“Maybe we should stop now. Mommy might have noticed by now.”
“Scared? Then go home, chicken!”
My friends and I gathered in front of the school. Our school had a remodeling construction when I was in 4th grade. One day, my friend came running, telling us that there is a mysterious girl, who was killed in the construction area, appearing in our class when the night comes. All of my friends had agreed to meet at 9 p.m. and check if the rumor was true ourselves. Of course, it was supposed to be a secret for our parents and teachers. It took as a long time to be courageous enough to open our classroom’s door. When one of the boys opened the door, there stood a person with her back towards us. We froze instantly. We ran out screaming when we noticed that she was our teacher, waiting for us in the classroom.
Every child is fascinated by rumors or legends about ghosts, secret chambers, forbidden treasures etc. We all have at least once experienced thrills or fears while listening to the stories. Because such theme can easily draw sympathy out of the readers, there are many novels dealing with the mysteries that attract the mischievous children. As far as I have read, the first 30 pages of the book, I believe Stephen King has chosen such experience which exist in everybody’s memory as a leading theme of the story, ‘The Body’.
There are four boys in this story- Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern. Just like many other boys, tree house up in the big elm tree is their usual hide-out in which they can do whatever they want without the interruption from the adults. One hot day, when Gordie, Chris, and Teddy were playing cards and reading magazines in the tree house, Vern came rushing to them. The boys showed no interest in him until he suggested them to go on a trip to find a dead body. What Vern said was that he heard his brother Billy talking about the missing boy, Ray Brower. According to what Billy had said, his dead body must be somewhere in the tracks.
rst, it doesn’t have anything to do with ‘The Body’, but as the short story is developed, there seems to be some parts that parallel with ‘The Body’. Of course, ‘Stud City’ is more dull and depressing than ‘The Body’, the characters are in a similar situation: they both lost their older brother who parents adored. I believe I would be able to find more similarities between the ‘Stud City’ and ‘The Body’ as I read along. I think the ‘Stud City’ has a kind of foreshadowing effect on the overall plot.
I enjoyed reading this since it reminded me of myself as a child, story itself being interesting which intrigued me to keep on reading and trying to match ‘Stud City’ with ‘The Body’ was unique. I can’t wait to read some more!
Most students didn't like Stud City, and I can see why. I thought it was weird the first time I read it, as well, but since The Body is about an older writer reflecting on his youth and his journey towards writing, Stud City "fits." Maybe it came too early, or was too long, but you are right to describe it as "foreshadowing." And "parallelism" is a good word to keep in mind if you discuss it in the final exam.
답글삭제Nice post! Not too much summary which is something I get tired of reading very quickly.