Analytical Response D: Comparing Matt With Harry

Matt Fowler, Frank’s father and the main character from Killings is very similar to the character Harry from Dubus’s short story If They Knew Yvonne. Both characters are looking to make themselves feel better and struggle with their self-gratification. Matt’s son has been murdered and justice will not come to the killer, Richard Strout, who will only get five years in prison and still wanders the streets of Matt’s town. To ease his suffering and make himself feel better, Matt decided to kill Richard instead of deal with this pain and try to forgive him. Similarly, Harry uses “self-abuse” and Yvonne sexually to gratify himself and finds that he does not truly love Yvonne at all. Both stories show examples of perversions of what human relationships are supposed to be. Even though it is incredibly difficult to forgive the murderer of one’s son, forgiveness is a very holy thing and to shoot and kill the murderer to ease your own pain is the opposite of forgiveness. It is actually a selfish act, because Matt puts his own happiness above Strout’s life. He realizes this and to kill Richard he must ignore the human love Richard had for his wife and kids at all costs to kill him like an animal. Every time he looks into Richard’s eyes he has to look away from the humanity he sees there. It is incredibly difficult for him to kill. Matt even weeps at the end because he realize the monstrosity of what he has done. Harry is very similar in that he realizes that he has sinned in using Yvonne and not loving her as a person as well. But Harry is different in how he reacts to his sin. He does not cry in his bed but has a new understanding of love, and has a positive attitude, wishing to truly love people in the future. Dubus comments on how we react after we have messed up and been selfish, and these characters both have different reactions.