“The Murder of Carol Neulander” was a story about how a rabbi killed his wife. It was also much more than that, talking about friendships, loyalties, family trauma and how an investigator handled it all. The end result is given to the reader before the end of the first paragraph, but the results aren’t what pulls the reader in. The stage is set for a dramatic telling of how murder played out, before and after the death, and how the rabbi is caught. Instead, it is more straight-forward telling of events, although it is suspenseful in parts. All the main people involved are just names, Carol and Fred Neulander and their children Matthew and Rebecca. But Martin Devlin was the true main character of the story. Unlike the others, he was described physically and given a background on where he used to work and what he was like as a person. Devlin was the person who put together most of the case and the person focused on for the article. He connected all the people and pieces together better than following the rabbi or one of the …show more content…
There was some order to it, but things were revealed for the best suspense and reveal possible in certain parts and then others revealed early to get to the point or help the article make sense in what was happening in the case and why. Some things the reader could guess before it was revealed, but the wait for the answer made it more compelling to read. Then the set up for the crucial aspects of the case organized the story in a way other styles of writing couldn’t have done as well. Split up into four parts, “the phone calls, the fight, the mistress and the Torah,” the important parts of what happened in the murder were set up so a reader could follow along just as a jury might when the case was displayed in court. It had a little more backing behind it because the results were already there, but it was still interesting to follow along in just how it
This examination will look at the short story “Killings” by Andre Dubus and the main characters in the story. The story begins on a warm August day with the burial of Matt and Ruth Fowler’s youngest son Frank. Frank’s age: “twenty-one years, eight months, and four days” (Dubus 107). Attending the funeral were Matt, his wife Ruth, their adult children and spouses. Matt’s family is extremely distraught over the murder of their youngest son/brother, in their own way. There are implications of wanting to kill Richard Strout, the guy accused of being the murderer: “I should kill him” (107), as stated after the service. This comment is considered a fore-shadowing of what is to come in the thought progression of Matt and Ruth.
Diane Urban, for instance, was one of the many people who were trapped inside this horror. She “was comforting a woman propped against a wall, her legs virtually amputated” (96). Flynn and Dwyer appeal to the reader’s ethical conscience and emotions by providing a story of a victim who went through many tragedies. Causing readers to feel empathy for the victims. In addition, you began to put yourself in their shoes and wonder what you would do.
On June 7th 2008, Sarah May Ward was arrested for the murder of Eli Westlake after she ran him over in a motor vehicle in St. Leonards. Prior to the incident the offender had been driving the wrong way down Christine Lane which was a one way street. Whilst this was occurring she was intoxicated, under the influence of marijuana, valium, and ecstasy and was unlicensed to drive. The victim and his brother who were also intoxicated, where walking down the lane and where nearly hit by the offender. This prompted the victim to throw cheese balls at the car and make a few sarcastic remarks regarding her driving ability. After a brief confrontation between the two parties the victim and his brother turned away and proceeded to walk down Lithgow Street. The offender followed the victim into the street and drove into him while he was crossing a driveway.
After reading ‘The Murder of Helen Jewett” it gave me insight on how crime in New York City was in the 1830’s and another view on how life for men and women differed. The book starts off talking about Dorcas Doyen famously known as Helen Jewett and how she was highly thought of but then the news comes out of nowhere with several stories about her past some twisted to make her seem as bad as a prostitute who has bounced around a few times could be seen. But her actual story was that she was born in 1814 in Temple, Maine to a regular working family. She lost both of her parents at a young age her mother died when she was at the early ages of her life and he father who was an alcoholic died shortly after her mother. She was put in a home, orphaned
In "Killings"by Andre Dubus and In the Bedroom, directed by Todd Field, the author and director decided to go different directions with the beginning of the story, keeping the plot of the story almost identical. However, beginning the story differently impacted both works in completely different aspects. Dubus begins the story at the funeral of Frank which leads the reader to draw conclusions about what happened before Frank's funeral, while Field’s gives more background to viewer which allows the reader to make more connections. Dubus begins the story at Frank’s funeral which leads the reader to become confused throughout the story. As the reader reads through the story, they have to be able to connect the dots to understand what is happening. While in the movie, Field’s begins with the backstory leading up to Frank’s death which makes it easier for the viewer to understand what is happening. The difference between the two stories impacts how the reader and viewer are able to interpret the story.
The Killings is a story about a man named Matt Fowler, whose son Frank is violently killed by his girlfriends ex-husband. The story goes on to explain the tale of how Matt copes with his feelings of revenge, which result in the killing of Richard Strout, Frank's killer. The story, written by Andre Dubus uses several key factors of plot in order to make the characters of Matt Fowler and Richard Strout appear to be more human. By focusing heavily on the plot the reader can easily grasp the humanity within both of the killers as well as sympathy for the victims. Truly understanding the story relies on... ...
