Symbolism Essay on "Killings"by Andre Dubus

            Symbolism is a vital and significant literature element that most of the writers incorporate in their works. Michael Meyer's work through his book The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading - Thinking – Writing, uses symbolism quite extensively. Meyer introduces literature using a shorter, distinctive paperback format outlook as seen through his work. The work has various selections and good inventive editorial features that makes people interest in reading the literature work. Andre Dubus also used symbolism quite well to describe his thematic topic on killings. Dubus used symbolism from two angles the denotative symbolism angle, where symbolism gives the literal meaning of what the author wanted to express, and the connotative meaning of the phrase that the author expresses. The connotative meaning refers to the objective ideas that revolve around the meaning of the word. For example, a home has the denotative meaning of being a structure where people live, but connotatively, a home might further symbolize the idea of where one come from, which in this case can symbolize a person’s origin. The essay discusses denotative and connotative symbolism as expressed by Andre Dubus in his work where he talks about Killings.

            The first part identifies denotative meaning as used by Dubus in Killings. To start with, after the funeral of his youngest son, Matt Fowler said that he should kill the person who had killed is son (Meyer 80). The statement uttered by Matt Fowler, which was "I should kill him"was denotative symbolism. The reason as to why the statement was denotative symbolism is that Fowler meant that aspects such as rage, anger and retribution to the killing of his son might have led him to being angry and having quest to revenge through killing the murderer of his son. His body reaction was also denotative symbolism, where the author said that Matt bit his lower lip, wiped his eyes, he repeated that he would kill the killer of his son. This was denotative symbolism as Matt reacted physically as the author of the book had expressed as well as repeated what he had said from a literal perspective.

            The next section talks about connotative symbolism as expressed by Andre Dubus as he expressed Killings. Connotative symbolism talks about what authors meant ideally from a panoramic perspective. Dubus used connotative meaning to express most some sections as he expressed the subject killings. The phrase "I should kill him"by Matt expressed rage and hunger for retribution, which was an instance of connotative symbolism. Another example of connotative symbolism appears through Matt was when he said, "I know. He was in my place last night, at the bar. With a girl"(Meyer 80). Matt used the phrase, “my place at the bar” as a symbolic phrase to show that he often visits the bar. The type of symbolism used at this instance is connotative symbolism as the phrase “my place at the bar” does not mean that Matt lived at the bar literally, but ideally, they spent much time at their favorite bar, where the bar became a place they were used to staying in most of their times.

            The use of the phrase "I should kill him"by Matt enhanced some significance to the story as well as helped the story to fit to the context of the story. Contextually, after a person losses a loved one, the person is quite outrageous and has feelings of getting vengeance and retribution. The aspect of symbolism as portrayed by Dubus enhanced the storyline expressed by the author. Besides, the element of symbolism breaks down the monotony of narration, where authors need to use different literature elements to ensure that the storyline flows, the presentation is not monotonous and the audience can relate the story to real life perspective, which is vital as it ensures that the audience easily flows, relates and understands the gist parts of the story. As seen through killings by Andre Dubus, denotative and connotative symbolism are vital elements that authors need to incorporate into their works as symbolism helps to enhance context, storyline and the people’s understanding of the story.

            In conclusion, Andre Dubus used connotative and denotative symbolism quite significantly to tell the story. Denotative symbolism gives the literal meaning of the signified literature elements while connotative symbolism is the outer idealistic meaning of the represented elements in literature. Andre Dubus gave used symbolism in different parts when he was expressing his killing story, although the part about retribution of her son’s age was one of the remarkable parts that the author used to express what happened in the story. Michael Meyer used different literature elements to express vital elements in most of the short stories in his book The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading - Thinking – Writing.

Work Cited

Meyer, Michael. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading - Thinking – Writing.           St. Martin's Press. 2002. ISBN 0312403038, 9780312403034. Length 417 pages. Print.