The Body (novella)
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| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novella |
| Released in | Different Seasons |
| Publication type | Anthology |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Media Type | Print (Paperback) |
| Released | 1982 |
The Body: Fall from Innocence is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in the 1982 collection Different Seasons.
It was adapted into the acclaimed film Stand By Me in 1986. Directed by Rob Reiner, it stars River Phoenix as Chris and Wil Wheaton as Gordan.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The story takes place during the summer of 1959 in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. A neighborhood kid named Ray Brower had gone out to pick berries and never returned, having been hit by a train. Gordon Lachance and his three friends, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio, discover the location of the corpse and travel to find it.
In comparison to King's prior works, the narrative of The Body is complicated in that it is told in first person point of view by the now thirty-something novelist Gordon Lachance. Most of the story is a straight retrospective of what happened, but comments, or entire chapters that relate to the present time, are interspaced throughout.
Although he is only twelve at the time of the story, Gordon's favorite diversion is writing and storytelling. Three times during the narrative, he tells stories to his friends, and two stories are presented in the text as short stories by Gordon Lachance, complete with attribution to the magazines they were published in.
[edit] Plot summary
[edit] Main narrative
Vern informs his three friends that he has overheard his older brother Billy talking with a friend about the location of the corpse of Ray Brower, a neighborhood kid who has gone missing. Billy and his friend mentioned a place called Back Harlow Road, so the four friends decide that they will go in search for it.
The boys walk along the railroad tracks toward the presumed location of the corpse. Along the way, they are chased by a junkyard dog and Gordon and Vern are nearly run over by a train while crossing a bridge. While at a resting point, Chris states that Gordie will grow up to become a famous writer - perhaps he'll even write about his friends some day.
When they finally find the spot where the body lies, they also discover that Vern's older brother, Chris' older brother and a number of his teenage bully friends have arrived before they did. The older boys are upset to see the four friends, and during an argument, Chris pulls his father's gun that he has taken from his home and fires in front of one of them and then threatens Ace Merrill, the leader of the gang. After a brief standoff Ace realizes that Chris is serious, and the teenagers leave after promising to get the boys later.
The boys ultimately decide to phone in the location of the body as an "anonymous tip" and it is eventually found by the authorities as a result. After they arrive home, Ace and another thug break Gordon's nose and fingers and are on the verge of harming him more seriously when they are run off by Gordon's neighbor, Aunt Evvie Chalmers. Chris's brother breaks Chris' arm and "leaves his face looking like a Canadian sunrise." Teddy and Vern get less severe beatings. The boys refuse to identify their assailants to the authorities, which earns them the respect of their peers, and there are no further repercussions.
Following the end of the 1960 part of the story, the narration goes into fast-forward. It describes the next year or so briefly, stating that Teddy and Vern drift off, befriending some younger boys. In high school, just as Chris predicted, Gordon begins taking college-preparation courses. Unexpectedly, so does Chris. In spite of abuse from his father, taunts from his classmates and distrust from teachers and counselors, he manages to be successful with help from Gordon.
The penultimate chapter describes the fates of Gordon's three friends; none of them survive past young adulthood. Vern is killed in a house fire after a party. Teddy, while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, crashes his car and kills himself with a number of others. Chris, who became a stand out high school and college student and is preparing to attend law school, is stabbed after trying to stop a fight in a restaurant. Gordon is the only one who survives. He continues to write stories through college, and publishes a number of them in small literary journals and men's magazines. He has the great luck of having his first novel become a smash hit, and a successful film as well. At the time of writing about the events in 1960, he has written seven novels about the supernatural, and he has a wife and three children.
[edit] Stories told by "Gordon Lachance"
Stud City was originally "published" in Greenspun Quarterly 45 in the fall of 1970. It has also been published as a separate short story by King in Ubris (University of Maine's literary journal), Fall, 1969.
Stud City is about Chico, a young man who still lives at home even though his family situation isn't what it should be. His older brother died years ago in a racing accident. His father has remarried, and Chico dislikes his stepmother. One night he brings his girlfriend home and has sex with her a couple of times. Afterwards, he drives her home in his dilapidated old car. When Chico gets back, the rest of his family have come home, and his father, obviously prompted by his stepmother, begins harrassing him about the girlfriend. The story ends with Chico driving off into the rain in his old car to sleep over at a friend's.
The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan was originally "published" in Cavalier in March of 1975. It has also been published as a separate short story by King in The Maine Review (July 1975).
The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan is about an obese boy called Davie Hogan, who is nicknamed "Lard Ass" Hogan because of his excessive weight. In the (fictional) town of Gretna, Maine, there is a yearly pie-eating contest and Hogan enters despite the fact that no one believes he has a chance against the town's veteran eaters. Unbeknownst to the other competetors, Hogan does not want to win; instead, he wants revenge for the town's cruel behavior towards him. Before the contest, Hogan drinks a bottle of castor oil, and the combination of the pie and oil makes him vomit on one of his competitors, causing a chain reaction involving all of the contestants and the entire audience. His revenge complete, Hogan smiles, takes the microphone from the speaker, declares the contest a draw and goes home.
[edit] Main characters
- Gordon (Gordie) Lachance is the main character. He used to have an older brother, Dennis, who died earlier in 1960 in a traffic accident on an Army base. At the time of main story, Gordon's parents are still mourning the death of their favorite son, and as a result they regularly ignore Gordon. As an adult, Gordon becomes a writer.
- Chris Chambers
- Theodore (Teddy) Duchamp Teddy's father is a shellshocked World War II veteran who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and has lived in a mental institution for physically abusing his son, an incident that led to Teddy's loss of hearing.
- Vern Tessio
[edit] Trivia
- There are parallels between Stephen King and the character Gordon. At the time of writing, they are the same age, profession and social class and were born, raised and live in Maine. The only notable differences are that Gordon served in the military (there is a brief reference to his being in the Vietnam War — King was not drafted) and had a complex relationship with his father. King's father left the family when he was a very young child.
