Dubus and Killings the Meanings of Masculinity

Killings" is set in a blue-collar New England town along the Merrimack. It is a vision of a somewhat isolated community -- outside of time, not supported by a sense of law or order or justice. Murder essentially goes unpunished -- which is why the main character, Matt, takes the "law" into his own hands and murders Strout, the man who killed his son. Matt, used to taking matters into his own hands, as a man from a blue collar town, feels justified in this killing -- just as justified as Strout felt in killing Matt's son, who was sleeping with Strout's estranged wife. While Strout's killing of Matt was based on passion (Strout's passion to repossess his wife and let no other have her), Matt's killing of Strout is based on grief and a desire for vengeance (his son is dead yet Strout is free to walk the streets and make love to a woman). In this context, it is inappropriate to argue that either Strout or Matt is more manly than the other, since manliness (virility) comes from the Latin vir, for man, which is also the root word of virtue (a habit of acting which is good, manly). Which of these characters is good if they both view murder as justified because of their own personal issues, whether possessive or vengeful? The answer is that neither is manly, because neither acts out of a habit of virtue but rather out of a habit of selfishness (Matt's believes he has earned some rest in these his twilight years and Strout believes he had every right to protect what was "his" -- but neither sees the world from outside themselves). This is the central problem of the story -- a lack of real manliness: the men in the story are driven by aims that are not manly; yet the men believe that they are because of mistaken but preconceived notions of manliness being something that relates to what each deserves (Strout "deserves" to have his family back, Matt "deserves" peace and won't let Strout disturb it). Meanwhile, real manliness is missing from the story and is only sensed by its notable absence (for instance, when Matt realizes that he cannot make love to his wife at the end -- he has literally lost his virility upon committing murder). This story will show how Matt and Strout represent different aspects of "modern" manliness but how Dubus shows that actual, virtuous manliness is absent in this small town through a style of writing that is atonal and unorthodox.

Strout's "manliness" is represented by his sexual virility, which bothers Matt (he keeps thinking about Strout being with his woman). It is the main motive for the murder that Strout commits -- he cannot tolerate another, younger man being with his wife. In his view, this is a perfectly acceptable rationale, and he grudgingly accepts his fate in turn, expecting that everyone, including Matt, should be satisfied by the fact that he is going to go to prison for it: "I'll do twenty years, Mr. Fowler; at least. I'll be forty-six years old" (Dubus 390). This, of course, has no bearing on Matt: even the respectful way in which Strout addresses Matt (calling him Mr. Fowler) is grating in a way, indicating that Strout hasn't even enough decency to detest the father of the man he killed. On the contrary, Strout has no grudge against Matt: to him it is as though Matt does not even exist. And this is what is the unspoken violation of the code of manliness in this small town: Strout does not hide himself, does not grovel, does not cower in shame and guilt, does not run from being seen, does not show remorse, does not even acknowledge that his actions might have emotionally impacted anyone else: he thinks only in terms of self. Matt's arrival into Strout's sphere is an admonishment to this selfishness of Strout's: Matt intends to show Strout that "he" is not the center of the universe, that he does not get a free pass, and that Matt will do something about it if the law will not.

Yet Matt's decision to take vengeance into his own hands also indicates the extent of his virility and manliness, if one is to judge manliness according to a standard of virtuousness. Of course, even virtue can be viewed subjectively, and for Matt and his wife, it appears that murdering Strout would be a kind of virtuous act -- ridding him from the face of the earth a good deed for humanity. Obviously, however, they are mistaken in this thinking because after Strout is murdered and buried, they enter into a pact of secrecy, as though in spite of the goodness of their deed, no one would understand, no one would celebrate, no one would sing their praises: this fear is not the fear that one has when one has done something good. On the contrary, Matt and his wife have allowed themselves to be convinced that murder, in their situation, is justified -- but that is the exact same thing that Strout did: so essentially they have become like Strout. Moreover, they become like the other famous murdering couple: the Macbeths. Macbeth is prompted by Lady Macbeth to murder Duncan and it destroys their lives (though they mistakenly believe the act will make them better). Dubus does not share with the reader the ramifications of what happens to Matt and his wife following the murder of Strout -- but the indications are there for the reader to pick up if he can: Matt is essentially neutered. Whatever manliness he had is gone.

In fact, it was disappearing from the beginning: he could not even do the deed alone (the way Strout did); he had his friend join him with a pistol too. But then the trigger is pulled and Matt feels as though he is outside himself for the first time. His old self is buried in a sense now too. It is as though in committing murder he has handed over his card of self, his masculinity, his virtue, his soul:

She was holding him, wanting him, and he wished he could make love with her but he could not. He saw Frank and Mary Ann making love in her bed, their eyes closed, their bodies brown and smelling of the sea; the other girl was faceless, bodiless, but he felt her sleeping now; and he saw Frank and Strout, their faces alive; he saw red and yellow leaves falling to the earth, then snow: falling and freezing and falling ... (Dubus 470).