Killings

            Andre Dubus's plot in "Killings" began with the burial of his youngest son Frank. Debus wanted to inform the audience of the sad event of his son's death. The title of the story "Killings" tells us that his son was killed and did not die of life's natural causes. .
             In the first paragraph an "apple orchard"(64) is mentioned. This symbolizes evil, and death as in the Garden of Eden. Readers then become more interest and focused when Dubus provided us with a flashback of what had taken place to lead up to the event of his son's death. There was never a dull or moment in the story; this made reading intense with eagerness of wanting to know the final outcome. If "Killings" was told in chronological order, the story would have been much longer. The beginning would probably go as far back to the childhood years of Steve, Cathleen and Frank, relating to times when Matt showed fear of his children being killed. In this case, the story would have taken a long time to reach the climax and it would have resulted in the reading becoming boring and less interesting.
             The Fowler family was very close before the death of their son. "Frank was living at home waiting for "for graduate school"(66) tells us that the family supported him during college. The night that Richard "beat Frank"(66) and he walked into the living room with stitches over his eye and a swollen lip, his mother rushed to him (as if he was still a young child) to show her concern for Frank followed by Matt insisting that Frank "Press charges"(66). They had family gatherings together that included the woman Frank committed adultery with. This was not a factor with Matt and Ruth. They loved their children no matter what. .
             The death of Frank affected Matt as it would do any loving parent. Matthew Fowler felt that he was forever robbed of all the enjoyments he earned in life. .
             Matt could no longer have "the quietly harried and quietly pleasurable days of fatherhood"(65).