The Killings Andre Dubus Analysis

Affairs affect people in different ways, but no one could imagine an affair destroying their ability to psychologically function. The “killings” by Andre Dubus is a shocking story about a killer named Richard who murders frank the man having an affair with his wife, who is his pride and joy. Riveted with murder and passion the author revels the characteristics of Richard Strout’s in the “killings” as a psychological obsessive and controlling person; these traits effect his emotions and behaviors throughout the story.
Richards’s anger which evolves throughout the story, is what leads to his obsessive and controlling behaviors. The author explains Richards’s background as a young, striving man, who is overcome by failure, and this contributes
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The best example of Richards’s compulsive characteristics is the way he killed Frank. The Author writes very bluntly, “Richard shot Frank in front of the boys” (570). We can infer that the author writes this way, because he wants the reader to wonder why Richard is obsessed with his wife, and he loves her more than anything. She is his pride, and he will do anything to keep her, even if it means killing her lover in front of his children. This is why he is so compulsive when he kills frank. Nothing will stop him from keeping what he believes is rightfully his. Strout’s compulsive action is not shown in acts of violence; we also see his compulsiveness and obsessiveness in his home throughout the story. The narrator states,” He spoke of Strout’s house: the order, the woman’s presence, the picture on the wall” (577). This statement is significant, because it sums up how Richard is still acting compulsive even after he has killed a man and his wife is gone forever. The picture on the wall is of his wife, and Strout’s still believes she will come back one day, even though we know as the reader she will most-likely never return. Richard is stuck on a psychological obsessive loop, and he keeps believing in a non-realistic