The Quick Answer: Why Did They Kill Bunny?
In the most basic sense, the Greek class killed Bunny Corcoran because he was a liability. He was the loose thread in their perfectly woven aesthetic tapestry. After discovering that Henry, Francis, Charles, and Camilla had accidentally killed a man during a Dionysian bacchanal, Bunny transformed from a boisterous, annoying friend into a predatory blackmailer. \n\n However, the real tragedy isn't just the murder itself, but the fact that it was orchestrated by Henry Winter, a man who believed that life should mirror the cold, uncompromising logic of Greek tragedy. To Henry, Bunny wasn't just a threat to their freedom; he was a flaw in their pursuit of 'the beautiful.' The ending, which sees Henry taking his own life, is the final punctuation mark on a story about the devastating cost of living purely for art and intellect while ignoring human morality.
The Hook: A Murder in the Snow
The novel opens with an admission that is as chilling as the Vermont winter it describes: 'The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.' With these words, Donna Tartt strips away the 'whodunit' and replaces it with a 'whydunit.' This is an inverted detective story where the suspense doesn't come from finding the killer, but from watching the killers' souls slowly erode under the weight of their own pretension. \n\n As a cultural critic, I find the enduring obsession with The Secret History fascinating. It is the 'Dark Academia Bible' for a reason. It captures that specific, intoxicating desire of youth to be part of something exclusive, elite, and intellectually superior. Richard Papen, our narrator, is the perfect proxy for the reader. He is an outsider who wants so desperately to belong to Julian Morrow's Greek class that he is willing to overlook the mounting evidence that his new friends are, quite literally, monsters. For a deeper look at the initial reception of this masterpiece, you can Read full discussion here.
The Ritual and the Rupture: How It All Started
The catalyst for the entire tragedy is a search for transcendence that goes horribly wrong. Henry, Francis, and the twins (Charles and Camilla) attempt to induce a Dionysian state—a state of divine madness and loss of self—through fasting and ritual. In their frenzied state, they encounter a local farmer and kill him. This is the moment the 'aesthetic' becomes 'real.' \n\n Bunny, who was left out of the ritual because of his lack of focus and intellectual rigor, finds out. His subsequent behavior—spending their money, making anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks, and constantly hinting at his knowledge—is a form of psychological torture. He is the 'profane' intruding upon their 'sacred' circle. The group's decision to kill him is framed by Henry as a necessity, a way to protect the group, but it is actually an act of supreme arrogance. They believed they were above the law of men because they studied the laws of the Gods.
The Ending Explained: Henry Winter’s Final Move
The climax of The Secret History takes place in a hotel room, a far cry from the marble halls of their Greek classroom. The internal cohesion of the group has shattered. Charles is a violent alcoholic; Francis is a nervous wreck; Camilla is trapped between them. When Julian Morrow, their mentor and the architect of their isolation, discovers the truth and flees rather than helping them, the illusion of their 'superiority' dies. \n\n Henry's suicide is often debated. Was it an act of redemption? Or was it his final attempt to control the narrative? By shooting himself, Henry ensures that the investigation dies with him. He protects his friends from prison, but he also leaves them in a state of permanent, unresolved grief. He becomes the martyr of his own Greek tragedy, leaving Richard and the others to live out the rest of their lives as hollow ghosts of the people they once were. You can find a detailed breakdown of these plot points in the official study guide.
The Philosophy of the Aesthetic: Why It Still Hurts
The Secret History is a critique of a specific type of elitism. Julian Morrow taught his students that 'Beauty is Terror,' and they took him literally. The tragedy of the book is that these students were so focused on the beauty of the Ancient World that they forgot how to be human in the modern one. They treated Bunny Corcoran like a character in a play rather than a person with a family. \n\n Even years later, Richard Papen remains obsessed with Henry and the twins. He hasn't moved on. This is the 'Information Gain' of the novel: the realization that guilt doesn't always lead to growth. Sometimes, it just leads to a lifelong haunting. The story ends not with a resolution, but with a lingering sense of loss and the cold realization that the 'Secret History' they shared was nothing more than a shared descent into darkness.
FAQ
1. Is Julian Morrow the real villain of The Secret History?
While Julian didn't pull the trigger, he is the ideological villain. He isolated the students, taught them to value aesthetics over morality, and abandoned them the moment their 'artistic' life became messy and real.
2. Why did Henry Winter kill himself at the end?
Henry killed himself to end the internal conflict within the group and to prevent them all from going to prison. It was his final act of control and his way of fulfilling the 'tragic hero' archetype he idolized.
3. Does The Secret History have a happy ending?
No. The ending is profoundly melancholic. The survivors are haunted by guilt, failed relationships, and a sense of purposelessness, proving that they never truly escaped the ravine where they killed Bunny.
References
goodreads.com — The Secret History on Goodreads
en.wikipedia.org — Wikipedia: The Secret History
sparknotes.com — SparkNotes: The Secret History Study Guide