Killings By Andre Dubus Analysis

From prehistory to 21st century, violence and warfare permeate human existence. Tribes, cities, and nations have pitted their youth against one another in hopes improving their position. However, these Soldiers regularly fall short of maximizing their killing potential. In the book On Killing, Dave Grossman scrupulously examines war throughout recent history; specifically the human element in killing. His thorough assessment of the psychological factors associated with homicide is vitally important to individuals who wish to successfully lead their Soldiers during and after combat. Its ultimate value clearly visible in light of four major facets: the background of the writer, the general points of the book, analysis of essential concepts, and the insight provided.

“Killings” by Andre Dubos is a short story surrounding the death of a young man named Frank Fowler. Following his father Matt, the story opens at Frank’s funeral proceeding where family, mother Ruth and siblings Steve and Cathleen, and friends have gathered at the cemetery to send Frank. The way the family expresses their grief not only suggest that Frank’s death was tragic, but also at the hands of another individual, specially expressed by Steven repeating “I should kill him” when the service had closed (Dubos, 1). Evidence that the death was sudden and tragic continues as a month passes and the Ruth and Matt still struggle to grieve over their son. Tension intensifies towards Frank’s murderer as Matt and his friend, Willis Trottier, discuss

The Man I Killed is the story of the man that Tim O’Brien killed. However, this story is not true. He later mentions that he did not in fact kill the man, yet he was present and that was enough. This story, according to him, is told to show the reader how he feels, because O’Brien feels as though the truth is that by doing nothing, he killed the man, so in his story, he does kill the man. Imagery is the biggest literary device seen in this story, but diction also helps make the story seem more true, it helps the reader to truly believe that O’Brien did in fact throw the grenade that killed the man. This story is told from O’Brien’s point of view, which would be first person, despite the fact that the word “I” is

Strout may have been a killer, but he was still a human being, knowledge that Matt forced himself to forget. Matt begins to identify with the forces that took his son’s life – murder. He and Trottier planned and executed the murder of Strout not only to avenge Frank’s death, but also to protect his family. Dubus tells the readers how Ruth suffered every time she went into town and would see Strout on the streets or in a store. He wrote, “Ruth sees him… She can’t even go out for cigarettes and aspirin. It’s killing her.” (108) and “It’s the trial. We can’t go through that, my wife and me…” (116). Ruth’s suffering was Matt’s motivation to protect his family. Matt could no longer handle seeing Ruth’s life become shattered by Frank’s murder and her inability to deal with the loss. This was Matt’s final deciding factor to bring forth an end to their suffering by killing Strout.

Families are one of the most important things in life. We have parents, kids, crazy uncles, and weird cousins, but that doesn’t change how it would feel to lose one of them. In the short story Killings, Richard Strout kills Frank Fowler and then suddenly disappears. Matt Fowler, Frank’s father, is suspected of murdering Richard and hiding all the evidence. After losing his son, Matt and his family grieved over the loss of their loved one wanted to see Richard Strout where he belonged, or at least out of sight. Although the story doesn’t reveal what happens to Matt Fowler after Richard Strout is dead, all the evidence, Matt’s PGD, his thirst for revenge, and how he believes the system has failed him when Richard was able to walk free, makes him guilty of killing Richard Strout.

In the Killings, Dubus used foreshadowing throughout the story to show the anger and the grief the family endured after Frank’s murder. Dubus decided to begin the story with Frank’s funeral and the family’s emotions and thoughts about Frank’s murderer, Richard Stout. Dubus showed the intensity of the family’s hatred by adding quotes from the family, such as; “I should kill him.” (1175). The author added several quotes like this, that described and demonstrated the family’s grief. Knowing how the characters felt gave the reader the ability to feel the same grief and hatred, which initially caused a dark and heavy tone throughout the

After leaving Strout's car at an apartment building in Boston, they lead Strout to a pre-dug hole in a wooded area where Fowler kills him. “The gun kicked in Matt’s hand, and the explosion of the shot surrounded him…Richard Strout, squirming on his belly pushed himself towards the woods. Then Matt went to him and shot him once in the back of the head (106).”