Tragically, the butchered upper-torso of Winter’s once-robust body was stumbled upon by his father, who had noticed the absence of his son since Sunday, March 11 (Smith 2002, 25-26). Unsurprisingly, an investigation occurred to obtain the identity and whereabouts of the murderer. When the various pieces of the body are found in differing areas of the town, theory begins to formulate that the murder was conducted by one of the two butchers in town; Adolph Lewy, a Jew, and Gustav Hoffman, a Christian, due to the precision of the cuts made upon Winter’s body (Smith 28).
“Killings", written by Andre Dubus in 1979, involves several aspects such as revenge, morality, and murder. Elements, such as the story’s title, the order of events, and the development of the characters, are very unique. It successfully evokes emotion and suspense as the plot unfolds in sequence. Though it seems easily overlooked, the title “Killings” is very important due to the fact that the thrill of suspense is left in the mind of the reader. The title encourages readers to question who and what. It is also an intricate setting for the plot’s mood. It implies that a murder has taken place, but that is all the reader knows. The chronology of the story uses a style called "in media res”, a term used to describe the common strategy of beginning a story in the middle of the action or entering on the verge of some important moment (Meyer 2198). In this story, the readers are shown that murder not only takes a life, but it can also take away a living persons sense of self worth, their spirit.
The story “Catch a Killer,” was written by George Woods. It is a story about three main characters, Lieutenant Tawney who is a B.C.I. man, Andrew Morgan who leaves his house and goes to Batten’s house, and Craig Corso who is a mysterious man. Their behaviors, personalities, actions, and their thoughts affect the story “Catch a Killer”.
Having a to bury a child is hard. Letting the killer run free is harder. “Killings” has different types of feelings and personalities mixed into it. It starts out deep and depressing the around the middle, gets dark the gets back to being depressing but more relaxed. It has hot tempered personalities mixed with jealousy. A man is in grief and early stages of depression over his son’s death. Someone just wants to be a friend and help out the family.
In Andre Dubus’ “Killings” and Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the theme of death is apparent throughout both of the short stories. Both have a plot that revolves around death and murder. They differ because in Dubus’ story the theme of death is obvious because the whole plot revolves around murder, but in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” there are numerous symbols of death as well as a major theme of death. Also, the endings of the stories are of an interesting comparison because they both end in the perspective of a murderer. In “Killings” the reader is left with a depressed feeling and an irresolvable ending, while in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the reader is left feeling like the story was somewhat resolved even after all the gruesome fatality. The endings of these stories leave the reader with opposite feelings and Dubus and O’ Connor show their different outlooks on the world through these endings.
Throughout the narrative, the text utilizes the conflict over the crisis of cognition, or the very mystery regarding the Marquise’s lack of knowledge surrounding her mysterious pregnancy, as a catalyst for the presentation of the plurality of opinions associated with the Marquise’s current status in society and presumptions to the father’s identity. In itself, this state of cognitive dissonance prevents the Marquise from making any attempts at atoning for her supposed sin, as she herself is unaware of any possible transgressions responsible for her current predicament. In turn, this separation from the truth pushes the marquise to fall into the conviction that the “incomprehensible change[s] in her figure” and “inner sensations” (85) she felt were due to the god of Fantasy or Morpheus or even “one of his attendant dreams,” (74) thereby relinquishing her subconscious from any guilt. However, despite her self-assurance of innocence and desperate pleas at expressing her clear conscience, the marquise becomes subject to external pressures from both her family and society, who come to perc...
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
In the short story “ A Dead Woman’s Secret by Guy de Maupassant, the basic theme is devoted to family and private relationships. The main characters in the story are Marguerite (the daughter), the judge (the son), the priest, and the deceased mother. Marguerite is a nun and she is very religious. The dead woman’s son, the Judge, handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. The story begins by telling the reader that the woman had died quietly, without pain. The author is very descriptive when explaining the woman’s appearance - “Now she was resting in her bed, lying on her back, her eyes closed, her features calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying. The whole pale countenance of the dead woman was so collected, so calm, so resigned that one could feel what a sweet soul had lived in that body, what a quiet existence this old soul had led, how easy and pure the death of this parent had been” (1). The children had been kneeling by their mother’s bed for awhile just admiring her. The priest had stopped by to help the children pass by the next hours of great sadness, but the children decided that they wanted to be alone as they spend the last few hours with their mother. Within in the story, the author discusses the relationship between the children’s father and their mother. The father was said to make the mother most unhappy. Great
Judith Wright's poem `The Killer' explores the relationship between Humans and Nature, and provides an insight into the primitive instincts which characterize both the speaker and the subject. These aspects of the poem find expression in the irony of the title and are also underlined by the various technical devices employed by the poet.