The Stand
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 First edition cover |
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| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror novel |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Released | 1978 (Re-released in 1990) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | edited:823 unedited:1168pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-385-12168-7 |
The Stand is an apocalyptic horror epic novel by Stephen King originally published in 1978. It re-works the scenario in King's earlier short story, "Night Surf" (included in the short story collection Night Shift).
The novel was re-released as The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition in 1990. King restored some text originally cut for brevity, added and revised sections, changed the setting of the novel from 1980 to 1990, and updated a few pop culture references accordingly. This edition featured art by Berni Wrightson.
While plans for a film adaptation did not come to fruition, a TV miniseries based on The Stand and scripted by King himself was released in 1994.
[edit] Plot summary
[edit] Captain Trips
The novel is divided into 3 parts, or books. The first is entitled "Captain Trips" and takes place over 19 days, with the death of most of the human population in North America (and presumably the world) following the escape and spread of a human-made biological weapon, a superflu (influenza) virus known formally as "Project Blue" and colloquially as "Captain Trips." 99.4% of people are susceptible to Captain Trips, and the disease has a mortality rate of 100%. King outlines the total breakdown and destruction of society through widespread violence, the failure of martial law to contain the outbreak, and eventually the death of just about everyone.
The expanded edition opens with a prologue entitled "The Circle Opens" that explains just how the superflu escaped the compound where it was developed.
[edit] On the Border
Intertwining cross-country odysseys are undertaken by a small number of survivors, including: a pregnant college student (Frances Goldsmith) and an overweight high school outcast (Harold Lauder) from Ogunquit, Maine; a laid-off factory worker (Stuart Redman) from Texas; a dissatisfied pop musician (Larry Underwood); an insightful deaf-mute wanderer (Nick Andros); a virginal teacher with a dark secret (Nadine Cross); a savage amnesiac telepathic boy (Joe/Leo Rockway); a quick-witted pessimistic sociology professor (Glen Bateman) and his dog, Kojak -- one of the very few dogs immune to the plague; a jolly dandyish sodbuster (Ralph Brentner) from Oklahoma; and a kind-hearted mentally retarded man (Tom Cullen). They are drawn together by their shared dreams of a 108 year old black woman from Hemingford Home, Nebraska, whom they see as a refuge. This woman, Abagail Freemantle (known as Mother Abagail), becomes the spiritual leader of this group of survivors, who begin an attempt to re-establish a democratic society in the city of Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is found to be the only city in America that is largely clear of plague victims, the city having emptied out due to a rumor spread during the plague that the disease started in the Boulder air testing center.
Meanwhile, another group of survivors, including: a not too bright common thief (Lloyd Henreid); an insane pyromaniac (Donald Merwin Elbert, known as the Trashcan Man); an ex-army cook and butcher (Whitney Horgan); a mercurial, oversexed teenager (Julie Lawry); and a former detective of the Santa Monica Police Department (Barry Drogan) are drawn to Las Vegas, Nevada by Randall Flagg (known as the "dark man", "the hardcase", and the "Walkin' Dude"), an evil being with supernatural powers. Flagg's rule is tyrannical and brutal, with crucifixion and other torments as punishment for those who are disloyal. His group is able to quickly rebuild the city and amass weapons.
[edit] The Stand
The stage is now set for the final confrontation as the two camps become aware of one another, and each recognizes the other as a threat to its survival, leading to the 'stand' of good against evil. There is no pitched battle, however. Instead, at Mother Abagail's behest, Stu, Larry, Ralph and Glen set off on foot towards Las Vegas. Stu is injured en route and drops out, but the rest soon encounter Flagg's men who take them prisoner. Flagg gathers his entire collective to witness the men's execution, but before it can take place Trashcan Man arrives with a nuclear warhead and a giant glowing hand -- "The Hand of God" -- detonates the bomb, destroying Flagg's followers.
Stu, with the aid of first Kojak and later Tom Cullen, survives injury, illness and harsh winter, and the three of them arrive back in Boulder soon after the birth of Fran's baby. Although the baby falls ill with the superflu he is able to fight it off as are many other children born in the ensuing months. In the end, and Stu and Fran decide to return to Maine, and the original edition of the novel ends with the two of them questioning whether the human race can learn from its mistakes. The answer, given in the last line, is ambiguous: "I don't know."