With the name “Killings” Dubus has already started his statement about these specific murders. If he were to use a phrase such as murders for the title, there would be an instant empathy towards the victim. Although he wants you to feel a little empathy towards Frank, I believe Dubus’s main point was to show the futility of enacting revenge. Throughout the whole story there is a motif of revenge that is masked behind the word justice. Since the earliest days of written record, there has been a philosophy, which has no become just a proverb, which stated, “An eye for an eye.” The whole idea behind this philosophy was that whenever a crime was enacted, the exact same crime was to be enacted upon the guilty party. As in the title exampled, if person A poked out person B’s eye, person A would have his eye removed. That idea of revenge is prevalent in this story. Rather than let what society has deemed justice, take it’s course, Matt decided that he could not wait any longer. Together with his friend Willis Trottier, Matt thought out a well calculated plan for murder.

Plot is defined as, "the authors arrangement of incidents in a story it is the organizing principle that controls the controls the order of events (Meyer,64)." The element of plot is heavily relied on in the short story, "The Killings" by Andre Dubus. The plot which is completely made inside the imagination of an author (Meyer,64), gives the audience important insight to people, places, and events in the story (Meyer,64) . "The Killings" provides a somewhat conventional plot pattern, where the character is confronted with a problem and is then led into a climax, which late leads to the resolution of the story (Meyer,65). The conventional plot is easy to follow and serves as a basis for movies and other

The major theme of Andre Dubus’ Killings is how far someone would go for the person they love. It is important to note the title of the story is killings and not killers, for the reasoning that the story does not just focus on two deaths or two murderers but rather the death of marriage, friendship, youth, and overall, trust.

Meyer, Michael. "Killings." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ninth ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 96-108. Print.

Murder on a Sunday Morning is about an African American boy who was wrongly convicted of murder. He was only fifteen years old when his life changed forever. While first watching the documentary, it seems to the audience that Brenton Butler, the convicted boy, is guilty. Mr. Stephens, husband of the victim, Ann Stephens, claims that Butler came over, tried to take Anna Stephens’ purse, and then before she could comply, he raised his gun and shot her in the face. Sadly, Mr. Stephens was the only eye-witness, which is a major red flag, as he is connected to the victim. After being forced by the detective, Butler confesses. Once defense attorney, Patrick McGuinness is involved, he has Butler tell the court of his innocence and thus beings the criminal proceedings for Brenton Butler.

In the short story “Killings” the author, Andre Dubus writes about two different killings allowing the reader to determine the justification of each killing. Focusing on the main character Matt Fowler, the reader learns that Matt has good morals, which are overtaken by the death of his son. As the story progresses, Dubus shows the motivation behind Matt’s anger and revenge. Which leads Matt to a controversy over following his head or his heart. All of these aspects give the reader obvious conclusions that Matt will not follow through with his plan, making it even more surprising when he does.

The main character Matt, along with his wife and children, had to deal with the death of one of his sons Frank. At the beginning of the story, Matt seems to have an unbearable amount of grief, stress, and pressure. Most of this is caused by his wife who seems to not want her son's killer out walking the streets. By the end of the story, Matt had killed Strout, his son’s killer, and the last line was “he shuddered with a sob that he kept silent in his heart” (Dubus 74). This line alludes that Matt ended up worse than when he started, almost to the point where he has more guilt and regrets what he did. In addition to character development, Dubus uses imagery as well. The descriptive words in this short story allow the reader to get into the scenes with the characters, and to feel what the characters felt. In the midst of one of the flashbacks, Dubus sets up the scene very well, and makes the reader feel like they are there. For example, “They were sitting on the living room floor watching television, Frank sitting on the couch, and Mary Ann just returning from the kitchen with a tray of sandwiches” (Dubus 65). This set up the scene before Strout came in and shot Frank, and Dubus uses this continuously throughout the story. The imagery used allows you to have the possibility to understand why the killers

In this poem, ‘The Man He Killed’, the poet Thomas Hardy explores a complex theme, which is war, using the simplest language. Throughout this essay I will be discussing the thoughts and opinions Hardy has on war.