Character Analysis: The Murder Of Richard Strout

Matt Fowler is a store owner with some sort of prior education. He is a father of not only Frank, but Cathleen and Steve as well, and is married to Ruth. Frank was going to school to earn a degree during the time when he was viciously and senselessly killed by a man who is older, but definitely not wiser. Richard Strout, on the other hand, dropped out of school at UMass due to grades and is currently a bartender. His priorities weren’t as well laid-out as Frank’s were, and Matt appears to resent two main characters, Richard and Mary-Ann Strout. Matt resents Richard for not only taking away Frank’s chance to live his life the way he was meant to, but also resents Mary-Ann for getting involved with Frank, knowing that Richard has violent tendencies and would get jealous. Matt has changed after the murder of his son, and Richard and Mary-Ann are to blame.

In “Killings,” Richard Strout brutally murders young Frank Fowler due to jealousy over his soon to be

Although Matt’s frustration is understandable we can see that his better judgement was obscured by his anger and disappointment in the justice system’s failure to give Strout the sentence he deserved. Matt is on the path to suffer the same penalty for murder as Richard would have had

Since Strout never spoke aloud to another person of his intent to kill Frank, his case in court would be seen as second degree murder, which would not be a case where Strout receives life in prison or death, rather his punishment would in most cases be years of prison time, but that does not satisfy the parents of Frank, Matt and Ruth. Matt decides to turn against the judicial system and avenge the death of his son himself, alongside friend Willis. During the buildup leading to the death of Strout, Matt converses rarely with Strout, even when Strout attempts to explain his side of the situation the following line reads, “‘Don’t talk,’ he said” (Dubus 113). Matt demands Strout to not speak because Matt doesn’t want to sympathize with the same man that killed his son, this also is a representation of Matt striving to cloud his own vision of morality. In Matt’s subconscious he understands that these actions he takes will be considered meditated murder in court, which would be life in prison for both Matt and Willis, but during his interactions with Strout all Matt believes on the outside is the he is avenging the death of his son.

Richard’s character is automatically negative after this moment. The murder description is also important because it is another justification that could be used for Matt’s

I, Detective Wilde, am being assigned the opportunity of a lifetime! Solving the murder of Richard Webster is what's going to determine whether I receive a spotlight in the newspaper. Business has been slow lately so this will help pick it up. Ahead of the interrogation, I gathered data on the victim and each of the suspects. Some background research shows that the Webster Network of co-workers are troubled: Richard, a class A jerk, Hugh, a broken businessman, Rita, in a troublesome relationship, H.T., a misanthrope, Dee, too loyal, Del, a sloth and victim’s cousin, Justin, once jailed for computer hacking. I am going to tactfully style my questions so they will be spouting a fountain of truth. According to my calculations, everyone who is

Both men tend to work late nights; Trottier was a bartender, so Fowler meeting with him after hours was an easy alibi. The hardest part was getting Strout to a secluded place, which they were able to do by conning him at first, saying they had bought him a plane ticket and wanted him out of their lives so that everyone could move on. After leaving Strout's car at an apartment building in Boston, they lead Strout to a pre-dug hole in a wooded area where Fowler kills him. “The gun kicked in Matt’s hand, and the explosion of the shot surrounded him…Richard Strout, squirming on his belly pushed himself towards the woods. Then Matt went to him and shot him once in the back of the head (106).”

The way the plot of Killings by Andre Dubus is arranged changes how the reader sees the characters in the story. This plot starts out in the present, then goes into the past, then back to the present. There are two main characters, and three secondary characters in this story. The way the reader views all of these characters is affected by the plot arrangement. The two primary characters who are most important to the plot, and also most affected by the plot arrangement, are Matt Fowler and Richard Strout. Because the first thing the reader reads in the exposition of the story is “On the August morning when Matt Fowler buried his youngest son, Frank, who had lived for twenty-one years, eight months, and four days…” pg 93, and not Richard Strout’s backstory and reasoning for his actions, they are immediately persuaded by the author to feel sympathy towards Matt. The author needs the reader to feel this sympathy so that when Matt kills Strout at the climax of the plot, Matt is not viewed as the antagonist of the story, but rather as the protagonist. The author needs the reader to view Strout as the antagonist so that the reader does not dislike Matt, and so that the story is one of justified revenge and not just another murder. If the reader had been presented with the plot in chronological order, with Strout’s backstory and reasoning for killing Frank first, then the reader might almost feel bad for Strout. If seen like this, one might conclude that, while he did not take

Within the story, Willis and Matt decide to kill Richard Strout. As they go to confront him, the audience is shown into the mind of Matt. Some would say that Matt has gone insane for murdering his sons killer, but others would disagree. The following quote shows the mind of the murder that is Matt Fowler. The text states, “Matt had not told Willis he was afraid he could not be alone with Strout for very long, smell his smells, feel the presence of his flesh, hear his voice, and then shoot him” (Dubus 55).

After leaving Strout's car at an apartment building in Boston, they lead Strout to a pre-dug hole in a wooded area where Fowler kills him. “The gun kicked in Matt’s hand, and the explosion of the shot surrounded him…Richard Strout, squirming on his belly pushed himself towards the woods. Then Matt went to him and shot him once in the back of the head (106).”

Matt is a middle class man who becomes obsessed with the need to get revenge on his son’s death. His son Frank is killed by a man named Richard. He is the husband and dads father of the women his son is in love with. This is what leads Matt into killing someone he wants pay back for his son death. Matt kills because he loves.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a novel that explains the history of a family murder through two characters perspective. Capote unravels each character through the concept of juxtapose, which helps prevail the occurrence of events. Dick, is a very straight forward man that does not care about what others think. Whereas, Perry has a shy, conserved personality that is shown through transitions and details. Juxtapose effects the readers and characters as explained throughout the novel by comparing and contrasting two different characters opinions.Details are shown on every page and are illustrated in every sentence, which gives the reader the image. In Cold Blood represents the development of characters, juxtapose, transitions and details.

Over the years Richard mastered his skills when it came to killing. He used guns, knives, poison, strangulation, ice picks, screwdrivers, hand grenades and would even at times burn his victims if asked by his clients to do so to ensure that they suffered before they left this world. Within himself Richard developed a cold inner self for his victims. When asked how he felt when he killed someone he would reply “I feel nothing inside for any of the victims I’ve killed. They didn’t mean anything to me and they had it coming and I was the one to give them Just Deserts for what they did to my clients”. Nothing was personal for Mr. Kuklinski just business and he took pride in pleasing his clients. The only people that he truly cared for was his family and he was very regretful that he hurt them the way he hurt them because they found out what he did for a living in an unexpected way.

There is no doubt in the readers minds that Strout is guilty of murdering Frank Fowler, but that does not change the overwhelming anguish and guilt that is felt by Matt after he shoots Strout. As Matt had led Strout through his house and into the bedroom, he could not help but notice the neatness of the house or the picture of Mary Ann and the boys on the wall down the hallway. Matt began to make a brief connection to the person who was standing before him; a connection that he had to dispose of quickly. After the murder, Matt is lying in bed thinking about Strout’s

The Man I Killed is the story of the man that Tim O’Brien killed. However, this story is not true. He later mentions that he did not in fact kill the man, yet he was present and that was enough. This story, according to him, is told to show the reader how he feels, because O’Brien feels as though the truth is that by doing nothing, he killed the man, so in his story, he does kill the man. Imagery is the biggest literary device seen in this story, but diction also helps make the story seem more true, it helps the reader to truly believe that O’Brien did in fact throw the grenade that killed the man. This story is told from O’Brien’s point of view, which would be first person, despite the fact that the word “I” is