The expanded edition follows this with a brief coda entitled "The Circle Closes," which leaves a darker impression and fits in with King's ongoing "wheel of ka" theme.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Abagail Freemantle
The opposite of Randall Flagg, Mother Abagail (as she is called) is the personification of good. She lives in a farmhouse in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, and initially appears to some of the survivors in dreams, drawing them to her just as Flagg is drawing his followers. She receives visions from God, though when she sins in pride, she loses her foresight and goes into exile in the wilderness. She regains her ability, and returns to the Zone just in time to save most of the Free Zone Committee from Harold Lauder's assassination attempt. On her deathbed, she shares one final vision: four men from the committee are to travel to the west to make a stand against Randall Flagg. She makes no prediction as to what will occur, only that one will fall before arriving in Las Vegas, and that the remainder will be brought before Flagg. Mother Abagail dies shortly after this prophecy.
[edit] Stuart Redman
A quiet man from Arnette, Texas, Stu was at his friend Bill Hapscomb's gas station the night Charles Campion, the original plague carrier, crashed into the station's pumps. Subsequently, he is also the first man discovered to be immune to the superflu. Stu and many of his neighbors are rounded up and taken to be studied to attempt to produce a cure, but the virus spreads far too fast and the end result is the decimation of the planet Earth's population. He is nearly killed by a government agent named Elder, but due to Elder's declining health from the flu, Stu is able to overpower him and escape from the Vermont Plague Center, where he was being detained. He wanders New England for a few days before meeting Glen Bateman, then Fran Goldsmith and Harold Lauder. The four trek out west, picking up a few survivors along the way until they reach Boulder. Stu becomes romantically involved with Fran along the way, even accepting the unborn child she carries, but creates ill will with Harold Lauder, who is in love with her. Stu rises to authority in the Free Zone, becoming the spokesperson for the Free Zone Committee and its first marshall. However, after an assassination attempt by Harold, Stu is told by Mother Abagail that he is to head out west to make a stand against Randall Flagg. Stu agrees and leads Larry, Glen, and Ralph west to Las Vegas. However, Stu breaks his leg in Utah and is forced to remain behind. He becomes ill due to exposure, but witnesses the final destruction of Las Vegas from a distance and is subsequently saved by Tom Cullen, who nurses him back to health. Stu and Tom then trek back to Boulder, where he is reunited with Frannie, who has given birth to the first surviving child on Earth. Stu and Frannie later leave Boulder to raise their family in Maine.
[edit] Fran Goldsmith
A college student at the University of New Hampshire, Fran is pregnant at the start of the book, a topic which results in a painful standoff with her mother and the destruction of her relationship with the baby's father, Jesse Rider. The superflu decimates her community, resulting in her and Harold Lauder being the only survivors. The two join forces and make their way to the Stovington, Vermont, facility of the Centers for Disease Control in hopes of finding someone in authority, but are later told by Stuart Redman that the facility is dead. They continue on, with Stu and Glen Bateman in tow, and find the facility just as Stu reported. They then make their way west to Mother Abagail, during which Fran falls deeply in love with Stu, a fact she records in her diary. Fran serves on the original Free Zone Committee and acts as its moral compass. Upon her union with Stu, Harold becomes jealous, but later appears to let bygones be bygones. However, Fran remains suspicious of him, which later turns out to be valid when she finds his diary and plot to kill Stu. She saves the majority of the committee when she receives an intuition of doom in form of the planted bomb. She is moderately injured in the blast, but her unborn child remains safe. Fran is opposed to Stu traveling west, but comes to terms with it when she realizes it is what he has to do. Fran later moves in with Lucy Swan and delivers a baby boy. Though there is initial joy at the birth, her child falls ill with the superflu and Fran is crushed. However, she is rewarded by news of both Stu's return to the Free Zone and her baby's recovery. Throughout the novel, Fran becomes more and more homesick for her native Maine, and at the end of the book she, Stu, and the baby make their way back east.
