Bonnie&Clyde

You've probably heard of the famous Bonnie and Clyde duo at least

once. Specifically, Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow, the two

being the criminal couple who amazed the whole of America with risky robberies and

their love taken to the extreme. They appeared on the first pages of newspapers and

remained in people's memory for years. What made them so hard to forget, how

were they different from ordinary criminals? Maybe the love between them, the

hatred for the authorities and the desire to protect their loved ones... We will try to understand their minds, to understand the influence they have had on

each other, and we will start from somewhere else if not from the beginning, with

their history.

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (1 October 1910 - 23 May 1934) and Clyde Chestnut

Barrow (24 March 1909 - 23 May 1934) were a criminal couple from USA that

wondered around when the Great Depression was a thing. Bonnie and Clyde caught

the media’s attention and were referred to as the “public enemy” between 1931 and

1934.

Why? They were well-known for the robberies of some banks. To our surprise, Clyde

Barrow mostly liked to rob small stores and gas stations.

They were killed in May 1934, in the middle of an officer ambush close to the

Gibsland town, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

Bonnie Parker

She was born on the 1st of October 1910 in Rowena, Texas. People who knew her

pictured Parker as well-mannered, a good student and poem writer. In 1926 she

married with her high-school sweetheart, Roy Thornton and despite his arrest and

their not so good marriage, that sometimes was kind of abusing, they remained

together until her unfortunate death. Thronton was still in jail when he saw that his

wife died and he stated “I am glad they died like this. It is better than being caught”

To sustain herself, she was a waiter at Marco’s cafe where she became Ted Hilton’s

friend. In 1930 she met Clyde Barrow. He was arrested after not so much time and

despite that, Parker introduced a gun inside the bank in order to rescue Clyde.

Before her death, Parker sent to the media their scandalous story.

Clyde Barrow

He was born in 1990 in a poor family from Ellis County, Texas, Dallas.

Clyde was described as a small and not so soulful young man that went to school

until he was 16.

Under his brother’s influence, Buck, Clyde oriented himself over to a

life full of crimes. He started with some small robberies, he quickly switched to car

robbery and then he continued with the guns.

After, he met his partner in crime in 1930 while he was released from prison and

from there on they became inseparable.

The total number of their robberies and murders is not known, there may be dozens,

which only those who committed them know, and whose secret was buried with

them, but those known to the public inspired some people to create several films

about those two. With a film with the name of their duo, and two other films that

portray their deeds, people have been trying to understand them for decades. Did

they do it just for the pleasure of killing, or to protect their families? Being fugitives,

they started in 1932, robbing shops to make a living, and along the way, they were

joined by a friend, Clyde's brother and his wife. They killed people to steal their

goods, their desire for money, weapons and cars being great. In time, however, they

killed anyone who got in their way, be it an ordinary man or a police officer. In 1933,

police and several detectives conducted an investigation after their neighbors heard

gunshots. Trying to escape and defend his newly released brother, Clyde, along with

Bonnie, had to kill two detectives and injure four other police officers, according to

sources. They traveled from city to city, being followed by the law, and leaving

victims wherever they went. Trying to visit their families in 1934, the gang was almost

caught, but they miraculously escaped. The two were killed on May 23, 1934, after

an intense investigation by Officer Hamer of Texas, who understood the way they

acted every time they escaped. However, what is sad about their death is that they

were killed without a call, and police fired nearly 200 bullets into their car, a quarter

of which hit the two.

There are numerous myths about them, but no one knows the truth. They did not

spend as much time robbing banks as you think

They were portrayed as a couple that robbed well-known banks.This info is correct to

an extent because Parker and Barrow robbed less than 15 banks, some of them

were visited many times. Despite all efforts, they usually got away with very little, and

in one situation as little as the hilarious sum of $80.

Neither of them were tall, nor did Bonnie smoke cigars.

Bonnie and Clyde were both short, and it is only the movies that make us think they

were tall.In reality, Bonnie was 4’11″, and Clyde was 5’4″. Even though the most

famous image of Bonnie shows her holding a pistol, her foot up on the bumper of the

Ford, and a cigar clamped in her mouth as if she was Edward Robinson in “Little

Caesar.”

As Thomas De Quincey states in his book On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts, that people are beginning to see that there are many components to a crime, the world has always been attracted to it, and to its complexity. And so we can think about the crimes of the two partners as an art that has impressed the world for decades, because art does not always have to be something beautiful, it has to be something that impresses you, that makes you think about it, to you want to understand it as deeply as possible, to be able to assimilate it. And it was all based on a feeling that continually fueled this "madness" of theirs: love.

So Bonnie and Clyde will not be forgotten too soon, leaving an impact on everyone

to this day.

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editorial: Crina Stanciu

Alexia Stelea

graphic design: Antonia Vlad

translation: Crina Stanciu

Alexia Stelea

DP (desktop publishing): Antonia Vlad