The Body (novella)
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| The Body | |
|---|---|
 2009 audiobook edition cover |
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| Author | Stephen King |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novella |
| Publisher | Viking |
| Publication date | 1982 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Preceded by | Night Shift |
| Followed by | Skeleton Crew |
The Body, or Fall from Innocence is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in King's 1982 collection Different Seasons. It was later adapted into the acclaimed film Stand By Me in 1986.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The story takes place during the summer of 1960 in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. A kid named Ray Brower had gone out to pick berries and never returned, having been thought to have been hit by a train. Gordie LaChance and his three friends, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio set out to find his body after telling their parents they will be camping out.
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 12 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 in which they were published.
As much as the story itself is basically a coming-of-age tale of Gordon and his pals and their mostly comical adventures in the woods, there is a bittersweet, poignant quality running throughout it. This is especially the case whenever Gordon, the narrator, begins waxing nostalgic whether describing the bygone sights and sounds of the town he grew up in or when delving into some of the more painful and bitter aspects about his own and his pals' dysfunctional home lives. In the end, the story becomes more of a chronicle describing the moment when Gordon and his pals leave their childhood behind and a foreshadowing as to the tragic fates that would befall all but him.
[edit] Plot summary
[edit] Main narratives
Vern Tessio 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 boy from Chamberlain, a town 50 miles or so east of Castle Rock who has gone missing. Billy and his friend mentioned a place called Back Harlow Road, so the four friends decide that they will find it so as to be famous.
The boys walk along the railroad tracks toward the presumed location of the corpse. Along the way, they are chased by a 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. All the while, the boys are forced to confront some very painful truths about themselves as well as the reality of their situation growing up in a small town that offers them little or nothing in the way of escaping their seemingly dead-end existence.
When they finally find the spot where the body lies, Vern's older brother, Chris's older brother and a number of their teenage bully friends arrive just after they do. 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 into the air 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 older 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 kick him in the testicles, 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's 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 school counselors, he manages to be successful with help from Gordon.
The final two chapters describe 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 an outstanding high school and college student and who is preparing to attend law school, is stabbed to death 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.
"The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan" was "published" in Cavalier magazine in March 1975.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Gordon Lachance | The main character and narrator. At the time of the story, his older brother, Dennis, has recently died in a traffic accident on an Army base. Gordie's parents are still mourning the death of their favorite son, and Gordon has become emotionally detached from both of them. He is the most intelligent of the gang, and is best friends with Chris Chambers. As an adult, Gordon is a writer living in Ellsworth, Maine. |
| Chris Chambers | Gordie's best friend. He is often beaten by his alcoholic father. His older delinquent brother, "Eyeball" Chambers, is a member of Ace Merrill's gang. Despite Chris's intelligence and maturity, adults and peers see him as a troublemaker just like his father and brother. Chris Chambers is the most handsome out of the four and never marries despite his extremely good looks. He graduates from high school and goes on to become a law student. He is tragically stabbed to death after trying to settle a dispute in a fried chicken restaurant. |
| Teddy Duchamp | Teddy's father is a shellshocked World War II veteran who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. During a psychotic episode, he deliberately burns both of Teddy's ears on a stove, and is confined to a mental hospital. As a result of the damage, Teddy has hearing loss and wears a hearing aid on each ear. Also, despite poor eyesight, Teddy is prone to taking "dares" and exhibits dangerous and reckless behavior (he tries to dodge a train at one point in the novella). Teddy's wild behavior has the other boys questioning his sanity on occasion, believing that the burning of his ears by his father was the cause of it. Despite this, Teddy idolizes his father and wants to join the Army after high school. His dream does not come true because of his disabilities. As an adult, he spent time in jail and working small jobs around Castle Rock. He dies in a drink driving accident. |
| Vern "Penny" Tessio | Vern is nicknamed "Penny" after a large jar of pennies he buried in his front yard while pretending he was a pirate. As the "treasure map" was accidentally destroyed, he regularly attempts to find the jar. His much-feared older brother Billy is another member of Ace Merrill's gang. Vern overhears his brother talking about happening upon the dead body while he is looking for his pennies. Vern is unintelligent and is seen as mostly comic relief in the tale. In time, both he and Teddy will drift away from Chris and Gordon as Chris predicted they would. Vern dies in an apartment building fire five years later. |
[edit] Differences between the novella and the film
- In the film, Castle Rock is located in Oregon. The novella takes place in Maine.
- In the film, Chris stops Teddy from trying to dodge the train. In the book, Gordie does.
- The scene in the film where Ace Merrill takes Gordie's Yankees cap and threatens to burn Chris' face with a cigarette has no parallel in the novella.
