Another one of the reasons for Matt’s action is that Matt’s older son Steve wants to kill Richard. For example, when they leave after burying Frank to his graveyard, Steve turns to his family and states, “I should kill him” (89). This point out that Steve is also very hurt by his younger brother’s death, who was only twenty one years old. He feels so helpless and wishes to kill Richard. Matt is very alarmed by this because he does want his son to kill anyone. If he commits murder, Matt would lose his second son, too.
Matt’s friend Willis also suggests that he should kill Richard because Richard has always been cruel and violent. Once he shot a woman’s husband for her and dropped him off the bridge in the Merrimack River with a hundred pound sack of cement. He even covered his crime by saying that nobody helped the woman. This declares what kind of a man Richard is and what he has done to others. Now he has killed Frank which was very cruel of him, and Matt’s family believes that he has no right to live. Willis is also forcing Matt to believe that whatever his family thinks of doing to Richard is right. Willis urges Matt to kill Richard himself before someone in his family commits the act and he loses another family member. Just so everyone would be relieved and think that justice has been done.
Matt is under a lot of pressure to kill Richard. He is very angry and is going to kill Richard, but he does not really want to do it. He has planned everything in order to kill him, and Willis is helping him to get it done. When Matt goes out with Willis to get Richard from the bar he hopes that when Richard comes out he would be with his friends so he could simply drive away. However; when Richard comes out of the bar he is all by himself. Matt's hope to find Richard with friends concludes that Matt does not want to kill Richard, but circumstances forces him to act. When he goes to Richard’s house he looks around the room and sees the bed, a double one, is neatly made; the ashtray on the bedside table is clean, the bureau top dustless, and there are no photographs. This makes Matt believe Richard has a girlfriend. He imagines who Richard’s girl is and how she would feel after he is gone. Then he remembers Frank’s doomed and fearful eyes and decides he must act. Matt is forced to kill a man by his family and friends. He is not enthusiastic about killing someone, but he feels the pressure from his family, so follows up with the crime.
Finally Matt kills Richard. When he comes home after avenging his son’s death the first thing his wife ask is “Did you do it?” (101). This explains the reason Matt is very upset is that his wife do not care if he has killed a man. She only cares if he has killed her son’s murderer. He knows his family does not realize what he is feeling. When Frank died, he could understand his family feelings because he had the same feelings about his son’s death. Now, after committing a murder, the guilt he has his family do not understand that. He is isolated for the reason that he cannot share his emotions with his own wife. His wife does not want to hear what he is feeling, what she want to know is if he has killed Richard or not. At the bed Matt lay in the bed with his wife next to him. He shudders with a sob, which he kept silence in his heart. This also shows that he cannot relate to his wife either.
In conclusion, this shows that through the pressure from his family and friends Matt has killed Richard despite the supposed justice of this act. Now, he has to live with this guilt all his life. He cannot even show his emotions to his family because he cannot relate to them. He is alienated from his family because they cannot understand the feelings ha have over his crime.
