Kill The Messenger: Fiction On Opportunity And Privilege

Kill the Messenger is a historical fiction novella comparing the lives of two men, following them from the 1940s to the 1980s. The story follows James Adams, a closeted bisexual man from Boston, Massachusetts, as he avoids active participation in World War Two and builds a life following the path of the “American dream” in the decades following the war. James’s life is detailed in letters he sends to Eoghan O’Rahilly, an Irish immigrant, gay man, and sex worker who is in love with James, but for whom James will not openly admit his own love. Through the years, James realizes the social advantages he has over Eoghan, in that James is a straight-passing white American male who is given the means to avoid combat, whereas Eoghan is a gay immigrant during a xenophobic time and has no legal means of avoiding the draft. In this way, Kill the Messenger is a thesis of creative fiction examining the dramatic ways in which individuals’ lives may be impacted by factors beyond their control.