[edit] Peter Goldsmith-Redman
Fran's baby (named after her late father) is delivered in January and his birth causes celebration in the Free Zone. However, he soon falls ill with the superflu and is regarded as good as dead. However, because of his partial immunity passed on from his mother, Peter becomes the first living being to successfully beat the virus and recover.
[edit] Harold Lauder
Harold is 16 years old and lived in Ogunquit, Maine, at the beginning of the novel. He is the brother of Fran Goldsmith's best friend Amy Lauder and is an outcast in his local high school. Harold doesn't help matters for himself by being rather obnoxious and uppity. A talented writer, he writes on a manual typewriter. After the superflu hits the world, it wipes out the entire population of Ogunquit except for Fran and Harold. The two decide to head to the Stovington Plague Center in Vermont, leaving their directions on the roof of a barn.
Harold falls in love with Fran and sees himself as her protector of sorts. When they meet Stuart Redman, Harold refuses to allow him to join, even going so far as to attempt to shoot Stu, but after a conversation in which Stu tells him he just wants to come along and that Harold can have Fran, Harold relents. After the facility proves to be a disappointment, the survivors head to Nebraska, and then Colorado to join Mother Abagail, picking up more survivors along the way. Harold attempts to profess his love for Frannie, only to be rebuked. As Fran becomes involved with Stu, a jealous Harold plots his revenge.
Harold quickly becomes a respected and well thought of member of the Boulder Community. Often, his ideas are used to better the community. In a moment of clarity, Harold realizes that he truly is accepted and valued in this strange new world, and that he has the freedom to choose a new life for himself as a respected member of the community. Unable to escape his past humiliations, however, he rejects his last chance at redemption and surrenders instead to his dreams of vengeance, particularly on Fran and Stu (he goes so far as to aim a rifle at Stu while scouting for the missing Mother Abagail, but does not fire). Soon after this, Nadine Cross approaches him and reveals an in-depth knowledge of Harold's insecurities, hatreds and fears. She hints at her own they are free to enjoy a decadent sexual playtime. Harold succumbs to Nadine's seduction, and to Flagg's wishes and creates a bomb to destroy the Free Zone Committee.
After detonating the bomb which kills seven people, Harold and Nadine make their way to Las Vegas. However, Harold ends up wrecking his motorcycle and breaking his leg after slipping on an oilslick. Flagg, distrusting Harold for being "too full of thoughts," has apparently arranged the accident. Harold survives the accident, though terribly injured, and attempts to shoot Nadine. He misses and Nadine abandons him and continues to travel alone to meet Flagg in the desert.
Realizing that he is dying, Harold writes a note in which he takes responsibility for his actions, though he knows he cannot be forgiven. He states that he only hopes the Almighty can accept that he was misled. Harold commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. His body is later found by Stu, Larry, Glen, and Ralph, and Stu remarks that Harold's actions were a waste not only of Nick and Susan, but of himself as well.
[edit] Glen Bateman
A college professor who went into retirement when the superflu hit, Glen met Stu near Glen's home in Attleboro, Massachusetts. A senior citizen whose handicap is arthritis, the wise Bateman is often on hand to dispense advice to his young friend. A loyal friend, Bateman much like Stu also experiences dreams of Mother Abagail, and joins Stu, Frannie and Harold on their journey to meet her. Bateman becomes part of the reform committee in Boulder, Colorado. He also becomes one of the four men who must meet Randall Flagg in Las Vegas. But as Stu falls by the wayside, Glen along with Larry and Ralph go to Las Vegas and are detained by Flagg's forces. Flagg offers Glen his freedom if he will "get down on (his) knees and beg for it." Glen refuses, laughing at the Dark Man for being so transparent, upon which Flagg orders Lloyd Henreid to execute him. "It's all right, Mr. Henreid," Glen says as he dies, "you don't know any better."
[edit] Kojak
Glen Bateman's dog. He was formerly named Big Steve. After Glen leaves with Redman, Kojak is left behind. He follows them and is later attacked by wolves after arriving at Mother Abagail's empty house. However, he manages to walk to the Free Zone. He joins Glen, Stu, Ralph, and Larry on their to journey to Las Vegas. When Stu is injured, he stays behind and kills wild animals to feed Stu. After being found by Tom Cullen, he is taken back to Boulder. It is stated that he will live for 16 years after his master's death, putting his own death at 2006 or 2007.
