Read Jay Roberts, “Center of the Universe”
https://www.orangecoast.com/features/center-of-the-universe/
What detail, idea, sentence, or other element of this essay struck you the most, and why? Explain your response by carefully analyzing the language of a particular paragraph.
Length: 2 paragraphs
An idea that struck me the most is when the author says that Kraft looks like a guy he encountered before. This idea brings to my mind that moment that I gave one quarter to a man and we had a small talk. After we chatted a little, I went home and then I heard gunshots from the direction I came. My neighbors identified a man running from a car, and the man was the one I helped. While I read this part of the story, this event came into my mind. It is really hard when people that you know, even if you just know them by sight, commits something terrible or something pretty bad happens to them.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that surprised me was the way that Kraft spoke to the author in the motel. He was trying to persuade him to stay and if the author stayed, he could've ended up like the other victims. The author states that he perceived the knowledge that Kraft possessed about Marines. Kraft used this knowledge on trying to coax the author. It's really interesting how Kraft tries to create some kind of response or emotion in the author to achieve his need, but as we read, he failed to convince the author to stay.
Throughout the whole period of time of reading Jay Roberts’s essay to say that I wasn’t constantly intrigued or in shock would be a lie. Reading about how Randy Kraft seduced Roberts in a day at the beach was quite a show. One quote that particularly caught my attention was when Randy Kraft told Jay Roberts in his motel room “No, you just have to get them away from their friends.” in response to Roberts denying to Kraft about most Marines liking gay sex. Along with that quote, Roberts states in his essay that the fact that Kraft said that so freely yet calculated and confident was curious. As a woman who constantly has to have her guard up it’s easy to relate with Roberts confusion on that situation. No matter how much we try, our judgment isn’t 100% clear all the time. Randy Kraft knew that weakness and took advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteAs we continue reading the essay it’s easy to be surprised at how confused Roberts left that motel room, and how that piece of Randy Kraft followed him for the rest of his life. Just by how those statements made from Roberts were presented you can see how Kraft was very calculating with what he was doing and how he would proceed to take advantage of his victims. He was sly, cunning and knew how to get into their heads. Through Roberts’s guilt towards Kraft it can be seen the major level of manipulation Kraft had placed upon Jay Roberts without Roberts noticing. He made Roberts feel special, even though no matter how much Jay wanted convince himself, he was just another toy and victim of Randy Kraft. The way Kraft coerced Roberts without him noticing was shocking, and even more when Roberts found out the truth and he still kept acting out in denial.
As the essay starts, it becomes a roller coaster of surprising ideas and details the author tells us. He starts talking about Randy Kraft as a serial killer who preys on marines but then starts telling a story of a guy he met and at first I was confused on what that had to do with Kraft. Then I put two and two together, and got shocked at how he literally was in the same room as a notorious serial killer and talked to him for several hours without knowing. To top that, he actually liked talking to Kraft, and even though Kraft offered him gay sex and openly discussed it with him, Roberts still didn´t leave, which is odd, considering how homosexuals were treated in the 80´s back then. To think that a serial killer at that time would have a pleasant conversation with a Marine Corps soldier for several hours and even try to convince him to have his first gay experience with him is absurd and unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteThis really gives you a depth in how serial killers were psychotically intelligent and used rare ways to satisfy their thirst for blood. Although it really leaves me with one question, How and why did he not kill or do the same things he did with other victims to Roberts? Was Roberts really that special or was he lucky to survive? That’s what really surprises me the most. The sad thing is that Roberts really enjoyed his time with Kraft and it even made him question his sexuality preferences after. So even though it was a Serial Killer, to Roberts it was an eye-opening experience and it affected him for many years to come.
Last year I watched for the first time this series on Netflix called "Criminal Minds", and as the name suggests, it' s about how the FBI catches criminals and serial killers in different crime cases. This series contributed to my great interest in Neuroscience. I learned how fascinating the serial killers' brains are. As weird as it sounds. I find it fascinating to study and investigate how their brain works. What intraneural connections are happening within that person to make them behave that way? How their traumas have control over certain neurotransmitters to excite or inhibit a killer impulse on that person? For these reasons, the second paragraph of this essay had the most striking impact on me. The author gave a little introduction of Randy Kraft, the serial killer that he fell in love with unintentionally and unaware of that part of "serial killer".
