the most important things are the hardest things to say.

PLOT: The Body takes place in one weekend with one overlaying purpose: to find the dead body. Stephen King begins this novella as Vern "[runs all the way from [his] house" (pg 298)to the clubhouse to introduce the story's mission. However, this mission is not revealed for another five pages! The most obvious part of plot in this story is pace: slow. The narrator has a different flashback or story for every point a character makes, which adds suspense to every detail within the story. For example, when Vern runs into the clubhouse with exciting news he asks everyone if they can get out of the house for the night... Gordie answers "Probably." (pg 298) and begins a long anecdote about him being "like the Invisible Boy" (page 298) at home because of the death of his older brother. Gordie does not even get back to Vern's news until after he tells two more stories. Nothing moves very fast; everything is stretched out to the minute details. It is not until the end that the pace picks up. It is important that the pace remain slow on the voyage to see the dead body because the narrator is then able to directly characterize the characters. This is where the magic happens. This two day period occurs over around one hundred pages and then after the body is found, the story wraps up in around thirty pages. The pace picks up because the end is not as significant.

POINT OF VIEW: The Body is narrated by the future version of Gordie, the main character of the story. It is written in the first person point of view. Because it is narrated by the main character, readers get an up close personal view point of the action and each character is directly revealed. Gordie frequently uses flashbacks in his narration, which helps reveal the relationships of each of the characters share. He also uses flashback to better describe his relationship with Dennis before he died. His feelings for Dennis "were replaced with an almost cynical awe...mildly shocked and mildly sad" (pg 312) about his death. Gordie even uses one of his own published stories to describe the way he feels about his parents and Dennis.

CHARACTERIZATION: The characters Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy journey together across Castle Rock, Maine to see a dead body. However, Gordie and Chris are the only dynamic characters. Vern and Teddy don't go through a change as the story progresses. They are round and static characters. The dialogue between Gordie and Chris seems to dramatically age them both. Chris is always explaining to Gordie that he can become something if he just leaves the gang behind, but Gordie disagrees. "'What's asshole about wanting to be with your friends?'... 'It's asshole if your friends can drag you down'" (pg 380-81). Chris was wise beyond his years and the relationship he shared with Gordie allowed him to succeed through high school.

SETTING: This story takes place in Castle Rock, Maine in 1960. There is no real significance of Maine, but the story could not have taken place in any other era than in the sixties.

Chris grew up with no real role models in his family. His father beat him and he could not make it to school as often as he should. When the truant officer came to check in on Chris and "found out that Chris was home because his father had beaten the shit out of him, [he] just went away and didn't say boo to a cuckoo bird" (pg 307). If today that happened, the father would have been reported, Chris would have received help and he probably would not have had to struggle the way he did through high school. Gordie also mentions hitchhiking in his narration, which was apparently a common thing for kids to do back then. There are many small elements of the story that are there as a result of it being 1960.

Quite frankly, this time period sounds like a lot more fun for kids than the 2000's.. (Ignoring Ray Brewer's fate.)

THEME: The Body is a coming of age story. The journey to Harlow to see the dead body taught Gordie lessons he would never forget. The scene where Gordie sees the deer "was a moment [he] found himself returning to...when there was trouble in [his] life" (pg 394). The stillness of the encounter brought Gordie peace of mind in challenging moments in his life. Chris's words of wisdom also helped Gordie grow up. The long conversations he and Chris shared along the path made them both work extra hard during high school; Gordie fulfilled what was expected out of him and Chris went above and beyond. Ironically, Chris was murdered after working so hard to make it out of Castle Rock to make something of himself.