[edit] Susan Stern
Part of a harem, Susan is one of the women Stu rescues. Sue becomes a member of the original Boulder Free Zone Committee and recruits fellow captive Dayna Jurgens to spy out west. She is killed by Harold Lauder's bomb in Ralph Brentner's home.
[edit] Dayna Jurgens
One of the women whom Stu's party rescues from the harem. While she originally seems to display some romantic interest in Stu Redman, this never extends beyond flirtation, though it does cause Fran some consternation. In Boulder for a short period of time, she is recruited by fellow former captive Sue Stern to spy out west. She works with a light crew in Las Vegas and sleeps with Lloyd Henreid as part of her ploy to obtain information. While working with the light crew, she sees Tom Cullen on a passing truck. Flagg, being aware of her identity, summons her to his office and attempts to have her reveal the third spy who he cannot see. In order to protect Tom Cullen, and to save herself from the torture that Flagg will put her through, Dayna commits suicide by breaking a plate glass window and impaling herself on the glass. Her body is desecrated by Flagg and later burned outside of Las Vegas.
[edit] Larry Underwood
Larry (whose actual first name is Lawson) is a cocky young singer who, at the beginning of the novel, is starting to reach real success with his debut single, "Baby, Can You Dig Your Man?". He falls in debt to a local drug dealer while living in Los Angeles, and travels to New York to visit his mother to lay low. As New York City starts falling to pieces, Larry comes to his mother's aid, only to have her die from the superflu. Not long after, Larry finds himself to be one of the few people left in New York City. He meets an older woman (in her 50s) named Rita Blakemoor and the two decide to leave New York together. They experience one of the most chilling chapters in the book while leaving New york when they are going through the lincoln tunnel, Larry often thinks back to this event and is terrified by it. However, she eventually dies from a seemingly intentional drug overdose, leaving Larry alone. Haunted by her death and by the dreams of Randall Flagg, Larry is in a semi-catatonic state for several days until he finally collapses from exhaustion in New Hampshire. Recovering after a night's sleep, Larry travels to Maine, where he plans to spend the summer, until he meets Nadine Cross and young Leo Rockway (known then only as "Joe"). The three travel together to Ogunquit, Maine, where they find Harold Lauder's sign and its directions. Deciding to follow the directions, Larry leads them to Stovington, Vermont, meeting Lucy Swann along the way, where they find Harold's directions to Nebraska. Larry leads the ever growing party to Nebraska and eventually to Colorado, following Harold's directions across the country. Though Larry is initially interested in Nadine, she spurns his advances, leading him to begin a relationship with Lucy. Arriving in Boulder, Larry settles down with Lucy and Leo, becoming a member of the Free Zone Committee. Nadine attempts to reconcile with him, but Larry refuses her, choosing to remain with Lucy. Larry later breaks into Harold Lauder's home with Fran Goldsmith after Leo instructs him to investigate before something horrible happens. They find Harold's ledger, which states he intends to kill Stuart Redman. However, Harold's plan is already in motion and Stu narrowly escapes the assassination attempt the next day. Larry leaves Boulder with Stu, Ralph, and Glen when Mother Abagail instructs them to go to Las Vegas. Larry leads the party after Stu breaks his leg en route to Las Vegas, where he and Ralph eventually die in the nuclear explosion caused by Trashcan Man.
