Bonnie Parker, the infamous lover to Clyde Barrow, and member of the Barrow gang, went out in a blaze of glory on 23rd of May 1934. Though painted by American Media at the time as a ruthless criminal, was this the case, or was she just blindly in love.
Bonnie and Clyde went on a 3 year crime spree, during that time they are believed to have killed 13 people. The Barrow gang consisted of: Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker, Marvin Barrow “Buck” (Clyde’s brother), Blanche Barrow (Marvins wife), W.D Jones, Henry Methvin, Raymond Hamilton, Joe Palmer, and Ralph Fults. But after an incident where Buck died, Blanche was arrested, and Bonnie was injured. The only members that were left were Bonnie, Clyde, and Henry Methvin. However when Bonnie and Clyde were driving to Methvin’s fathers farm they noticed him on the side of the road, they slowed down resulting in their death as it was a set up by police and they were shot 50 times each resulting in their early death.
Bonnie craved fame. She was interested in photography and writing poems, the photos she would take cemented American citizens on their views of her. Two of the photos consisted of Bonnie pointing a shotgun at Clyde’s chest, and her leaning against a car smoking a cigar. American women viewed her as a powerful woman. An inspiration for being through with her old life and for doing something not many women had done before. However later the American media started to paint her as a villain, saying she had laughed while killing an innocent pedestrian even though she was asleep in the car while Clyde and ‘Buck’ committed the murder.
After her death, surviving gang members claimed she had never fired a gun at a police officer and the other gang members were responsible for all the murders. They also claimed that the photos were all for show and that she had never even smoked a cigar in her life.
The interpretations to the story shows many versions of Bonnie Parker, for example in Bonnie and Clyde the musical, Bonnie is portrayed as a sweet innocent person that fell down the wrong path because she was in love. She is seen wanting to go to Hollywood and be a star and singer. However, this interpretation isn’t that correct due to the fact only 4 members are mentioned and also never mentions Bonnie’s husband in prison. In fact it is inferred she is single until she meets Clyde Barrow.
So, she could have been a ruthless killer but the one thing we will know for sure is that she was in love Clyde Barrow and that ultimately lead to her death.
By Scarlett
Yr 10
Boston High School Newsroom