model’s and she possessed great intelligence. Her friends and family described her as always cheerful and in good spirits; they admired her to a great extent for this. In her hypothetical picture perfect life, she displayed modesty in everything she did. “Dr. Tulkinghorn, what kind of patient was Jennifer Rockwell?…She-she wasn’t…As far as I’m aware she never had a day’s illness in her life” (90). No one could predict what this “flawless“ girl would later do.

She presented no warning of her suicide; she never let on that she was the least bit unhappy. It would seem as though her life was an outward show of lies.

Everyone can learn something about themselves through evaluating the lives of suicide victims like Jennifer. These people can open our minds to the fact that happiness is often deceptive. People change who they are to fit in with a certain crowd. They do not make decisions that are true to their feelings. Often they hide their pains because they don’t want others to see them. Jennifer Rockwell took the easy way out. Countless individuals each day take the easy way out. In that, the lesson is learned. “People point themselves at the world. People show a life to the world. Then you look past that and you see it ain’t so. One minute it’s a clear blue sky. Then you look again and there’s thunderheads all around” (174).

Not only was Jennifer seemingly perfect on the outside, but also the inside. Various internal conflicts drove Jennifer to carry out her suicide . Mike determined that Jennifer was taking drugs at the time of her death. This was hard for everyone, even the coroner, to believe and Colonel Tom hid this evidence because it was so shocking to him. The investigation illustrated too that Jennifer was having problems at work and with her love life. Her boss reported that Jennifer, an astrophysicist, began talking about loss of life in general right before her suicide. Her boyfriend Trader confirmed the two were having s

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