The Curse (1988) - Research Paper Example

17 July Assignment Written by Andre Dubus, ‘The Curse’ is a story about a bartender who witnesses a rape take place because of which he gets caught in the dilemma or whether or not to get himself involved with the case and help the young victimised girl more than what he did for her. The main theme that the story revolves around is the idea of a man holding a certain amount of honour to his name in a manner that he is satisfied of whatever actions he has carried out, at a later stage in life.

A man matures as he grows older and he tends to look back upon his life and all that he did, thus Dubus has tried, through the eyes of Mitchell Hayes, to depict the transformation of a man as he grows older with age. Through his narration, the author has tried to make use of the words, actions as well as thoughts of Mitchell Hayes that would occur to the man as he went about living the due course of his lifestyle. His family and friends, as well as the police try to tell him that he had done enough, however, he began questioning his own decisions and feels guilt and resentment at himself for not having been able to do ‘more’.

Hayes says, “I should have stopped it. I think I could have stopped it.” (Dubus, Andre) The author has tried to express how every human being tries his best to always do more than what he can, and when he is not able to do so, he blames himself for it and regrets his decisions later. However, this is a futile exercise because every man has a choice to make and those choices affect his entire life and the course that it takes. No choices can be made later or gone back upon, and thus Hayes takes a long time to understand the very concept of not regretting whatever one does in their life.

As the rape comes to an end and the bikers leave the scene, Hayes slowly walks towards the girl and sits down next to her. The very scene has an intense amount of emotion attached to it as the author has tried to put the scene through in the simplest of sentences for the reader to be able to imagine the simplicity of emotions that took place. He writes, “Then he picked up her sneakers from the floor and placed them beside her and squatted near her face..” (Dubus, Andre) The entire tone of the novel thus is perforated with sadness and deepens the complexity of emotions that a human mind undergoes.

However, the author has tried his best to help his readers understand how important it is not to pass judgements over someone like Mitchell Hayes because every man struggles with the decisions that he makes, may they be good or bad. He has only himself to answer to and should not be pressurised in any way by any other person belonging to the society at large. In conclusion, The Curse is aptly titled as the story talks about the situation that Hayes has been thrust into and the decisions and choices that he takes and makes, which duly change the course of his life and help him understand the purpose of his existence as well as the complexity of emotions that a human being goes through.

Works Cited Dubus, Andre. (1988) The Curse. Print. "The Curse: Andre Dubus." Prenhall.com. Web. 19 July 2011. .