In the Bedroom and ākillingsā
Essay title: In the Bedroom and ākillingsā
In The Bedroom and āKillingsā
In The Bedroom and Killings are both based around the same story, they are however presented very differently. The short story āKillingsā jumps around in the story revealing different events at different times, while the movie, In The Bedroom tells a more straightforward story. In The Bedroom shows the viewer exactly what is happening chronologically, āKillingsā does not and provides a more effective and suspenseful story for the reader.
Each story starts and reveals the conflict differently; In The Bedroom starts at one of the Strout childrenās birthday party. Frank Fowler is shown with Natalie Strout being affectionate, and then Richard Strout makes an uninvited appearance which sets off the conflict between the three of them. āKillingsā opens on a darker note; it is a funeral setting with Matt Fowler burying his youngest son Frank. Frank had been killed by Strout for āmaking it with his wife.ā
The opening of āKillingsā is more effective because it launches the reader right into the plot. The fourth line of the story shows the reader what could happen, it says āMattās older son Steve turned to him and said: āI should kill him.ā In The Bedroom also brings the reader into the plot but it does so slower as it does with most of the events from the story. The film takes longer to get into the plot, it gives insight into the relationship of Frank and Natalie and even after Strout appears the plot isnāt clear.
The way Dubus weaves the different killings into the story has more of an impact on the reader than the chronological movie because they arenāt expecting it, it keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. In The Bedroom stretches the story more than āKillingsā does because it is a two hour movie while āKillingsā is only fifteen pages long. The Fowlers only have one child in the film therefore the scenes showing the Fowlers grief make the viewer sympathize with the parents more so than in āKillings.ā
The plot in āKillingsā impacts the reader more than that of In The Bedroom because there arenāt any side issues that distract the viewer or reader.