[edit] Nadine Cross
A teacher at a private school, Nadine has retained her virginity due to some vaguely defined but powerful sense that she is destined for something as dark as it is unique. Upon the outbreak of the superflu, Nadine finds a young boy whom she calls Joe; Joe has regressed to a savage state of mind but trusts her and stays with her. Nadine later meets Larry Underwood when Joe finds him sleeping. Joe is working up the courage to kill Larry, but Nadine stops him. The pair secretly follow Larry to Maine, where Joe finally tries to kill Larry, only to be easily overpowered. After conversing with Larry, they agree to join forces and find other survivors. Nadine is attracted to Larry but her subconscious conviction that she must remain "pure" has strengthened and begun to take shape: she begins to both fear and anticipate that she is meant for Flagg. Upon arriving in Boulder, Nadine begins to surrender to the seductive lure of the Walkin' Dude, and Joe (who has recovered enough to name himself Leo Rockway) refuses to have anything to do with her any more. Later Leo (joe) reveals that she had already known that it was too late to sleep with Larry. Nadine makes a last desperate attempt to seduce Larry, thus breaking her virginal commitment to Flagg and freeing her, but he is by now firmly committed to Lucy Swann and rejects her advances. Nadine surrenders to Flagg completely, communicating with him via a Ouija Board, an echo of her terrifying experience with a Ouija board in college, when she was first touched by Flagg ("WE ARE IN THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD, NADINE!"). On Flagg's orders she seduces Harold Lauder (though she will not do "that one little thing" with him) and uses him to attempt to assassinate the committee, a plot that would have succeeded if not for the return of Mother Abagail and a subconcious premonition of Frannie's. Nadine travels west with Harold; when his motorcycle crashes she implies it was her choice that Harold die in a motorcycle accident rather than be killed by Flagg upon arrival in Las Vegas. Harold fires his gun at her and very nearly hits her, suggesting that she might unconsciously prefer death to the dark consummation awaiting her and revealing that Flagg only has limited power. Nadine continues on towards Vegas until one night Flagg comes to her in the desert, reveals his true nature to her, and rapes her, an experience which so violates and horrifies her (while at the same time causing her immense pleasure) that she falls into catatonia. Flagg takes her with him to Vegas and installs them both in the penthouse suite of the MGM Grand, soon after announcing her pregnancy. At last Nadine recovers sufficiently to taunt Flagg with his coming failure and succeeds in goading him into throwing her off the balcony, killing her and the unborn child.
[edit] Lucy Swann
The first survivor encountered by Larry Underwood's party, Lucy has survived the superflu while watching her husband and daughter die. Lucy joins the party on their route to the Stovington Plague Center. She becomes romantically involved with Larry, a feeling that she feels is not shared because of Larry's attraction to Nadine Cross. However, when forced to make a decision, Larry chooses to remain with Lucy, much to her surprise. Lucy stands by Larry through his tenure as a member of the Free Zone Committee and serves as a devoted wife to him and as a mother to Leo Rockway. Unlike Fran Goldsmith, Lucy supports Larry's decision to go west to confront Randall Flagg. Lucy takes care of Frannie during Stu's absence and at the end of the book, she gives birth to twins.
[edit] Judge Farris
A man in his seventies, who joins Larry's party in New England while making their way to Nebraska. The Judge is a well spoken man who used to be a Judge in the 1950s, but has long since retired. Larry recruits the Judge as the first Free Zone spy. The Judge attempts to infiltrate Las Vegas from the north, but is intercepted by Flagg's sentries in Oregon. A firefight ensues, and the Judge is killed by a shot to the head. The sentries had been under strict orders to preserve the Judge's head, and Flagg appears to brutally kill the surviving sentry.
[edit] Nick Andros
A deaf-mute drifter, Nick is beaten outside of (fictional) Shoyo, Arkansas, by some local thugs shortly after the start of the epidemic. He befriends the local sheriff and his wife and is forced to watch them die as the epidemic rolls along. He is very nearly killed by an infection from a bullet graze, but recovers and begins his journey to Hemingford Home, Nebraska. Along the way he meets Tom Cullen, and later Ralph Brentner, and they become a surrogate family to him. Nick leads the growing band of survivors to Nebraska and meets Mother Abagail, who guides them to Boulder. Nick serves on the Free Zone Committee, of which he is the leading thinker, and eventually recruits Tom Cullen to spy out West. Nick is killed by Harold Lauder in his assassination attempt on the Committee and it is later revealed that it was Nick who was to lead the stand against Randall Flagg. However, Nick's spirit appears to Tom Cullen after his death, guiding him on his way home and showing him how to save Stu Redman's life during his bout with illness.
In the Complete and Uncut edition, Nick loses sight in one eye for a period of time when he is attacked by Ray Booth, the leader of the thugs that beat him up earlier. Booth is shot and killed by Andros, but the resulting damage causes Nick to wear an eyepatch for almost the rest of the story.
