Andre Dubus

In reading Andre Dubus’ book Townie, I feel uneasy as I wander the deteriorated streets of a New England mill town. Violence begets violence, a natural consequence of a deteriorated social fabric or angry responses from a young man fighting for respect, survival, or defense of the exploited and abused. Maybe there is no right reason for the brutality but somehow you relate to Andre for he is as conflicted by the realities of his life as is this reader. There is something more calling Andre. The challenge is escaping the gravitational pull of the streets to discover the voices that speak in the dark.

Andre drops his guard to take a violent punch to a life he knows is no longer right. Was it ever right? He faces the fear of relapsing to the helpless young boy that propelled him to raise his fist in the first place and embraces the call for a different life of purpose and creativity. For once Andre feels a peace that has always evaded him. Is this the feeling that so many of us men seek, yet so avoids our capture?

The fear so many of us face is to jettison the psychological and physical trappings of what is expected and to grasp the mist that envelopes us. For in that mist are the seeds of what we truly seek, and which promise to sprout into the very essence of who we are. I believe this is what God demands from me. To shed the fear and venture forward in pursuit of my peace, which is my contribution to this world.