Who Is Dexter A Serial Killer?

The story has one main speaker – named Dexter Morgan, a man in his early 30’s living in Miami as a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Police Department: Homicide branch by day. He looks like a normal guy, with an excellent job and a loving girlfriend and some friends, but little does the people around him realize, he is a sociopathic serial killer who kills serial killers. Dexter is very smart in what he does to dispose of whoever may be his victim. Dexter even claims he is a “very neat monster.” (Lindsay 12) Dexter is incredibly good at faking human emotion and hiding who he really is. We also see the perspective of Dexter’s “Dark Passenger”, his killer alter ego who craves to kill. Seeing this, we get to see what goes through Dexter’s

mind as he kills.
Occasion
The larger occasion of this novel is when Jeff Lindsay had attended a businessmen’s lunch to speak about reading and encouraging the art and the observation of all the businessmen eating and speaking to each other and this is when the immediate occasion comes in. The immediate occasion that comes in is when he comes up with the idea that maybe serial murder isn’t all that bad. “And I was sitting at the head table looking at the audience and watching them smile when they didn’t need it and hand out business cards and talk with their mouths full and the idea just popped into my head unbidden that serial murder wasn’t always a bad thing.” (The inspiration behind DEXTER by Orion Publishing on YouTube) This idea leads to the creation of Dexter and his Dark Passenger and helped shape our favorite serial killer.
Audience
Darkly Dreaming Dexter is directed to 18-49 year olds who love crime novels and want to give this novel a try since it is an interesting twist on your regular crime novel. This book really doesn’t relate to a specific kind of person (unless you happen to be an actual serial killer then maybe it does relate) and it’s just out there for any person of any type, except for people under the age of 15 because of language and bloody violence.
Purpose
The purpose of Darkly Dreaming Dexter provides a look into a sociopath’s mind, letting neurotypical people experience the thought process of a sociopathic serial killer’s mind in a normal life.

While the author is not a serial killer in any way, he does a fine job in showing what possibly could go on in the daily life of one. But this novel’s purpose was solely for entertainment, a typical thing for most crime novels that have been published since the dawn of time.

Subject

The subject is Dexter tries to help his sister and all the detectives find the Tamiami Butcher so they could arrest him, but also, to find out why he is the way he is. The struggle of finding his true roots is an ongoing subject in this novel and this will eventually merge with finding the Tamiami Butcher towards the end of the book. “Whatever made me the way I am left me hollow, empty inside, unable to feel. It doesn’t seem like a big deal.” (Lindsay 15)

Tone

Since this story is told from the perspective of a sociopath, there really is no emotion to the tone whatsoever. But he is very serious about finding out so that specific tone occurs throughout the novel. With the Dark Passenger coming to speak sometimes, there is a dark tone when he comes out to kill. And there is sometimes a light, funny tone when Dexter is at work or hanging out with his sister

Deb.
Character Analysis
Dexter Morgan is a man in his early 30’s, living a perfectly normal life in Miami, Florida. He’s got a girlfriend and a job as a blood splatter analyst at the Miami Police Department. But by night and under control of his Dark Passenger, he is a serial killer who follows a code created by his foster dad Harry Morgan. In the beginning of the novel, Dexter is his normal, sociopath self just living his life, but when hookers around Miami are killed and LaGuerta and Deborah take interest to solve this case, Dexter is excited for this because this could be his new victim.
Later on in the novel, after more murders from the Tamiami Butcher and clues left at crime scenes and in Dexter’s apartment, Dexter starts to change.

This change is him starting to wonder why he is the way he is and could he really be the Tamiami Butcher. These thoughts start to overwhelm him, causing anxiety and worrisome thoughts, a new thing for Dexter since he is not one for human feelings like anxiety. “My heart hammered and yammered, my short gasps of breath were much too loud, and for the first time I could remember I felt weak, woozy, and stupid-like a human being, like a very small and helpless human being.”(Lindsay 265) These feelings are usually oppressed shortly afterwards since emotions are not exactly his

thing.
During the very last few pages of the novel, any emotion Dexter has felt has been forgotten when he finds out his long lost brother is the Tamiami Butcher and when he discovers why he is the way he is. He is now filled with anger and hatred for his brother and Dexter ends up killing him in the end, giving Dexter relief, but also a good release of human emotion “My brother looked at me. “Too bad,” he said. “I’m so disappointed.” And the knife came down.” (Lindsay 285) Dexter may have a few moments where he could be considered a dynamic character, but overall, he remains a very static character, nothing phasing him or making him change majorly.
Evaluation
Darkly Dreaming Dexter was not the best novel. It moved really slowly and the pace didn’t not speed up until the last 10 pages, which to me is very disappointing. But this book was a very smart and original plot nonetheless. I’ve never seen a story that had a serial killer that working in a police station and being trained to control his urges by a cop. And there was plenty of humor throughout since Dexter is a very witty guy. But overall, this book was a snooze fest for half the book so I would recommend watching the TV show for it is a lot better.