[edit] Tom Cullen
Tom Cullen is a man in his 40's who suffers from a mild case of mental retardation. Nick encounters him while cycling from Arkansas to Nebraska. The two bond closely despite the fact that Nick cannot speak, and Tom cannot read Nick's notes. Tom generally possesses a childish speech pattern, peppered with exclamations of "my laws" and "laws, yes." Tom also believes that everything is spelled "M-O-O-N" as in "Tom Cullen sure is tired... M-O-O-N, that spells tired." When needing to make a logical connection, Tom sometimes slips into a form of self-hypnosis wherein he's able to make connections that he can't while 'awake.' Nick, Stu, and Ralph use this ability to place a post-hypnotic suggestion in Tom that allows him to act as the third Free Zone spy. During his hypnosis, Nick, Stu, and Ralph discover that while hypnotized, Tom possesses the same type of foresight as Mother Abagail, referring to himself as "God's Tom." He travels West and is able to avoid detection by Flagg. Tom's anonymity seems to stem from his disability, as Flagg tells Dayna that every time he tries to see the third spy, all he sees is the moon. As the full moon rises over Las Vegas, Tom's post-hypnotic suggestion kicks in, and he begins the return trip to Boulder, appropriately noting "M-O-O-N, that spells moon." During his return to Boulder, he encounters Stu suffering from a broken leg and illness due to exposure. With the help from Nick, who appears to him in visions, Tom is able to nurse a delirious and dying Stu back to health. Together, they return to Boulder to report the destruction of Las Vegas.
[edit] Ralph Brentner
Nick and Tom are the first characters to meet Ralph as their paths cross on a highway between Oklahoma and Nebraska, and together they form the first party to find Mother Abagail. Despite a lack of formal education, Ralph is possessed of a great deal of common sense and is very handy. Ralph typically serves as Nick’s “voice,” reading his notes. Ralph survives Harold Lauder’s assassination attempt, and is chosen as one of the four to stand against Flagg. Along with Stu, Glen, and Larry, he walks to Las Vegas, and is instrumental in convincing Larry to leave Stu behind after he breaks his leg. Ralph is captured by Flagg along with Glen and Larry, and is to be executed in front of the MGM Grand hotel. Ralph is the first to notice the “Hand of God” as it descends on Trashcan Man’s nuclear weapon, killing him and everyone else present.
[edit] Randall Flagg
Randall Flagg, also known as the Dark Man or the Walkin' Dude, is the main antagonist of the novel -- more (or less) than a man, he is the embodiment of evil, an antichrist-like being whose goal is destruction and death, diametrically opposed to Mother Abagail's personification of good. (The Dark Man character appears in many guises in other King novels and short stories, often with the initials "R.F.") His appearance shifts between human, demon, and various animals, and it is implied that he has lived many lives in many times; "Flagg" is just the name of his present form. Flagg is described by Tom Cullen as follows: "He looks like anybody you see on the street. But when he grins, birds fall dead off telephone lines. When he looks at you a certain way, your prostate goes bad and your urine burns. The grass yellows up and dies where he spits. He's always outside. He came out of time. He doesn't know himself." On the occasional instances when the reader sees through Flagg's perspective, this is borne out: he does not know where he came from, has no memory of his life before Captain Trips though he vaguely remembers isolated violent or hateful events that nourished his evilness.
Like Mother Abagail, Flagg appears to various survivors in their dreams, attracting those who are drawn to logic, rationality, technology, law and order, and a strong dictatorial leader. He rescues Lloyd Henreid from starvation in prison and with him as second-in-command establishes a community in Las Vegas, Nevada. Though Flagg has the ability to predict the future, along with several other demonic powers, as the events of The Stand unfold he begins to lose power little by little and his plans more and more go awry. At the end of the novel, the hand of God detonates a nuclear bomb destroying Flagg and his followers (and most of Las Vegas). The uncut edition of the novel includes an epilogue in which Flagg in a new incarnation wakes in an unknown tropical location, where he meets a primitive tribe telling them that he has come to teach them civilization and identifying himself as Russell Faraday.
