Killings By Dubus Summary

While in neither the film nor short story does Ruth outwardly express her desire for the death of Richard, within the film, one is able to glimpse into the inner workings of Matt’s mind, understanding the emotional manipulation, brought on by his wife, he endures. Matt describes how Ruth has “concrete objections which he trie[s] to overcome” and “in his intent to do this[,] he neglect[s] his own objects” (1127); here, Dubus is indirectly telling readers this is the foundation Ruth has previously built in her marriage, allowing her to manipulate Matt into carrying out tasks, or specifically “it” (1136). Furthermore, several times in the short story, Matt convinces himself that “he [is] certain that [Ruth knows and] she [is] waiting for him” for “she knows” (Dubus 1125, 1134). In Field’s adaptation, one can see the change in behavior and demeanor both Matt and Ruth undergo, driving Matt to commit a seemingly inevitable killing. Several times in the film, the camera focuses on Matt and then quickly switches to a smash cut, implying disruption and cacophony follow Matt; however,

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.

The way the plot of Killings by Andre Dubus is arranged changes how the reader sees the characters in the story. This plot starts out in the present, then goes into the past, then back to the present. There are two main characters, and three secondary characters in this story. The way the reader views all of these characters is affected by the plot arrangement. The two primary characters who are most important to the plot, and also most affected by the plot arrangement, are Matt Fowler and Richard Strout. Because the first thing the reader reads in the exposition of the story is “On the August morning when Matt Fowler buried his youngest son, Frank, who had lived for twenty-one years, eight months, and four days…” pg 93, and not Richard Strout’s backstory and reasoning for his actions, they are immediately persuaded by the author to feel sympathy towards Matt. The author needs the reader to feel this sympathy so that when Matt kills Strout at the climax of the plot, Matt is not viewed as the antagonist of the story, but rather as the protagonist. The author needs the reader to view Strout as the antagonist so that the reader does not dislike Matt, and so that the story is one of justified revenge and not just another murder. If the reader had been presented with the plot in chronological order, with Strout’s backstory and reasoning for killing Frank first, then the reader might almost feel bad for Strout. If seen like this, one might conclude that, while he did not take

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.

Matt Fowler is a store owner with some sort of prior education. He is a father of not only Frank, but Cathleen and Steve as well, and is married to Ruth. Frank was going to school to earn a degree during the time when he was viciously and senselessly killed by a man who is older, but definitely not wiser. Richard Strout, on the other hand, dropped out of school at UMass due to grades and is currently a bartender. His priorities weren’t as well laid-out as Frank’s were, and Matt appears to resent two main characters, Richard and Mary-Ann Strout. Matt resents Richard for not only taking away Frank’s chance to live his life the way he was meant to, but also resents Mary-Ann for getting involved with Frank, knowing that Richard has violent tendencies and would get jealous. Matt has changed after the murder of his son, and Richard and Mary-Ann are to blame.

The major theme of Andre Dubus’ Killing,s 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.

The story also contains a full circle of emotion. It begins with the funeral, an obvious source of sadness. From there, the sadness seems to vacate the story until the very last paragraph. It ends with Matt crying into his wife’s breast. I think Dubus did this to make the disassociated feelings that surrounded the murders even more apparent.

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.

Matt is a middle class man who becomes obsessed with the need to get revenge on his son’s death. His son Frank is killed by a man named Richard. He is the husband and dads father of the women his son is in love with. This is what leads Matt into killing someone he wants pay back for his son death. Matt kills because he loves.

In this short story, his son is killed by a man named Richard Strout. Matt has the duty of dealing with the death of his son, trying to forgive Richard, and protecting his wife from seeing Richard at the same time. His wife never wanted their son to spend time with Mary Ann Strout, Richards ex, because she knew it was dangerous and it would only get Frank in trouble. Although, Matt allowed it and told his wife to leave their son alone and due to this, Frank was killed. Matt now feels guilt and eventually decides that the only way to protect his wife and get revenge for his sons death is to kill Richard Strout himself.

Richard’s character is automatically negative after this moment. The murder description is also important because it is another justification that could be used for Matt’s

Maryann’s husband kills Frank, Matt’s grief is increased because he sees Richard around town. Matt is aggravated and distraught over the situation. Matt and Ruth can’t stand that Richard is walking around town a free man as if not ever happened. Matt says he has to take care of the situation because it is too hard for Ruth to cope knowing that Richard is a free man. Ruth Fowler wants justice. The parents of Frank are grieving the loss of their son and are heartbroken, they feel as if they are dead inside. It seemed as if Richard had flashbacks of the past and became jealous of Frank that both Maryann and the children were happy

In the short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” a family comprising of a grandmother, a father, three children, and a wife is headed on vacation has the misfortune of meeting a murderous band of serial killers. The Misfit and his band of serial killers are recently escapees of a federal prison. In the following paragraphs this paper looks into the issues of, what one would do in a situation such as that and the background of the the family and murderers as well.

Finally, the reader is introduced to the character around whom the story is centered, the accursed murderess, Mrs. Wright. She is depicted to be a person of great life and vitality in her younger years, yet her life as Mrs. Wright is portrayed as one of grim sameness, maintaining a humorless daily grind, devoid of life as one regards it in a normal social sense. Although it is clear to the reader that Mrs. Wright is indeed the culprit, she is portrayed sympathetically because of that very lack of normalcy in her daily routine. Where she was once a girl of fun and laughter, it is clear that over the years she has been forced into a reclusive shell by a marriage to a man who has been singularly oppressive. It is equally clear that she finally was brought to her personal breaking point, dealing with her situation in a manner that was at once final and yet inconclusive, depending on the outcome of the legal investigation. It is notable that regardless of the outcome, Mrs. Wright had finally realized a state of peace within herself, a state which had been denied her for the duration of her relationship with the deceased.