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How Does Dubus Use Editing Techniques In Killings

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In Andre Dubus’s short story “Killings”, Matt Fowler would surely agree with Taylor Swift’s lyrics, “there is nothing I do better than revenge”. Ironically due to the many forms of killings, whether murder or love, every character impacted feels the need to seek revenge on the situation. However, connecting Dubus’s story with Todd Field’s film, In the Bedroom, which was produced to match the book, the audience is opened up to stronger symbols as well as the cinematography utilized. In Dubus’s story, the reader just reads about how Frank’s parents and Mary Ann feel, but through film, the viewer is able to notice symbols and the use of cinematography terms through various shots, angles, and editing techniques. Although Dubus’s short story, “Killings” …show more content…

Ruth becomes extremely depressed, and can not do very much after the death of her son, which did not benefit her and Matt’s relationship. Matt’s coping mechanism is to just blow situations off and go back to how things used to be, while Ruth can not escape the problem because it takes her over. For example, in the film, Field uses an overhead shot to convey that Ruth is reading the newspaper with reports about Richard’s bail in multiple different articles (In the Bedroom). While he could have used a tilted angle or moved the camera around to show this, the significance of the overhead angle makes a crucial statement for itself. This angle shows her weakness in this news, and how much she dreads reading this heartbreaking news about the man who murdered her son. Richard’s name is taking over Ruth’s mind because she is the one who sees him everywhere and is constantly reading about the case, however, Matt admits that he does not ever see him anywhere (Dubus line 24). Since Matt does not run into him on the streets or the store, or really anywhere he may just take it as an out of site out of mind situation. Even though Ruth and Matt have different coping mechanisms of how to handle the death of their son, their surroundings make it drastically different to even attempt to understand where the other one is coming

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The significance of this memory is that it shows the reader that Ruth is fully aware of the fact that Matt is preparing to kill Richard that night and that she is also alright with letting him go and commit murder, and likely the only possible reason why a sweet woman like Ruth would be willing to let her husband murder another human being would be because of her grieving, and the belief this loss gave her and her husband that it was morally acceptable to kill Richard because he murdered their son. Overall, that is how Ruth appears to be suffering from loss as seen through her thoughts and

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The practice of voyeurism is a debatable subject often criticized negatively for its perverted motives. Yet, through both Woolrich’s “It had to be murder” and its film adaptation Rear Window, the reader can be led to see a celebration of voyeurism rather than a critique. Jeffries is indeed given the most reasonable excuses to stalk his neighbours as his cast takes away his freedom of movement and the murder he tries to solve also gives him more reasons to spy on his neighbours. However, Jeff is greatly saved from being entitled as a Peeping Tom by the coincidence of Thorwald’s wife’s murder. As a matter of a fact, the timing in which Jeff is stuck in a cast and the woman is murder is nothing but a coincidence, neither Hitchcock nor Woolrich

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Andre Dubus, short stories contain a common theme of revenge, morality, and justice. In “Killings” published in 1979, Andre displays the theme of revenge and justice through the development of characters, the title of the story, and the thrill of the suspense. Dubus neglects to take sides with the characters in the “Killings”, which leaves it upon the readers to make assumption whether the killings were justifiable. Dubus has a very unique style of writing, the main characters in “Killings” were given a choice that could’ve led them to a completely different outcome. Dubus keeps the readers on their toes because the opposite usually ends up happening.

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