Andre Dubus' the Curse Andre Dubus' Short Essay

Andre Dubus' "The Curse"

Andre Dubus' short story "The Curse" illustrates one man's inner struggle with guilt. Dubus includes the essential elements necessary to create a successful classic story in that it contains a high emotional level, complication, rising action, and a climax. The story is also successful because it deals with a realistic circumstance.

Mitchell Hayes, as the protagonist, is a very dynamic character. The story revolves around his thoughts and actions. He is also dynamic because the reader watches him transform from a relatively light-hearted, self-assured man to a man unable to escape the guilt that grips him. The complication, or initial conflict, of the story is the raping of a girl by the bikers. Mitchell is held back and therefore prevented from helping her.

Mitchell's inability to accept the fact that he could not have prevented the rape of the girl grows into an obsession, hence the "curse." This is illustrated as Mitchell says, "I should have stopped it. I think I could have stopped it" (539). Mitchell is unable to dismiss it from his mind, even as he gets older, the longer he thinks about it, the more he thinks he could have stopped the rape from occurring.The rape is also critical because it represents a turning point in Mitchell's life. He did not feel young anymore; he suddenly felt like he knew what it was like to be old. Mitchell considers age and determines it must be like experiencing "fatigue beyond relieving by rest, or sleep" (538). The rape effected Mitchell as much as it did the girl.

Another interesting aspect of Mitchell's character is that he was unable to deal with the rape even immediately after it occurred. All he could bring himself to do was pick up the girl's sneakers and placed them beside her. He struggled to speak and wanted to reach out and comfort her, but he could not. His inaction and his subsequent inability to console the girl after the rape are also part of the guilt that Mitchell has to deal with. Mitchell is unable to comes to term with his guilt, even with the advice of friends, or when Joyce tells him that he will be a good witness. (540) None of the counsel of….....