I am currently on page 911 of 1647 of The Stand, by Steven King. A fictional thriller, his uncut saga details the lives of the survivors of the "superflu" on both ends of the moral spectrum. After exploring about four hundred pages of character development and tense foreshadowing, the vast majority of the human population is dead, and the remaining humans must begin to rebuild society. On the side of the good, there is Nick Andros, a dumb mute who gains a leadership role despite being beaten down for most of his life because of his disabilities, Larry Underwood, a troubled ex-rock star on his way to helping others, and Frannie Goldsmith, a pregnant college student just trying to find sure footing. The evil camp, lead by the devil himself, Randall Flagg, includes Trashcan man, a pyromaniac, and Lloyd Henreid, one of the very first to sell his soul. These characters, alongside many more, are on a journey to stay alive and eventually clash (although I haven't gotten there yet). However, despite the amazing amount of plot which King packs into the novel, he manages to keep the audience in suspense and interested despite so many moving parts.
The best way to describe The Stand so far, is to say it is building momentum. As the characters learn more and more about the unknown waste and why they have immunity to the superflu through the dreams, King places a divine purpose under the westward travelers while describing Vegas as a festering growth, engorged with evil character. This sense of journey and growth will inevitably meet, with violent consequences. Although most of the story is about the aftermath, I think my research project may focus on the origins of the superflu and the government's past relationship with biological weapons. I really loved that King had the U.S. government spread the superflu overseas to cover their own tracks, a desperate, and effective measure to critique military wisdom and the corruption of power. I think if I could find any information on U.S. cover-ups related to testing or weapons, especially around the world war II era, I could dig up some really interesting stuff.
I have to admit that it's hard to analyze The Stand in the same way we have looked at other major literature this year. Although it is very entertaining, I feel like it lacks the intricacy or subtle meanings that emerge from novels like Slaughterhouse or Beloved. Although the story is a ridiculous fantasy it appears more real than the life of Billy Pilgrim because it doesn't mess with time and dabbles in long, sometimes pointless, character development. King seems to know he isn't necessarily trying to critique society, but to put on a really amazing show between the forces of good and evil. Perhaps as the story starts to come full circle I'll see what he's trying to say about people in modern society, that perhaps there is desperation of the same level present in modern America. Honestly I just want to know who wins.
This sounds wonderful! Stephen King lives in Bangor, Maine, which is a quiet little city that I've driven through before. It's interesting to me that arguably the best horror writer of all time was born and chose to settle in Maine, a pretty quiet state devoid of the types of crime that happens in, say, New York City. It's just interesting.
ReplyDeleteSomething you can certainly focus on how and why he develops these characters to such an intense degree. You can talk about Flannery O'Connor, and you can talk about the difference between writing for plot vs. writing for theme vs. writing a character or two and making a story. Though a horror story, this book seems to have some really intense extra-horror development. Do you think that helps the horror? Does it make it more realistic? Does it attach you to the characters because it feels like you've been with them for a long time? If you do the literary analysis of this, those would be some good things to think about: how his character choices lead to his purpose.
If you decide to do the bio-terrorism thing, here are some thoughts. There's Agent Orange from Vietnam, which was a chemical but still, it's a similar kind of attack. Other people that would totally be in the realm of possibility are the guy who sent Obama ricin and the Unabomber. You could also talk about the moral dilemmas of using chemical and biological weapons, though they seem pretty straight forward to me.
Enjoy! Read Andromeda Strain!