ReplyDeleteBased on my learnings from "Criminal Minds", I can use the methods of behavioral analysis and profiling to determine who and what type of serial killer the person is. I would conclude that Randy Kraft is a psychopath. Here goes my reasons. In this second paragraph, the author tells us that Kraft "may have killed as many as 100 people between 1971 and 1983 when he finally was caught in Orange County, driving on the 405 Freeway with a dead Marine in the seat next to him". This shows no remorse, sorrow, or regret for his actions. Also, throughout the reading we see how Kraft is able to have totally normal conversations, show himself to be a trustworthy person and even get them to fall in love with him. That was his strategy on most of his victims, which shows that he is a person capable of maintaining a social life and pretending emotions towards other people. All these demonstrations are the complete description of a psychopath. Also, the fact that Kraft "liked to photograph his victims before, during, and after his acts of sex and torture, and further memorialize his kills in a notebook", according to the author, confirms my conclusion.
-Angelys M. Rivera Hernández
18/oct/2021
The part or idea that stuck with me the most from the essay is easily the idea that all of us hope that we are special. When Jay Roberts sees Randal Kraft and survives. He wants to think that the reason for this is because he’s someone important. A person so special that even Kraft had to pass on him. These ideas can be very clearly seen in the following paragraph:
ReplyDelete“You don’t know how much I need to believe something like that, that somehow I was different, that even a Randy Kraft would give me a pass, that if asked, he’d remember that room and that afternoon and say it was such an uncommonly lovely day, and we were having such a grand time as newfound friends, he decided not to ruin it for me, and gave me my life back.”
Speaking from the perspective of a reader, I understand why Roberts feels the way he does. Often, we feel like we’re not part of something bigger than ourselves. Maybe even like our existence is diminutive. So, the brief feeling of being something more. To be special just for one moment. It’s something unlike anything else one might experience. Which is what makes the eventual realization that it was all a farse to be even more world-destroying. - Adrian Jimenez
“Center of the Universe” is a narrative essay by Jay Roberts describing his near-death encounter with serial killer Randy Kraft. Its compelling descriptions and constant use of imagery succeeds in incorporating and placing the reader in the essay, almost as if they are going through each of these particular circumstances with Roberts. Personally, its subtle hints of suspense made me feel invested and opened the space for interpretations and questions with possible and reasonable answers.
ReplyDeleteAn idea that struck me the most in this essay would be the particular distinction Roberts makes between his past and present self. A quote that can help explain this phenomenon is: “Simply put, that afternoon, we—the serial killer and the young Marine sniper—were perfect for each other.” What Jay Roberts witnessed was a traumatic and haunting event, regardless eventually learning Kraft’s true intentions. He confuses, and to some extent camouflages, his apparent fear and disorientation with “love,” but his real concerns shine through. All throughout the essay, the reader can identify Roberts is constantly defending and justifying Kraft’s actions and therefore feelings towards him. However, at the same time, he contradicts and denies these feelings by addressing himself as a naïve marine, as if he’s trying to diverge two completely different personalities. Roberts doesn’t seem to have the ability to move on, whether it’s because he’s confusingly longing for the affection and/or attention he received from Kraft or being reminded constantly of a troubling time. Therefore, it’s easier to separate the horror from the peace, as if they are two different eras of his life, than accepting what happened and having to live with it’s mental and emotional repercussions.
