Dwayne uses a variety of masks—the very polite student, Dwayne Lee, and the attentive boyfriend, Mark Franks. The most dangerous individual is the one who appears normal—the monster next door. There is a contrast between Dwayne’s unremarkable exterior and the elaborate, professional violence of his basement dissections.

The text examines the power dynamics between the mentor and the student. Dwayne’s revenge is psychological: he aims to inflict harm on Professor Stone by turning the animals the Professor loves into graded objects. This shows that Dwayne’s goal is not just to kill, but to force his teacher to acknowledge his improvement and skill, even if that acknowledgement comes through terror.