The theme of the story The Curse by Andre Dubus Essay

The theme of the story The Curse by Andre Dubus - Essay ExampleMitchell convert is a forty-nine year old bartender who unexpectedly confronts an unfortunate event one even out right before closing. He is the stepfather of a teenage boy and girl. Five men arrive on motorcycles and order beers. Mitchell believes that they used drugs. Now one young woman comes to the bar to buy cigarettes and asks Mitchell for change. All of a sudden the bikers attack the woman and rape her brutally on the floor. Mitchell takes no action until the brutes vary the scene. He now approaches the woman and tries to comfort her. He now calls the law of nature and his manager Bob. Mitchell is familiar with the police officer Smitty, for they were classmates in high school. Mitchell confesses that he could have done something to stop the crime. However, Smitty says that if he had intervened, he similarly would have been attacked by the thugs. Mitchell arrives home with a guilty mind. He tells his wife Susa n what happened at the bar, and shares his thoughts with her. Susan also tells him that he has acted wisely by not responding to the criminals all by himself. However, their words do not pacify his instinct as he believes that his nonresponsive was a sin.Mitchell is affected by guilty conscience despite his friends suggestion that intervention was the duty of police. He is fatigue beyond relieving by rest, by sleep later the incident (Dubus). The writer throws light on the rotten cultural facet of the US society and invites his readers to speculate the ethical parameters they have set. Mitchell represents the common man having tender feelings and compassion to his fellow creatures, but who at the said(prenominal) time is constrained by external pressures. The rapists symbolize male chauvinism and discrimination that are ordinary in every sphere of social life in the United States.Realism is the main sustain of Dubus story. He deploys third person narration for the major part o f the story with intent to give more