- Pennélope Alers
The idea that came up to me when I finished reading this is how serial killers are very intelligent, astute, and clever but they prefer losing their life by the desire of killing (also can be lust and/or greed). Kraft can be described as charismatic, warm, and kind when he met with Roberts. As exactly as he thought, it is very shocking to see how a lovable person can be dangerous. We could think about what his life would’ve been if he had not such desire.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that came to me is how an individual can misinterpret their feelings and emotions because someone questioned something about them. When Roberts left the motel room, he thought everything about the homosexual sex that Kraft has talked to him. We clearly see that Roberts was not interested in men nor sex with them. As he says, he did not have any intention or desire. However, since Kraft talked about it to him, using his own opinion and facts, and even the way he was saying it; It sparked a little confusion and questions in Roberts’ mind. Saying that there might be a side of him that he did not knew even though he was not homosexual. This idea is something that happens constantly in society. People have a lifestyle, personality, desires, gender identities (since it has been popular) established but because someone they trust or even some stranger, questioned something about them it can cause a lot of thinking, reflecting and can even destroy who they are.
-D Padilla
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ReplyDeleteIn the news, there are cases such as of entertainment, weather conditions, and crimes. Most of the victims of these heartbreaking and violent crimes, in the hands of sociopaths and psychopaths, in my opinion, are most women or helpless figures. However, a totally different story is told in the reading "Center of the Universe", written by Jay Roberts. He recounts his experience with sociopath Randy Kraft, a well-known American serial killer who was known for killing Marines, youthful and tough men, in the 80s. Roberts shared with Kraft an unforgettable afternoon. However, from what can be understood from the reading, Kraft initially did not have friendly intentions with this casual friendship. The strategy of Kraft was to gain the trust of his victims, drug them with beers and various drugs, and to take pictures of them before and after the torture/death. He did something similar with the author. In addition, through this story, Roberts, presents various "red flags" the sociopath had.
ReplyDeleteA phrase that caught my attention was the following:
“Ultimately, Kraft’s final intentions for me are unknowable. The only proof that he wanted to kill somebody is when he did it. And he didn’t kill me as he did so many Marines who were very much like me.
The way of thinking of him, embodied in the previous sentence, shocked me because this despite the years and the multiple information found in the media, he tried to justify both that afternoon and the serial killer. The various "red flags" that he experienced in that afternoon with the sociopath were not enough to see him as a “bad person”: Kraft knew routes in California that a tourist would not know (while claiming he was Canadian), he invited the marine to a motel, he requested photos without a shirt, etc. Due to this not being enough information, this was very similar with what the sociopath did with past crimes: he handed a beer, took a picture “before the crime” and requested to have sex. However, at a certain point, I understand why he tries to justify Kraft’s actions / “red flags”. Kraft not only gave him a good friendship experience and made him experience sensations that he had not experienced (homosexuality) but it can also be assumed that Kraft gave this young Marine a second chance: he could have raped, tortured, and killed Roberts but instead he let him go. This type of experience makes us rethink who is good or bad in this type of situation.
- Amanda Quiñones
What struck me the most and intrigues me is why Randy Kraft didn’t kill this marine that interprets this story. The internet said that Randy killed about a 100 people, and they were all marines but why he left alive this one. People can have two sides, the good one and the bad one, and we can look thanks to Randy Kraft. The bad side of Randy Kraft is the side that everybody knows thanks to the internet because it was said that he killed a lot of people and he was a serial killer but then we have the good side that not so many people know and is the sociable, the extraordinary man and nice Randy Kraft. Who knows if he let other marines alive but this one is the only one that lets us know the story?
ReplyDeleteThe day that Randy Kraft found this marine in the beach they talked hours and he describes this day as the best day of his life. That day he doubted of his sexuality and enjoyed the moment with Randy. He didn’t want to accept he was gay, and he didn’t tell anyone because he was scared but deep inside him, he didn’t forget of Randy Kraft. Maybe Randy saw something different about this marine and let him live. In one of the last paragraphs the marine says that Randy respected him in the motel room and when he decided to go, he didn’t make any sudden moves to not let the marine go, he let him go without excuses. I think Randy saw something in this marine and let him go alive, maybe randy liked this marine a lot because he was different, maybe he hadn’t made such a strong friendship with someone or a marine that he chose but the thing I know is that he let him alive with good intentions and not bad ones like the others that he killed.
