The Apt Pupil Analysis

"The Apt Pupil" tells the story of thirteen-year-old Todd Bowden, the total all-American kid, and "…an extremely apt pupil." It was not until one day, we find that Todd discovers a nasty secret about his neighbor. We are first introduced to Kurt Dussander under a different name, Mr. Arthur Denker. Mr. Denker would not admit at first that his real name was Kurt Dussander and this showed then he told Todd, "I will tell you this once, boy, and once only. My name is Arthur Denker. It has never been anything else…" Finally, he fesses up to being the real Kurt Dussander. Kurt Dussander was a Nazi during the war, who was a major part of the deaths of Jews. It was from this point on that Todd would begin to get himself in more trouble than he imagined and it started with his grades. Todd had always been an excellent student in school. In fact, Todd had "Straight A's
French visited Todd's house looking for his parents, the reader immediately knows Todd has some evil intentions because he replies to a question by French and then he "…picked up the .30-.30." Todd acted complete cool in the situation and then suddenly "He pushed the safety catch to the off position with his thumb and pointed the rifle at Rubber Ed." Todd would shoot French several times. We see the violent nature of Todd when "He shot Rubber Ed again and roughly half of his head disappeared in a spray of blood and bone." Todd was a changed boy. Once seen as the all-American kid, could now be seen as a shadow of Dussander. Todd lived and breathed off of finding as much as he could about Dussander and he would pay for his actions in the end. ""I'm king of the world!" he shouted mightily at the high blue sky, and raised the rifle two-handed over his head for a moment. Then, switching it to his right hand, he started that place above the freeway where the land fell away and where the dead tree would give him shelter. It was five hours later and almost dark before they took him