The short story, “Killings,” by Andres Dubus, is written in the third person. “Killings” is told from the point of view of Matt, the grieving father of a murdered son; this narrative perspective is called third-person limited, because the narrator only shows us the thoughts and feelings of one of the characters in the story. (By contrast, in third-person omniscient, the narrator knows everything about all the characters and shows us all their thoughts and feelings.)
Through most of the story, Matt is considering, fantasizing about, planning, or enacting revenge against Richard Strout, the young man who shot his son. A third-person limited perspective in “Killings” makes the actions and perceptions biased towards Matt’s point of view. While this keeps the narrator from being completely reliable, Dubus wisely chose this perspective because of the intensity and urgency of both the action and the emotional repercussions throughout.
Andre Dubus has been praised as an author who is able to present a point of view from "within an individual family." The technical perspective of "Killings" is 3rd person, but it is an arguably limited point of view. Though the narration is given from an outsider's perspective, the majority of the story surrounds the present tense actions and thoughts of Matt Fowler. Through Matt's perspective, the audience sees a victimized (and assumedly innocent) Frank Fowler. Through Matt's perspective, the audience glimpses a killer's pristine and well organized house. In fact, through Matt's perspective, the audience does not really see any apprehension, fear, nor plan of Strout's to get away, and so the surprise movement and shot are just as sudden to the audience as they are to Matt and Willis that night.
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