Shot in the Heart

by Mikal Gilmore

  • Anchor Books
  • 0-385-47800-3
  • $14.95 ($19.95 in Canada)
"Remarkable, astonishing... Shot in the Heart reads like a combination of Brothers Karamazov and a series of Johnny Cash ballads... chilling, heartbreaking, and alarming." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

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    • About this guide

    Mikal Gilmore is the youngest brother of Gary Gilmore, executed at his own urging for the murder of two innocent men. His execution by firing squad in 1977 was the first enactment of the death penalty in America in over a decade; it became the first of many, inspiring a new enthusiasm, some believe, for capital punishment in our country.

    But the true story of Gary Gilmore lies in the story of his family, a painful and difficult one that has taken Mikal Gilmore many years to face. In researching his family's history, he searched through three hundred years of ancestral records. Many of these records were provided by the extensive archives of the Mormon Church, the history of which plays a fascinating role in this haunting memoir. Mikal also tracked down lost family members, discovering in the end a story even more troubling than his memories.

    In an eloquent, mesmerizing voice, Mikal Gilmore guides us through generations of his family's history to uncover the sources that led Gary Gilmore to murder, and the crippling aftermath of Gary's deeds on his family. A vital and deeply American story, Shot in the Heart raises many compelling issues of concern in a country that grows ever more violent.

    For discussion

    1. Families often share private legacies and myths. The Gilmore children grew up hearing family secrets and stories, from the abandonment of their father by Houdini to the dramatic tale of a public hanging witnessed by their mother as a young girl. Discuss the impact of these stories on the life of each parent, and on the life of each of the four boys: Frank, Gary, Gaylen, and Mikal.

    2. How did the Gilmore family deal with feelings of anger and pain? What avenues of escape did individual members of the Gilmore family develop as a means of coping?

    3. Was this story fated? If so, why? What do you see as the various key turning points in Gary's development from innocent child to cold-blooded murderer? What were some possible actions or developments--or turns of fate--that could have saved this family from its violent and tragic course?

    4. Children often act out the unexpressed fears and desires of their parents. Give examples of this from Shot in the Heart or from your own experience.

    5. What was the most significant difference between the family Mikal grew up with and the one his brothers experienced?

    6. Mormonism is the predominant religion originating in America, and is among the fastest growing religions in the world. Is the Mormon religion quintessentially American? If so, why?

    7. As a system of beliefs, religion can have the dramatic ability to shape our perceptions of the world. What impact can religious differences have on a marriage? How were these differences handled between Mikal's Catholic father and his Mormon mother?

    8. Gary Gilmore was first incarcerated at age fourteen. What was the impact of reform school on Gary? On Gaylen? Are reform schools substantially different today than they were in the 1950s? Discuss the advisabililty of incarcerating youthful offenders. Is getting tough on young criminals a deterrent to crime or a further conditioning agent to crime?

    9. Frank and Gary Gilmore were only a year apart in age yet Gary spent most of his life in prison and became a vicious murderer, while Frank went to prison as a conscientious objector who refused to even pick up a gun. Why do you think this was so?

    10. How has juvenile deliquency evolved in our society since the 1950s? How has the criminal justice system adjusted to this evolution?

    11. Is there a difference between rural violence and urban violence? Which one would you expect to be more violent, and why?

    12. We traditionally think of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime. Is it possible that capital punishment was an incentive for Gary Gilmore to murder?

    13. What impact does the media coverage of crime have on society?

    14. What rights of privacy do families possess when it comes to child rearing methods? What forms of abuse require intervention, and at what point is intervention by outsiders (teachers, neighbors, counselors) acceptable and even necessary?

    15. What are acceptable methods of punishing children? What do you know about child-rearing practices in other cultures?

    16. Who is to blame when an individual commits an act of violence? The individual? The family? Society? How do we allocate responsibility?