Adriel De Jesus
ReplyDeleteOne of the main ideas that it’s very present in the essay and that for me was one of the most interesting and was tuck in my head for a while was the fact that many of us feel similar to the author. Some of us think and feel special for a moment and for the rest of the day we will still remember how it happen, because we are. right? every one it’s special. and for a aditionak person to rebember you that, it feels way better, In the reading we can feel similar in the following quote “ The most unsettling aspect is that Kraft is the only man who has ever made me feel that way, to have identified and then acquired that thing in my heart. As I once wondered what loving a man meant, I now wonder what ...”
For me, I can still remember when someone gave me a complement or just make me feel special, maybe not for a lifetime but I can still remember their face, their actions and the way they make me feel for a couple of weeks or maybe more. I know for a fact that for the author was very shocking that the only person that has make him feel that type of way was a mentally ill person, a murderer. For me, i felt that the autor was confuse, intrigued and disappointed. Confused and intrigued because he couldn’t figure out how a lovely and such a nice person could tho such horrible things. And for last, i feel like the autor was very disappointed, not because the person he in just one moment fell in love, but because he never got the opportunity to ask the killer, what special thing he saw on him.
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ReplyDeleteWhile reading this essay, there was an idea which the author introduced that struck me the most. He made the analogy between the way the marines separated “Mexican babes” from the “heard”, and the words Randy Kraft
ReplyDeleteused: “You just have to get them away from their friends.” At the moment in which the author writes this, he is aware of how manipulative this action was. I as a reader, interpret this as a way for him to point out that he unconsciously fell victim to the same strategy the marines practiced. But when all of this was happening, he was as unaware as any other person that has fallen victim to this kind of manipulation.
This comparison between male and female victims creates a parallel for both experiences. It was interesting for me to see that parallel, because it shows that females are not the only vulnerable ones. Males can equally be victims to predators. One more interesting thing that I noticed was that the author mentioned multiple times that he felt like he was being rude by rejecting him. He was more scared of being perceived as rude by the person that had treated him so nicely, than of the fact that this person was actually making him uncomfortable. This is once again comparable to the experiences of many women, who because of the fear of being perceived as rude, tolerate the acts of men who were “mistakenly” led on by their kindness. Clearly, this fear of being rude has made many people stay in unpleasant situations, which can even become life threatening.
-Alondra Acevedo Ortiz
The idea that struck me the most was the way that he convinced Robert to go to his motel to keep on with the conversation. It is very strange to go with a man you do not know to a motel. I mean, Kraft is a criminal, and he had a plan. His fake charm helped him as he spoked with Robert, and the way he approached him. He even said he was Canadian, and Robert believed it.
ReplyDeleteI reached the conclusion that his fake charm, and his knowledge about the things that Marines liked were the reasons that made him convince Robert to go to his motel. After all, he is a marine, and he knows the way they behave. He was talking to Robert about boats, traveling, etc.; and that made interest in Robert to keep hanging out with Kraft. In conclusion, Kraft knew what he was doing, and if was not the first time he did that. Robert was lucky to not end up being a victim, and it was probably because of the way he talked to Kraft, and the bond that they formed on that day.
The idea of this essay that impressed me the most was when the author realizes that he knew this Randy Kraft. And even more so when he realizes that not only did he know him, but that he actually struck up a conversation with him. And this makes me think about how close we sometimes are to danger without realizing it. Jay Roberts was in a room alone with a killer and without knowing, he let the killer manipulate him. The amazing thing is that he doesn't realize it until years after it happened. He could have died that day, like all of Kraft's victims.
ReplyDeleteKraft's ability to entangle people when it came to hunting his victims was evident, as he entangled them with words and, of course, alcohol and other drugs. He took his time to weave his trap like a spider and catch his victim so that he would not have the slightest chance to escape. I also think that the author does not conceive the idea that a serial killer had him on his hit list, and that he tried to seduce him. I find it incredible that Roberts got out of that motel alive.