[edit] Lloyd Henreid
Lloyd starts off as a petty criminal who, along with Andrew "Poke" Freeman, engage in a killing spree across Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico resulting in six murders, Freeman's death, and Lloyd’s detention in a Phoenix prison. Once the plague hits, people at his prison start dying, including the guards. Lloyd is forgotten in his cell and eventually becomes the sole survivor. Lloyd is able to save himself by eating food he has saved, along with rats, roaches, and the leg of a dead cellmate. He is found by Randall Flagg, who frees him from his cell after Lloyd agrees to be Flagg's right-hand man. At this time, Flagg also gives Lloyd the black stone with the red flaw as a symbol of Lloyd's allegiance to Flagg. Lloyd, oddly enough, finds himself feeling more intelligent and able than he thought he was, running several of the day to day duties in Vegas and even overseeing operations at a military base. Lloyd is fiercely loyal to Flagg, and chooses to remain with him despite his growing doubts over Flagg’s control of the situation, and the opportunity to leave Las Vegas with several close friends. Lloyd is present at the execution of Larry and Ralph, and is killed in the nuclear explosion caused by the Trashcan Man's atomic warhead. Before that, Randall Flagg makes him shoot Glen Bateman. As Glen dies, he forgives Lloyd with his dying breath, saying; "You don't know any better".
[edit] The Trashcan Man
Donald Merwin Elbert, better known as the Trashcan Man, is a pyromaniac and often found himself in trouble as a youth due to his fixation on fire. He was treated with shock treatments at an institution in Terre Haute, Indiana, before being incarcerated for arson as a teenager. Trash leaves prison during a work detail (carrying plague victims' bodies from prison cells) and returns home. Trash indulges his ambition of setting cities afire, destroying the city of Gary, Indiana, very nearly killing himself (and permanently disfiguring his arm) in the process, but abandons it to join Randall Flagg. Trash briefly hooks up with a street hood named The Kid, but when The Kid threatens not only to kill Trash, but to overthrow the Dark Man, Flagg sends wolves to save him. Trash reaches Las Vegas and he also receives a black stone with a red flaw. Due to his savant talent regarding destructive devices, he is put in command of searching for weapons in the desert and assisting in arming the fighter jets at Indian Springs Air Force Base. Trash does well until, when being teased by fellow workers, a comment causes him to flash back to his troubled youth. Trash destroys several trucks and kills the most experienced pilots and flees into the desert. Overcome with anguish over his actions, Trash makes an attempt at redemption by bringing Flagg the most powerful weapon he can find. Trash transports a nuclear warhead across the desert, coming down with a lethal case of radiation sickness in the process. Trash ultimately brings about Flagg's (apparent) destruction as the hand of God descends and activates the warhead, destroying Las Vegas and everyone in it.
[edit] The Kid
The Kid is a thug from Louisiana who meets the Trashcan Man en route to Las Vegas. He drives a souped up hot rod and has a fanatical love of Coors beer and Rebel Yell whiskey. He is also ambitious, unstable, and easily angered, as Trashcan discovers when The Kid nearly kills him for spilling a can of beer on the carpet. After becoming monumentally drunk, The Kid forces Trash into giving him a handjob while sodomizing him with a pistol. The Kid and Trash travel together until they reach the Eisenhower Tunnel, where The Kid is trapped in a car surrounded by wolves sent by Flagg. The Kid survives for several days until, facing starvation, he jumps out of the car and fights the wolves, strangling one as he dies. His body is later found by Stu, Larry, Glen, and Ralph, and Larry dubs him "the Wolfman." In the original edition, The Kid appeared as a minor character and was never seen directly, only in Trashcan's flashbacks; the extended edition includes the full story of his encounter with Trashcan as it takes place. It has also been revealed in interviews that The Kid is the reincarnation of late-fifties serial killer Charles Starkweather.
[edit] Charles D. Campion
A soldier stationed out in the California desert, Campion is the original carrier of the superflu. On duty the night the virus escapes the complex, he manages to flee before the lockdown of the base. He takes his family and runs, but he finally succumbs to the flu outside of Arnette, Texas, unleashing the events of the story.
