Briefly explain Sigmund Freud’s concepts of the id, the ego, and the superego. Then, undertake a character analysis of Matt Fowler which explicates Dubus’s messages and engagement with Freud’s ideas. How does the character of Matt Fowler embody and demonstrate both the Freudian concepts themselves, and the interaction between each portion of the human psyche?

Write an essay that explains the story’s title, “Killings.” On both a literal and a metaphorical level, to whatkillings does the title refer? 

Explicate the story’s depiction of emasculation. What is emasculation? How are characters such as Richard Strout and Matt Fowler emasculated by their society and/or circumstances? According to Dubus, what are the consequences of emasculation, and what do those consequences, and the process of emasculation,reveal about the definition and psychosocial practice of masculinity?