- The only one of the friends who dies in the film is Chris Chambers; furthermore, Chris dies as an adult, long after he has become a lawyer. In the novella Chris is stabbed to death while still a young student.
- In the novella, the kids are attacked by leeches while swimming in an artificial lake created by beavers. In the film, the leeches are in a large marsh the boys have to cross while going through the woods.
- In the film, the store owner in the film (named Mr. Quidacioluo) is a kind and sympathetic man who is curious about Gordie’s personal life, and who empathizes with Gordie over Denny’s demise, as he himself lost a brother during the Korean War. However, it can be noticed that the grocer attempts to put his thumb on the scale, until learning of Gordie's relation to Denny. In the book the store owner (named George Dusset) is portrayed as a grumpy person who tried to cheat Gordie out of his money twice and yelled angrily at him as he left the shop.
- In the film, young Gordie's account ends as soon as the four arrive back in town. In the novella, Gordie details how each of them is set upon by members of Ace's gang. Ace breaks two of Gordie's fingers, while Chris' brother, Eyeball, breaks his arms in two places, leaving his face "...looking like a Canadian sunrise".
- In the film Gordie rather than Chris holds the gun on Ace.
- The film takes place in 1959, and the novella in 1960.
- The film does not have a storm before the boys find the body.
- In the film, Chris' brother is just called "Eyeball." In the novella, his real name is revealed to be Richard and he was even called "Richie" by Chris.
[edit] Connections to other novels
- 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. Both men have written successful books that were turned into successful movies. Gordon also mentions teaching high school English at the beginning of his career as a writer, another parallel with King. The only notable differences are that Gordon served in the military and Gordon's complex relationship with his emotionally absent father. King's father left the family when he was a very young child. In childhood, King also had a friend who died when hit by a train.[1]
- Chris Chambers mentions the Maine town Jerusalem's Lot when asserting that "lots of real towns sound stupid." Jerusalem's Lot is the fictional setting for King's vampire novel 'Salem's Lot and short stories "Jerusalem's Lot" and "One for the Road".
- There is a passing reference to Derry, Maine, the fictional town famously inhabited by the creature It.
- Teddy Duchamp is mentioned briefly in King's novel Carrie, despite being published eight years before "The Body." Carrie sabotages the pumps at an Amoco gas station once operated by Teddy, leading to a devastating explosion. Minor character Thomas Quillan testifies that "Teddy Duchamp's been dead since 1968, God love him but his boy locked those pumps up every night just like Teddy himself used to do." Inconsistencies regarding Teddy Duchamp in the two stories can be explained by King's Dark Tower series, which establishes that most of his works take place in alternate universes where characters with the same name can play different parts.
- Ace Merrill is featured in King's novel Needful Things, as a 40+ career criminal, and is killed. He also makes a brief cameo in the short story "Nona", in a flashback, along with Vern Tessio.
- "Constable Bannerman" is mentioned a couple of times. This is the same Bannerman who would later be Sheriff of Castle Rock. He is featured in "The Dead Zone" and later in "Cujo".
- Cujo is mentioned when the narrator describes Chopper, the dog from the junkyard that chases Gordie: "Chopper was--at least until Joe Camber's dog Cujo went rabid twenty years later--the most feared and least seen dog in Castle Rock."
- Shawshank Penitentiary from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is mentioned in this novella when Teddy says that they "won't get sent to The Shank" for trespassing in the junkyard. The man who stabs Chris Chambers was also released from Shawshank the week before the stabbing.
- The way Gordie's parents treat him after Denny is killed is similar to the way Bill's parents treat him after his brother Georgie is killed in the novel It.
[edit] Popular culture references
- A character on the TV show 24 is named Milo Pressman, the same as the dump-keeper who owned Chopper. Series star Kiefer Sutherland portrayed Ace Merrill in Stand By Me, the film adaptation of the novella. It is unclear if this is an intentional nod to the novella and film.
- Scottish band "The Twilight Sad" wrote a song based around the short story, That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy, it was featured on their debut album.
- A parody of Stand By Me appears on the TV show Family Guy, in the episode Three Kings.
- A parody of Stand By Me also appears on the TV show The Simpsons, when Homer is seen as a teen, walking with friends along railroad tracks, and finds a skeleton in a drainage pit.
- A reference to Stand By Me appears in Pokémon Blue Version, Pokémon Red Version, and all of their remakes- If the player selects the television in the lower story of his home, it displays the message; "There's a movie on TV. Four boys are walking on railroad tracks. I better go too."
- A reference to Stand By Me appears in "Mission Hill", when Andy rents movies, he lists it to be 1 of the films to be included in their movie marathon "Famous Barf Scenes" in the episode Unemployment Part 2.
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] Notations
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