The Body_Reading Journal 2

     If we don’t read the book deeply, it seems that the story is merely about four boys who were raised in dysfunctional family. They heard about the corpse of Ray Brower who was in their age, and decided to find out the dead body and be heroes. But that’s not the all of the story. Thanks to the journey, those four boys were changed and learned something. Stephen King might want to talk about those lessons and change through ‘the body.’

     I think Gordie is the one who changed most among four boys. He was invisible man in his family. His parents were only interested to his dead brother, Dennis, and they were totally indifferent to Gordie. And even Gordie accepted that as natural. Moreover, he felt somewhat guilty about his brother’s death, although Dennis’ death was not up to Gordie, himself. He thought ‘it should have been him, not his brother’ like his father said in his dream. However, after he watched the dead body of Ray Brower, who was killed by accident, he seemed to understand the fact that death is the thing that no one can prevent and the thing that everybody have to experience at some point in his or her life. Gordie realized the fact that Dennis just met his death earlier than ordinary people, and that was not Gordie’s fault. I think Gordie could get free from the burden in his mind thanks to the journey. Not only Gordie, but also Chris, Teddy, and Vern might understand what mortality is.

     All those four boys became mature than before during the journey. As they grew up they could gain many things such as knowledge or independence. However there was something they lost, too. Gordie, Teddy, Vern, and Chris didn’t have anyone to depend on except themselves, so their friendship was somewhat special. I thought they will remain as best friends to each other forever. However, after the journey their relationship became looser and looser, and at last, all they could do was just to say ‘Hi’ when they met. In the process of being adults, we lose some of our friends. Four boys were in the process of being adults, and that may be the reason why the subtitle of ‘the body’ is ‘fall from innocence.’

     We are not invisible man as Gordie, we are not expected to be a trouble maker like Chirs, we don’t have a brother as wicked as Vern’s, and we are not the son or daughter of a loony. However, like those four boys, we also experience the process of being adult. No one is born as an adult, and no one stay as a child forever. I think Stephen wanted to talk about that, ‘being mature’ that we will experience, or already experienced, through those four boys.