Murder-Two: Introduce, Discuss and Analyze
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the short story "Murder-Two" by Joyce Carol Oates. Specifically, it will analyze the character of "Booger" in the story. "Murder-Two" is a chilling tale of a young, upscale man who kills his mother, under his alter ego, "Boogerman." Derek is a "normal" young man with the wants and needs of any young man, money, possessions, and love. On the streets, he is known as "Booger," his alter ego that he hardly acknowledges exists, but is the violent side of him, the side capable of murdering his mother in cold blood.Booger is the frightening side of Derek, and the inner core of him that is violent, frightening, and they both seem to be unaware that the other side of them exists. Oates writes, "Him, Derek Peck! Boooogerman. It was as if a microchip had been inserted in his brain, he had this pathological reactions" (Oates 236). Clearly, if Derek is not unhinged, he is schizophrenic at best, and the two sides of him are as different as black and white, and that is exactly who he is. To his mother, he was he
Booger leaves his mother alone and drunk on Thanksgiving and disappears for a day an d half, and then begins to rebel against her and the way she wants to keep him forever her "baby" and dependent on her. He also keeps saying that he was the only one who loved his mother, but that too was Derek, not Booger. Derek cannot admit to himself that he has this violent and ugly side, and so he turns to the persona of Booger to do the dirty work of killing his mother and getting her out of his life. He seems to think that if he cannot remember it, then he could not possibly have committed the murder, so Booger serves a useful purpose for his mind. The reader has to wonder what other acts he has committed under the name of Booger, and what other mayhem he has accomplished without supposedly remembering it. Booger is the only way that Derek can exist with his mother, but Booger is the dark side of him that pushes him to violence, as well. In a way, Booger could be the dark side that lives inside of each of us; the dark side that most of us will not acknowledge exists, or possibly could exist. He is the violent side of Derek that only comes out when Derek is pushed to his limit or has lost his patience. Oates writes, "And there was only one way to stop her form living him he began to understand, but he hadn't wanted to, he'd asked could he transfer to school in Boston" (Oates 240). It is as if Booger is another person inside Derek, and in a way, he is. In conclusion, Booger is Derek's deepest and darkest secret. Instead of talking to his mother, he cannot communicate with her, instead he runs away, disappears, and then builds up a hatred inside him against her. On the streets, however, he becomes another person, more like a gang member than an upper class white boy. That is what makes Booger so frightening, he could come out in just about anyone when they least know or expect him.
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