[edit] General William (Billy) Starkey
As the commanding officer of Project Blue, Starkey is aware that the superflu is almost impossible to control once loose. But he covers up the accident and its ensuing pandemic as long as he can; under his leadership, journalists who try to let the truth be known are murdered. Ironically, he is kind to his subordinates. After being dismissed by the President, he commits suicide in the laboratory where the superflu was created.
[edit] Trivia
- The time change of The Complete & Uncut Edition produced several anachronisms that may have resulted from careless editing, e.g. a character being paid a dollar for a morning's babysitting; black and white TV sets and color TVs being owned by the more affluent characters; rental of a beachfront house in Malibu for $1000 USD per month; and one character being portrayed as having been "in the war" (presumably Vietnam) despite being too young for such service.
- King has said that he nearly abandoned The Stand due to an epic case of writer's block. Eventually, he reached the conclusion that the heroes were becoming too complacent, and were beginning to repeat all the same mistakes of their old society. In an attempt to resolve this, he added the part of the storyline where Harold and Nadine construct a bomb which explodes in a Free Zone committee meeting, killing Nick Andros, Chad Norris, and Susan Stern. Later, Mother Abigail explains on her deathbed that God permitted the bombing because He was dissatisfied with the heroes' focus on petty politics, and not on the ultimate quest of destroying Flagg. When telling this story, King sardonically observed that the bomb saved the book, and that he only had to kill half of the core cast in order to do this.
- King's short story "Children of the Corn" is referenced in Nick Andros and Stu Redman's dreams.
- King's father, Donald King, makes a brief appearance as a sweet-talking travelling salesman trying to sell Mother Abagail an Electrolux vacuum cleaner.
- King's short story "Night Surf" takes place just after Captain Trips has begun annihilating the population, and the disease is mentioned by name.
- Mother Abagail's followers meet in Mormon Church under a painting of Brigham Young in reference to starting of society in the West.
[edit] References to The Dark Tower series
- The novel contains the first published reference to King's supervillain Randall Flagg. Randall Flagg and other elements of The Stand also appear in The Dark Tower series.
- The superflu is said to be what killed all the inhabitants of a parallel Kansas in Wizard and Glass.
- Abagail Freemantle is mentioned as being on a quest "near"/"parallel" to Roland Deschain's quest in Wizard and Glass.
- Randall Flagg's black stones are marked with a red eye, and Glen Bateman dreamed of a man standing on a cliff, with peering, endless red eyes gazing into the east. The red eye is the sigil of the Crimson King, who was described similarly in The Dark Tower; however, note that the Crimson King had never been mentioned before or inside this book.
[edit] Film and TV versions
The novel is one of the few King books of its era not to have been made into a theatrical feature film. King had agreed to support a film version to have been directed by George Romero and written by Excalibur scribe Rospo Pallenberg. This screenplay, still available on the internet, took many liberties and cut down the novel's excess material into a 3-hour running time. However, the project proved unworkable and was abandoned.
A TV miniseries called The Stand scripted by and starring such actors as Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Miguel Ferrer, Laura San Giacomo, Ossie Davis, Ed Harris and even a cameo role by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was broadcast in 1994 on ABC. The miniseries was later released as a double sided DVD, which has since then been discontinued.
[edit] In popular culture
- The following songs are based on The Stand: "The Stand" by The Alarm; "Among the Living" by Anthrax; "Beg for the Plague" by Political Statement, and "The Stand" by Yngwie J. Malmsteen.
- Larry Underwood's Song "Baby can you dig your Man?" inspired a song of the same name by the band Self.
- Rod Glenn's debut novel, The King of America, was in part influenced by The Stand and The Dark Tower series.
- The producers of the ABC television series Lost have stated that The Stand has greatly influenced it.
- Mark Shreeve's new age album "Legion" was influenced by "The Stand". The third track was named "Flagg", and it featured a short introduction spoken by Mark Shreeve which according to the sleeve notes is "based on a character created by Stephen King". The seventh track (instrumental) was named "The Stand".
[edit] External links
- The Stand at the Internet Movie Database
The Gunslinger · The Drawing of the Three · The Waste Lands · Wizard and Glass · Wolves of the Calla · Song of Susannah · The Dark Tower
Prequels: "The Little Sisters of Eluria" · The Gunslinger Born
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