A Love Story Analysis

1. How is this tale “A Love Story”? Who is in love with whom?

Oates’ novella is a love story between Officer Dromoor and the Maguire women, both Teena and Bethel. It is a tale that morphs a love for justice into one that represents a love for feeling supported. The Maguires are scorned by the people of Niagara Falls. Teena, even more so after the gang rape, is perceived as the town ‘whore,’ drug addict, and a bad parent. John Dromoor’s mere presence on the family creates a mutual respect, or love, amidst such difficult circumstances. Years after the events at the Rocky Point Park occurred and Dromoor is no longer in the Maguires’ lives, the story ends with Bethel’s husband telling her that she “looked so lonely, suddenly” (Oates 154) after

she is thinking about Dromoor and the impact he made on her and her mother. When Dromoor is being deposed for the killing of James DeLucca, he states that the coincidence of the two, as well as Raymond Casey, being in the same bar, “was meant to be,” continuing to say, “Like if there is God, or even if there is not. There was a purpose” (Oates 102). Dromoor’s role as the family’s guardian angel is what develops the abnormal love story. When Dromoor himself evaluates his relationship with the victims, he believes he “wasn’t in love with Teena Maguire,” adding that, he “just some feeling he had about her, and the girl. The daughter” (Oates 124-125). After being linked to the family by serving as the first responder to the incident, Dromoor feels committed to the family’s well-being, but also is committed to justice. The office goes as far to as to kill James DeLucca, one of the suspected rapists, and immediately calls Teena Maguire to let her know that “the first of them. He’s dead” (Oates 94). Dromoor justifies the killing with Hammurabi’s Code, telling himself “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” (Oates 103). What is interesting about Dromoor’s interaction with DeLucca is that it seems clear that Dromoor knows who DeLucca is, regardless of what he says in his deposition, and chooses to shot him twice. One shot to DeLucca could have stopped DeLucca from trying to use his knife and been reasonable self-defense, but, by shooting a second time, it is obvious that Dromoor wanted him and the other rapists dead. Dead for the sake of Teena and Bethel Maguire.
2. Is Dromoor a hero or a madman?
Officer John Dromoor is a hero to the distraught and victimized Maguire family.

After casually meeting the rape victim, Teena Maguire, and then being called to her crime scene, John Dromoor goes on a hero’s journey, starting with the hearing in September 1996. When madness ensues in Judge Schpiro’s courtroom, “Dromoor had seen the derailment. Sick in the gut, had to escape” (Oates 75). It is just a month after that Dromoor begins to take matters into his own hands in order to protect Teena and her daughter. By shooting James DeLucca with deadly force, an act that can be considered by some one of a madman, Dromoor asserts himself as the family’s protector and ‘hitman’. In his further actions, seeking out and likely being the killer of the Vick brothers and Fritz Haaber, Dromoor does what he knows the Maguires are desiring: to feel safe. Dromoor has a serial killer gene in his body, using his victim’s weaknesses to lure them to their death (i.e. Fritz Haaber’s affection towards young girls), but the reader knows that he is so meticulous because he wants the best for the Maguires. When the young daughter of the victim feels sad, Bethel Maguire calls the man that she knows can protect her, John Dromoor, and says, “Help us please help us John Dromoor we are so afraid” (Oates 120). Then, after seeing the convict that scared her the most, Fritz Haaber at the mall, Bethie confides in her grandmother to make her aware of Haaber’s presence at the mall purely because she knows that her

grandmother “will tell Momma, Momma will call Dromoor” (Oates 136). The Niagara Falls Police Department states that it is their duty to “faithfully [serve] the citizens of Niagara Falls” (City of Niagara Falls). Dromoor does not take the most ethical route to obey by this oath, but he certainly chooses an effective way to. There is a reason why millions of children dress up as firefighters and police officers, as well as Superman and Batman, for Halloween and that is because they are all heroes. Officer John Dromoor is no exception.