"The Body" by Stephen King

Plot

In order to build the suspense for the boys' finding of the dead body, the narrator tells of the journey leading up to their destination. The narrator consistently refers to his own thoughts to reveal his feelings toward seeing the dead body for the first time. The different images he conjures in his mind allow the reader to feel anxious, and anticipate the dead body and its appearance. In my opinion, there is a group of people who represent the protagonist role and a group of people who represent the antagonist role. Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy play the role of the protagonist; their older brothers and their friends play the role of the antagonists. This comparison can be seen on page 415, when Ace threatens the younger boys. "We'll get you hard...we'll hurt you. I can't believe you don't know that. We'll put you all in the fuckin hospital with fuckin ruptures. Sincerely." However, I believe that within the younger group, there is a division. Gordie and Chris play the protagonist role, while Vern and Teddy play the antagonist role. Because of the different personality traits between the four characters, it is easy for the reader to favor Chris and Gordie's courage and sensible actions. But at the same time, Vern and Teddy keep the balance by making stupid jokes and keeping a lighter attitude. At the end of the story, it is easy to differentiate between the four of them because of the manner in which their future plays out. Both Teddy and Vern join the wrong group of friends and die at a young age without achieving much of anything. Gordie and Chris remain friends throughout school, and they both take college courses in order to achieve success. In my opinion, the conclusion of the story results in an unhappy ending. I had high hopes for Chris and his ability to overcome his background and family; however, when the narrator announced that he had died while attempting to keep peace, I realized that my hopes had been let down. I love the story, but I hate how it ends.

Characterization

In the commencement of the story, the narrator presents the characters, their personality traits, and their family history directly. For example, on page 296, the narrator describes Teddy and the way he thought of him. "He was the dumbest guy we hung around with, I guess, and he was crazy. He'd take the craziest chances you can imagine, and get away with them." By describing the characters directly, the reader is able to understand why the characters make the decisions they do, and what they react to them in the manner they do. When the boys are trespassing at the dump, Milo Pressman continues to call Teddy's father a loony, and Teddy gets extremely upset and defends his father. At first, it does not make sense because Teddy's father burnt both of his years off. If the narrator had not told us that his father had served on the beach at Normandy, then we would not understand why Teddy was defending him. In my opinion, Teddy and Vern are both static characters. They have their emotional moments, but in the end they remain the same as in the beginning of story. However, Chris is a dynamic character. In the beginning of the story, he knows that he is worth more than people label him, but he does not believe there is ever a chance of him being able to achieve success. At the end of the story, though, we learn that Chris studies college classes and gets out of the town he dreads.

Theme

For the most part, the short story is based upon four boy overcoming their adolescence and becoming young adults. Therefore, the theme is the fall from innocence. In the beginning, the boys are obsessed with cards, cigarettes, and centerfold magazines. Also, they fearful of their older brothers and enemies. For example, when Vern tells his friends of what he overheard his older brother saying about the dead body, Vern says, "I dunno...Billy will know where I found out. He'll beat the living shit outta me." But in the end, after seeing the dead body and wanting to claim it as their own, the younger boys stand up to their rivals. "That's nothing to what you'll get...Gordie was right, you're nothing but a bunch of cheap hoods. Charlie and Billy didn't want their fuckin dibs and you all know it." After this scene, the boys lose their innocent fear and gain confidence. Additionally I believe overcoming stereotypes is another theme of the story. At the end of the story, Chris overcomes his family's background of violence, stealing, and alcoholic rage by studying in the attempt to become successful. Although he did not have much to say for his family's history, he did not allow that to stop him in applying himself to greater accomplishments.

Point of View

"The Body" is told in first-person point of view. The narrator is a character in the story, named Gordie, who is one of the four boys journeying to find the dead body. By telling the story in first- person, the story seems more dramatic. It also seems more real because it is a person recalling a past time, and their is detail on the emotions of the narrator during the different situations. For example, when the boys come out of the pond with leeches all over their bodies, the fact that the narrator could remember how he felt when he found them on his "private parts" made the experience seem more traumatic than funny. He even skips ahead to more recent years in which he remembered the event. "Either way, for one second I was literally in the past, pausing halfway up that embankment and looking back at the burst leech: dead, deflated...but still ominous." I like that Gordie is telling the story because I felt more attached to him as one of the characters, too. Knowing that he was the only one who was still alive and able to tell the story made the ending more unhappy. He had lost those friends he had throughout his adolescence, making the story more personal.

Setting

Even though the narrator is telling the story from present time, the literal story takes place in Maine in 1960. Because of the time difference, one must adjust to the differences in society. For example, the price of soda and food, and magazines and cards were very much different than they are today. The value of a dollar was worth more then than it is now. Also, one has to remember that children did not have cell phones, so when the four boys went off into the woods for days, no parents were able to contact them. Also, it was not very often that boys of their class and rank studied in college and achieved more successful careers than their family members. Also, this was after the time of World War II, but before the battle at Vietnam. Therefore, families had undergone the Depression and the difficulties of being at war. Because of this, we can understand Teddy's father's insanity. "Then he hung up the phone, went in to the closet, got his .410, and sat down to watch daytime stories on TV with the shotgun laid across his knees." If the audience were not aware of the time period, it would be difficult to understand the father's behavior. Also, the fact that the boys live in a small town plays a part, too. Information is more easily passed around, and everyone knows a lot about people and where they come from. The town is full of gossip-mongers which causes people in the town to stereotype others and their families.