Analysis of Julian Symons' 'The Murderer'

The story “The Murderer” by Julian Symons is an old crime story from 1982 that is focusing on things like sex, marriage and betrayal, which also are the themes in the text. It is a very emotional novel that really puts out the feelings you get after heartbreak without writing it directly in the text. You really feel the compassion to the main character even though he ends up being a cold-blooded murderer.

The main character Howard Carey is a 53 years old man. In the start of the text you get the impression that Howard is this sweet and caring husband with just a few principals he follows when it comes to sex. He occurs a little childish at first. It says in the text that he shook his head and walked on when the prostitute started telling him directly what she would do to him. As a grown up person you would think that he could just have said no thanks, but he just reacted in this very childish way. Another explanation could be his insecurity about himself and the fact that he might be a very shy person. But it all changes when he finds out that he has been lied to for so many years, he starts wanting revenge over his dead wife Ellen and takes it all out on what should have been the young prostitute. Howard has been living in his own bobble for several years. He is very naive, knowing that his wife often was working late without even thinking about the possibility that she might have had an affair. He knows that his wife has a secret drawer but does not think much more about it. Even after he finds the letters he can’t really seem to believe it. So he keeps reading the letters over and over again until it makes him crazy and it occurs to him what he should do about it.