Townie Andre Dubus Quotes

Andre Dubus’ spiral towards violence in the memoir Townie exposes the authors fear of being unable to protect himself, his family and loved ones.

Dubus’ fear of being unable to protect himself stems from the relentless bullying Andre experiences growing up. Dubus started experiencing bullying at an early age. Andre was often on the receiving end of taunts and teasing from other boys at school and in his neighborhood. Dubus felt afraid and states, “soldiers have to be brave, and I was not...I just didn’t have the courage” (18). He had no confidence in his ability to defend himself against school bullies because he did not posses the courage to do so. Dubus’ family moves and he starts making friends at school. Even in a new neighborhood Dubus still faces tormenting from bullies who call Dubus “fuck face” and “faggot” (27).

Dubus’ mother and father had split when Dubus was young and his mother was rarely home to supervise the kids. The Dubus children and especially Andre’s brother Jeb were easy targets for bullies, because of their lack of resources and timid nature. As a teenager Jeb made the mistake of speaking unkindly about a neighborhood bully’s sister and that bully beat Jeb up. Andre witnessed the fight involving Jeb, and Andre had done nothing. As Andre looks at himself in the mirror after the fight he reflects on his inaction and inability to stop the fight, “this kid [Andre] had no balls” (78). It was in this moment that Andre makes a pledge to himself, “I will never allow you not to fight back ever again” (78). Andre had realized that his fear was not serving a purpose and that people Andre loved were getting hurt as a