It is kind of curious how he gave his whole backstory with a serial-killer that he blindly felt in love just to say that '' Everyone wants to believe that they are special. 'And actually, I agree with the author in a sense that the human species itself is narcissistic and egocentric. He likes to be praised, applauded, and congratulated to satisfy the ego and not only that, but also for one to feel that they matter. Although we are millions of people living in the same physical world, mentally each creates their own reality. They decide what they want to become, what they want to do, in what things are they interesting or acknowledge in it, and most of them do it expecting something in return, if it is always approval or simply wanting to be better than someone else. However, when it comes to being made to realize that they are not so important because we are not the only ones who are alive and things happen to them, there the chip changes and creates an emotional discomfort, I would say. A perfect example was when Galileo Galilei let the whole world know that the Sun revolved around the Earth, if not that the Sun was the center; he basically yelled at us; 'don't be stupid, not everything revolves around you'.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this has to do with why Kraft and / or many serial killers act that way. Not only do they get away with theirs, if not, but they also have a manipulative lip to misrepresent situations and even be able to convince others that he is okay. That's what happened to Roberts. He got so carried away by the situation that he ended up doubting his sexuality, just because he had spent a single afternoon with a completely stranger. This is the great power that stalkers have; they create doubts about cases that are already clear to oneself. The degree of manipulation of Kraft was so immeasurable that even though it was really sketchy, everything that he was told to do in a 'normal' way as he wanted was not enough for Roberts to realize from the beginning that it did not paint well. In my opinion, from the beginning it was noted that kraft's intentions were murky, but Roberts, despite not seeing the red flags from the beginning, was able to "save" from his unannounced death. That's where one wonders if it was really the special connection, he had with Roberts that saved him from his death or if it was just luck.
It was an interesting story and I’m full of questions and curiosity. I want to know why certain things happen and why certain things didn’t happened. I am curious on why did Robert stayed for so long in the motel. He thought of leaving but he just couldn’t leave for some reason. Or why Kraft didn’t kill Roberts before leaving. I am also curious on why he say yes to the shirtless photo. I would understand a normal photo because taking a photo is normal but being in a motel and after everything what happened, why would he agree to the shirtless one?
ReplyDeleteThe quote that struck me the most was “you just have to get them away from their friends.” This is true because if you want to talk or influence someone, you need to separate them from their friends. If they stay with their friends, then they will tell that person to go or not go with that person. This sometimes can be good or bad because it may save you from something bad or it might stop you from having a good time. Also, there are people that let their friends make decisions for them and this is bad because if they depend too much on their friends, they will not have a mind of their own which will be bad later in life. But in Roberts case, if he had a friend maybe he would have stopped him from going to that motel room.
Diego Diaz
ReplyDeleteSomething that struck me is when the author puts in the essay what he would do with the corpse of the marines. "Kraft liked to photograph his victims before, during, and after his acts of sex and torture, and further memorialize his kills in a notebook. The perverse cruelties he inflicted while his victims were still alive are beyond imagination. Quite a few were young Marines he picked up in bars or hitchhiking. They ended up as strangled, mutilated corpses dumped on roadsides". This entire paragraph struck me and showed me that you never truly know someone. It shows how sick the mind of someone has to be to do this sort of action. The way that he describes how the body's needed to be. they were white, near his 5-foot, 10-inch height and 160-pound weight, and with light brown hair. He liked them youthful and tough, a Marine’s Marine. He also liked straight men. Maybe he took this as a challenge. It also shows that he was homosexual which impacted his way of choosing his targets.
The other thing that shocked me is the 30-year-old story. The way that Kraft did this thing is truly terrifying. His persuasion skills are so weird. he clearly was just lounging, loitering, enjoying the ocean view like me. He was engaging, intelligent, and pleasant—a warm guy with a wry smile. His speech, soft yet precise, and his general manner fit my stereotype of Canadians, and would have been disarming had my guard been up. But I was totally relaxed. As we talked, it became clear we were both enjoying the conversation. We talked for several hours about everything—books, current events, and travel. We were becoming fast friends, and we remarked on this, perhaps more than once.This shows to what extent a person is willing to go to just to do what he wants.