Mystic River

Chapter 3 constructs the tense tone, darkly alluding to Katie’s tragic fate as the chapter looks at the different dangers wandering about the same night as her. First, the chapter conveys her dreams of escaping the Flats through her plan to elope with Brendan. Brendan’s overwhelming love for Katie borders upon obsession but also reveals how much he treasures her. Though, like everyone else, he speaks mostly on her beauty; that her beauty made her unapproachable, even lonely. This observation paints Katie as vulnerable—isolated from others because of how often men gaze upon her. The sense that Katie is in danger escalates throughout the night as her friends become increasingly more intoxicated. The danger is intensified when she is confronted by Roman, the encounter highlighting the looming presence of Katie’s ex-boyfriend, Bobby, who exercises control over Katie through terror. This revelation suggests the possibility that Katie’s imminent threat is directly related to the men in her life.

The chapter also contrasts the trajectory of Jimmy and Dave’s lives; while Dave enjoyed his prime in high school, Jimmy had a child at 17 and went to prison. The greatest difference, though, is the sense that a darkness surrounds Dave. He doesn’t mention what happened to him as a child, but he is hostile and has violent fantasies. When it comes to his wife, he is cynical and condescending; when it comes to the young crowd that’s moved into the neighborhood, he is explicitly violent, “wondering what those two matching yups would look like at the other end of the barrel” (43). This sudden fantasy as well as the sheer presence of Dave’s gun is significant: When Katie gets out of her car after swerving around a body, she is met by a person with a gun.

The sense that Dave has done something terrible only develops in Chapter 4. When he sees Katie, he immediately sexualizes her, describing her as “looking all grown up, every inch of her firm and fresh and defying gravity” (52). There’s a greater insinuation that Dave has become predatory as he thinks of all the dreams—particularly that of a girlfriend who looked just like Katie—he’d given up on. In thinking that he’ll allow himself one more dream, the chapter insinuates Dave’s desire for Katie has turned dangerous. The chapter further destabilizes Dave’s character when he comes home covered in blood; as Celeste perceives a darkness within him and notices the oddities in his story, the text traces red flags throughout the chapter. Celeste thinks that the recounting of what the mugger said is suspicious: “[I]t just sounded funny for some reason, too clever maybe, like in the movies” (57), and the inconsistencies cause Dave’s story to feel false—like he’s covering up for something else. Therefore, the chapter subtly explores guilt and complicity—whether Celeste, by helping her husband hide the evidence, is implicated in Dave’s crime.

Chapter 5 heightens the awareness that something has happened to Katie, a feeling represented through Jimmy’s bodily response to her disappearance: “The flutter in [his] chest stopped hard” (69). Despite the increasing sense that something is wrong, Jimmy never acts on it, resolving to chalk it up to her youth. Though this is perhaps a rational response—considering that Katie has before not come home at night—the sensations Jimmy feels must be from a bone-deep understanding of what it can mean when a person isn’t where they’re supposed to be; the trauma of watching his friend’s abduction never vanishes, so Jimmy’s anxiety is likely stemming from the memory of that event.

Most of all, the chapter explores the motif of silence through Brendan’s younger brother, Ray, whose muteness unnerves Jimmy for a reason he doesn’t understand. He realizes that no one else feels the same way about Ray, which makes Jimmy trust Ray less. This unsuspected—even, unwarranted—response to Ray represents the danger of silence to Jimmy. Though he does not recognize it, Ray upsets him so because Jimmy is the personification of silence; he can hear but cannot speak. Silence is significant to the text because it was Jimmy and Sean’s silence that enabled Dave’s abduction; Ray’s silent but overwhelming presence stirs Jimmy’s deeply buried guilt. Furthermore, Jimmy’s sense of distrust—or even hatred—toward Brendan paints the young man as another potential danger to Katie. However, it is not clear whether Jimmy’s intuition simply recognizes Brendan as the man who will take his daughter away through marriage, or by some other means.