Movies - Apt Pupil

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	Movies - Apt Pupil

Apt Pupil (1982) is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in Different Seasons (1982).

The story was adapted for the screenplay of a 1998 film of the same name, directed by Bryan Singer and starring Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro.

Format of the story

Apt Pupil consists of 30 chapters, many (but far from all) of which are headed by a month. The story takes place in suburban Los Angeles over a period of about four years (from mid-1974 to mid-1978) with most of the action taking place during the first year and the last months. It is narrated in the third person.

The story

Todd Bowden is thirteen and a smart kid with good grades. He and a friend rummage around in the friend's garage looking for comics. Instead Todd finds old war magazines with stories from the concentration camps and is fascinated by them. He begins to read everything he can get his hands on about World War II and the camps.

One day he sees an old man on the bus that he recognizes. He goes to his house and rings the bell. The sign on the door says "Arthur Denker", but when the door opens Todd calls him "Kurt Dussander". He has recognized him as the commandant of the (fictional) Nazi concentration camp at Patin. At first the old man denies everything, repeating that his name is Denker. As Todd gives him more and more details, however, he finally admits to being Kurt Dussander.

He finds out that Todd isn't out to expose him (although he threatens to do this if Dussander doesn't do what he wants) and he's not interested in money (his family is pretty well-off and he has an allowance and a paper route). What he wants is to hear "all the gooshy stuff" about the camps. Dussander is reluctant, but finally caves in to Todd's threats of exposure.

Dussander lives off some stocks that he bought just after the war. The man who helped him with the investments was Andy Dufresne, one of the main characters in Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

In the first escalation of the story, Todd brings Dussander a present. It turns out to be an Allgemeine SS Obersturmführer's uniform. Todd forces Dussander to put it on and then begin to march around on command.

As Todd spends lots of time with Dussander, his performance at school is beginning to slip. To his parents he says that he helps the old man to read books that he can't see to read himself. He also begins to have nightmares about the camps and his grades slip further. After the first time, he begins to modify his report cards before giving them to his parents to hide the decline.

Finally, it goes so far that he's in danger of flunking several courses. Since he has changed previous cards, his parents have no idea of what's happening (although they are getting a little bit concerned about the amount of time he spends with Mr. Denker, and also that he's becoming thin and having dreams). Todd once again changes his report card. He then brings in Dussander to speak to his guidance counsellor, Ed French. He goes there pretending to be Todd's grandfather, Victor, and presents a story about Todd being upset about his parents who are on the verge of a divorce. This is a total lie, but Ed agrees to let Todd get one more chance before contacting his parents.

By now Dussander tells Todd that he is as deeply entrenched in problems as Dussander is. Todd knows that Dussander is a wanted war criminal. Dussander on the other hand knows that Todd has been fiddling with his report cards and knowingly socialized with a war criminal for several months without telling anybody. Sure, the punishment would be worse for Dussander, but on the other hand he's an old man. Todd has his entire life ahead of him.

Since Dussander now has power over Todd, just like Todd has power over him, he sees a way to avoid having to recount old stories about the concentration camps (he has been getting his old nightmares back as well). He now forces Todd to spend time at his house studying instead of listening to stories. With great effort, Todd is able to pick his schoolwork back up to the point where Ed French's concerns are sufficiently ameliorated. Since he no longer has any use for Dussander, Todd resolves to kill him in his home and make it look like an accident.

Todd has earlier claimed to have given a letter with facts about Dussander to a friend if anything should happen to him. Before Todd can carry out his murderous intent, Dussander now claims that he has written down what has happened and put in a bank deposit box, so that it will be found upon his death.

Soon after this, Todd goes out and stabs a homeless alcoholic to death. He finds that this somehow pushes his nightmares away. His visits to Dussander become much less frequent, and as he progresses through high school, his performance is good enough to win him both prizes and a college scholarship. He loses his virginity, but finds the joys of sex with a willing partner pale compared to the release he gets from killing homeless men. When circumstances do not allow him to do that, he picks a concealed spot overlooking the freeway and aims at people in passing cars with his hunting rifle.

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