Everything you need to understand or teach The Assassins by Joyce Carol Oates.
Andrew Petrie, a character viewed in retrospect, was a charismatic overachiever whose personality and political philosophy inspired both awe and hatred. His image dominates the imaginations of the other three characters, the brothers Hugh and Stephen, and the widow Yvonne, all of whom are suffering from different forms of madness. Hugh is the most nervously active of the three, and literally drives himself mad by contemplating the social and moral implications of Andrew's...