The Irony of Justice in Killings

Abstract

The writings of Andre Dubus provide contemporary readers with a unique avenue to examine the human condition. Rather than wrap his themes in metaphors and symbolic figures and objects, Dubus uses blunt and minimalistic diction to make the themes of his fiction clear. In doing so, the reader is forced to confront the complexities and contradictions of the human experience. Andre Dubus’ short story, Killings, tells a story of revenge and justice and asks the reader to negotiate the balance between these ideas. However, Dubus doesn’t provide the reader with any easy questions. The elegant simplicity of his writing provides his audience with a structure to reflect on these difficult questions without becoming trapped within the abstraction that is characteristic of other forms of American fiction such as in the stories of Sherlock Holmes. Specifically, in Killings, Dubus explores the irony of justice, including its potential to rob individuals of the very solace that they seek.

The Irony of Justice in Killings

Although the pantheon of American literature is filled with titans that shaped and revolutionized the American psyche and philosophical perspective, the various forms of metaphor, allegory, and mysticism used within early American literature present as many obstacles as they do penetrating explorations of the human condition. Uncovering the hidden messages behind the diction of Emerson and even the symbolism of Hawthorne can appear impossible. Certainly, these authors’ contribution to the American literary tradition is priceless, but just as certain is the fact that understanding their messages requires an aptitude that many modern readers lack. Given this obstacle, the realism movement in the 20th century has provided a venue for readers to examine the dark places of the human soul. Foremost of many of these contemporary modern writers is Andre Dubus. His short story, Killings, demonstrates the power and ability of realism to undercover the complexities of the human condition.  The motif and tension between justice and revenge throughout the story reinforce the irony of Matt’s actions as he avenges the death of his son. 

Taking place in a small New England town, Killings tells a story about a middle-aged man, Matt, who unexpectedly buries his son, Frank, who was and shot and killed by Richard Strout. Frank was romantically involved with Richard’s soon to be ex-wife Mary Ann. As Frank is watching television one night with Mary Ann’s children, Richard Strout shoots Frank in the head. Forced to wrestle with the agony of burying a child, Matt and his wife, Ruth, struggle to move on and bury their pain. Matt, unable to do so, constructs a plan to avenge his son and kills Richard Strout. However, as Matt buries Richard in a gravel pit, his guilt and anguish are anything but buried. 

From the onset of the narrative, the reader is quickly pointed to the theme of revenge. Beginning with a funeral, the reader knows that someone has been killed, but only one person. The title of the story is Killings, so the reader knows that as Frank’s brother bitterly claims, “I should kill him” (Dubus, 1979, p. 197), more blood will be shed and more individuals will have to wrestle with grief. However, though the reader knows that more characters will die, expanding the definition of death unlocks a more complex theme of the story. While Matt successfully exacts his revenge on Richard Strout, it is unclear whether or not this revenge assists him in overcoming his grief. Furthermore, it can be argued that, as Matt murders Richard, he effectually kills himself. 

Just as the last thing Matt’s son saw before his death was a gun and Richard Strout, the last things Matt witnesses before his spiritual death are Richard Strout and a gun. This parallel structure highlights the irony of the story. In her own analysis of Killings, Elizabeth Grubgeld (2007) asserts, “In [Dubus] writing, all acts of the flesh - particularly acts of love and violence - incarnate the actions of the spirit, for better or worse” (p. 38). It seems clear that Matt’s act of violence damages his spirit, rather than alleviates his suffering. This irony underscores the tension between justice and revenge and the blurred lines that often separate these two ideas. In this same vein, Terry Lee (2003) comments, 

The irony is that Matt also commits a kind of self-murder. He is the judge, jury, and executioner in this story, which invites us to feel Matt's anger and righteousness, but also makes us suspect that a cleanly executed revenge murder cannot be morally justified. Even though his son's murderer admits his guilt and is to be sentenced for his crime, Matt's fixation on revenge -- "`Where I could get away with it'" (Dubus, p. 49) -- identifies him with a dark side of the warrior, murderous revenge. By the end of the story, it becomes apparent that the "killings" include not just the two physical killings, but the moral deaths of Matt, his wife, and his accomplice (p. 180).

Surely Richard felt vindicated in his attempt to seek justice for his son, but, in doing so, he only feels empty and isolated, “he shuddered with a sob that he kept silent in his heart” (Dubus, 1979, p. 197). This seeming incongruity forces the reader to reconcile this paradox and reflect on its implications. 

While forcing this paradox on the reader, Dubus is not trying to identify some oversimplified moral, but he is highlighting the difficult complexities of the human condition. Even though Matt may be justified in his revenge, the deed cannot be completed without tarnishing the integrity of his spirit. Echoing this analysis, literary critic, Frederick Niedner (2007), suggest Killings, “exemplifies the emptiness of craving justice while starving for forgiveness. Andre Dubus III…offers a harrowing glimpse of how easily decent people can sink into the abyss of murder…for lack of any way to compromise, make amends, or forfeit their certainty of being right”(para. 4). Perhaps Dubus does not impose the morality of these actions on the reader because he himself struggles to negotiate the balance. What makes this point more penetrating and poignant is that Dubus does not entrench it in abstraction or lofty diction, but minimalizes the romantic notions of justice and revenge to reinforce the complexity. 

The value of not only Killings but much of Dubus’ works is the simplicity with which he confronts his readers with. The themes and tensions of his writing are not difficult to identify, but they are difficult to confront. In stories like Killings, the reader, sooner or later, find a version of themselves reflected in one of Dubus’ characters. In doing so, Dubus effectually holds up a mirror to his readers and asks them to evaluate their own actions. William Pritchard (1989) suggests, “Realism is better when it doesn't work too hard to achieve “stunning," larger-than-life effects; when it takes the trouble to address the reader from someplace else than from on high (and mighty)” (p. 492). This is the value of Killings and Dubus’ work. Rather than condescend to the reader, he invites them to merely look at life from his perspective.

References

Dubus, A. (1979). Killings. The Sewanee Review, 87(2), 197-218. 

Grubgeld, E. (2007). Body, privacy, and community: Reading disability in the late fiction of Andre Dubus. Religion and Literature, 39(2), 33-53.

Lee, T. (2003). It made me think, seeing myself like that: Affective literary representations of the inferior masculine self, or good-bye, Billy Pilgrim. Journal of Men’s Studies, 11(2), 175.

Niedner, F. (2007). Getting away with murder: Forgiveness in modern fiction. Word and World, 27(1). Retrieved from http://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/27-1_Living_Forgiveness/27-1_Niedner.pdf

Pritchard, W. (1989). Realism without magic. The Hudson Review, 42(3), 484-492.