Judgement Day Pale Fire Journal Judgement Day Pale Fire Journal | Page 52

Determining the cause of death for the late John Shade has prov-
en to be a difficult task. Even though a heavy amount of data has been
collected about the death, it is very difficult to determine the exact cause
of death. The only thing evidently certain about this case was that some-
thing happened to John Shade’s heart which caused him to perish. We
seemed to have narrowed it down to two options: the late poet either died
from a heart attack or a gunshot to the heart. There is a hearty amount of
evidence to support each side, which has been thoroughly examined by
the doctors who performed the autopsy on the man.
John Shade’s records show that he had a history of heart attacks: the
medical records report that he had his first one on October 17 th , 1958
(246). Although he had a smooth recovery, it is known that those who
have a history of heart problems are likely to see those problems resur-
face throughout their life. Looking at the poet’s liver during his autopsy, it
is also evident that the man spent much of his time drinking, even though
he was likely advised not to after his previous attack (288). Excessive
drinking can cause the blood pressure to raise exponentially, which can
lead to too much pressure being put on the heart to function properly. This
could very well be what caused John Shade to pass. We were also told by
the late poet’s wife that the two of them had plans to spend a vacation in
the mountains in the western portion of the country (182). If the poet and
his wife did ever go to the mountains together, that excessive elevation
would most certainly have caused an enormous amount of strain on his
heart, as oxygen levels are much lower at higher elevations, and the heart
must pump much faster to get oxygen to the organs. Shade was also
briskly walking up an incline at the time of his death, which could have
caused his heart to overwork given his fragile condition. This combination
of factors most certainly could have lead to a deadly result for the late po-
et
The other plausible cause of death for John Shade was murder, specifi-
cally through a gunshot to the heart. Charles Kinbote, who was a witness
to Shade’s death, reported that a killer was trying to shoot them, and that
“one of the bullets that spared [Kinbote] struck [Shade] in the side and
went through his heart.” (294). Charles Kinbote reported that his gardener
was able to grab the gun from the murderer’s hands and turned it in to us.
However, our forensics lab was not able to find out any definite infor-
mation about the death via the weapon; there were no retrievable finger-
prints on it, or even proof that the gun had been fired. However, we did
have a murderer, who gave the name of Jack Grey, who did himself con-
fess guilty to the murder (299). If John Shade truly did die of natural caus-
es, it would be extremely unlikely for someone to confess to killing him,
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