Killings vs. in the Bedroom

After reading the story “Killings” by Andre Dubus and watching the movie “In the Bedroom,” there are several noticeable differences and a few similarities. Since the movie was derived from the short story, the plot is practically the same throughout. “Killings" is portrayed as a revenge story, whereas “In the Bedroom” it appears to be a love story. As the plot progresses we find out this is not the case at all. One of the biggest differences I saw between the two was the arrangement of the story. Dubus’ written version starts out in the middle at Frank’s funeral and the movie starts the story from the beginning with Frank and his lover Mary Ann (Natalie) running in a field. The film gives you more of a sense of the characters, their emotions, and the relationships they share with one another, while the written story gives you the view from Matt’s perspective only. The movie showed a lot more of the background details such as: the father-son bond between Matt and Frank, and the loving bond between Frank and Mary Ann. The story proceeded to show more of Matt’s feelings and internal thoughts on a different level then the film, which displayed very little interaction between him and his son in their lifetime. “It seemed to Matt that from the time Mary Ann called weeping to tell him until now, a Saturday night in september, sitting in the car with Willis, parked beside Strout’s car, waiting for the bar to close, that he had not so much moved through his life as wandered through it, his spirit like a dazed body bumping into furniture and corners. He had always been a fearful father; when his children were young. at the start of each summer he though of them drowning in a pond or the sea, and he was relieved when he came home in the evening and they were there; usually that relief was his only acknowledgment of his fear, which he never spoke of , and which he controlled within his heart” (100). Another difference that made the movie more personal was by not having