Determine Matt Fowler’s fate after the end of the story.
The short story entitled “Killings” written by Andre Dubus was a story of revenge. Matt Fowler, the father of Frank, devised a plan to avenge the killing of his son, Frank by Richard. At the end of the story, Matt succeeded in killing Richard in cold blood. The current discourse hereby aims to determine Matt Fowler’s fate after the murder of Richard had been committed.
At the onset, it was evident that Matt had been immensely disturbed by the fact that his youngest son, Frank was ruthlessly murdered. Even members of his family, especially his wife, Ruth, and his eldest son, Steve, would have wanted the murderer to be vested the same fate as Frank’s. This was evident when Steve asserted that “I should kill him” ; and even Ruth was identified to have wanted to have Richard killed through the statement: “Ruth would shoot him herself, if she thought she could hit him” . Thus, the killing of their youngest son left a devastating void, anger, and loneliness on the members of the family that each have expressed the intention to kill the perpetuator themselves.
The story eventually evolved with Willis, Matt’s friend, conversing with him regarding his feelings and sentiments about the past incidents that transpired in their life. More importantly, that Matt could not move on and was immensely disturbed by the murder of Frank; as well as the fact that despite Richard surrendering to the police, the case would still be tried in court.
Given these details, one is convinced that after having avenged the death of his son through the murder of Richard, Matt Fowler would most probably be apprehended and also tried in court. The fact that Richard was killed and dumped in the woods would be an indication that he would not be able to arrive at scheduled trial dates. This would prompt the law enforcement officers to look and search on his whereabouts. They would eventually find his car and at the rate that forensics are capable of determining the real sequence of events that could have transpired before the death of Richard, these officers could eventually trace that he was murdered. The most plausible suspect, of course, is any of the members of Frank Fowler.
In addition, the gun that was used to murder Richard was just thrown, to wit: “he took out the gun and threw for the islandlooking up to see the dark shapeless object arcing downward, splashing” . Also, their tracts which both Matt and Willis tried to cover were expressly indicated to have been done in a haphazard manner. It was disclosed that “neither of them spoke above the sounds of their heavy and clumsy strides through low brush and over fallen branches” . For sure, their marks are all over the place.
Finally, Matt revealed everything that happened to his wife, Ruth. When interrogation would soon ensue, she could possibly disclose what has transpired through the technology, including the lie detector tests and other signs which would indicate that she or even Matt knew something about the killing. As such, one strongly believes that Matt Fowler would eventually be tried for the murder of Richard Strout and Fowler would serve a defined time in jail for having to vindicate the killing of his youngest son, Frank – who was loved dearly. He was so disturbed by the killing that the only action deemed necessary to avenge for his death was to take the life of the person who confessed to the killing.
Work Cited
Dubus, Andre. "Killings." Book Title. Publisher. Publication Date. 47-64. Print.
