Dubus Killings

Dubus's "Killings": Prosecuting Attorney

In the story "Killings" Matt Fowler kills Strout in revenge of his son Frank's murder. Matt assumes that Strout will only serve a few years and be out on probation and doesn't think he can face that happening. Ruth, Matt's wife feels she cannot

go on with life as she sees Strout all over town and can't live with the fact that he's out on bail after killing her son Frank. Matt over the course of the story becomes overwhelmed or over capacitated with the murder of his son and decides to take action.

It's the start of the trial and the question on every ones mind is how are they going to prosecute Matt? Well throughout the story Matt repeatedly mentioned that he should kill Strout over and over again, he even started carrying his 38 revolver to the store just incase he ran into Strout and he thought he could get away with murdering him.

Now even though you can sympathize with Matt in his moments of disparity and his feelings of wanting to make life easier for Ruth you cannot

allow him to justify Killing Strout. Killing him was morally and ethically wrong.

Throughout the story Matt planned out the murder with Willis even planned out how to give them an alibi. On the other hand he didn't count on his conscious to feel the way he did, he thought everything would get better but it didn't in fact now that we are now in the trial his feelings are only getting worse as he put himself in the same chair Strout would have been in.

Matt took the image of this passage "Richard Strout shot Frank in front of the boys. They were sitting on the living room floor watching television, Frank sitting on the couch, and Mary An Just returning from the kitchen with a tray of sandwiches. Strout came in the front door and shot Frank twice in the chest and once in the face with a 9mm automatic. Then he looked at the boys and Mary Ann, and went home to wait for the police. As Matt allowed this image to flash through his mind as he and willis sat beside Strout's car waiting for Strout to exit. As Strout exited the bar and Matt forced him into his car at gun point he didn't double thing himself not until alone in the car on the way to Strouts house did he show any second thoughts.

As this occurred he showed he was in the mental capacity to show right from