Multiculturalism in Stephen King's Work

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Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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The Stand, it's multi-intra-cultural.
Yeah it takes place in America, you remember, the worlds most successfully diverse melting pot, a pot mixed with all that hodge podge of our past and present cultural influences handed down and passed around.
And another thing, yep this is one nation, but it's differences, in reality, can often be felt right down to the bone by simply crossing a county line, hell, crossing a street, maybe one side is Polish, and the other Italian, in their perspective influences going back generations.
The Stand, from small town Texas to Maine, different cultured, New Yorkers and a wise ol' God fearin' black woman living in a corn field, different cultures, you betcha...,point is, the characters in this story mostly come from vastly different cultures within a culture, it's what makes them and their relationships so interesting, what gives them depth...remember also, Larry Underwoods character started out as practically a case study of intra multi culture, L.A. vs. New York is famously used and satired in every form media and entertainment as massively culturally different.
My thoughts anyway.
I don't really disagree but i don't see it as a theme in The Stand. The OP asked for a book were it was a theme and if you want to read a book that is about multiculturalism i wouldn't choose King. Of course, since King is so good at drawing a character, we see the differences in their different backgrounds and uses them.
 

PatInTheHat

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Dec 19, 2007
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I don't really disagree but i don't see it as a theme in The Stand. The OP asked for a book were it was a theme and if you want to read a book that is about multiculturalism i wouldn't choose King. Of course, since King is so good at drawing a character, we see the differences in their different backgrounds and uses them.
Yeah I see what your sayin', but it does in my opinion address that, at least not that much of a stretch..twice actually, Vegas and Boulder where all those multicultures converge to make communities with their new multi culture, cultures...one just happens to be 'the good', the other just happen to be the not so much, or one could look at it as two entirely seperate cultures, thus multicultured, you know, if for a paper you wanted to write another tome;-)
 

Walter Oobleck

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Mar 6, 2013
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Pennywise embraced multiculturalism, a kind of twist on the Leonard Zelig shape-changing ability, the kind of stuff we'll see more of in 2016. The City of Lud portrays how it really is in America. Or as the 10,000-year-old man said, Let them all go to helll! Except for Cave Nineteen! There are other examples or characters working together or against each other...a pile of them. Dreamcatcher...the Evian-drinking, salad-eating Goths had reached their objective! Desperation...thought of that one earlier this morning...had this crazy dream...I'd become a member of SOFSTU...something to do with body-bags and a General who looked like the guy who played the frogman...white-haired guy? bushy eyebrows? He was talking to the troops and he had a rooster-tail antenna sticking out of his pants...kin to the tinfoil one wears on the head. Yeah...found myself there 'cause I fled the house where...Tak or some variation was playing cat-and-mouse games.

Ummmm. Needful Things...another example of the lack of multiculturalism at work. And another example of how it really is in America. Take a jumbo! 'Cross the water! Under the Dome, another...chunks floating to the top of the melting pot.
 

CrimsonKingAH

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Jun 8, 2015
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Well.. we all have different views. And that is great! If you are trying to get multiculturalism from a King book.. you can probably take your pick and make it work like any good debater.
I myself, feel that America is the cultural melting pot as someone stated above.. and therefore any town/city in America can prove it. And the depth that King gives each of his characters certainly strengthens my own personal opinion on the matter. Good luck with your project.
 

Ashcrash

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Jun 10, 2015
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I disagree with your thoughts on IT .. yes, the town ITself has a hard time dealing with racism/cultural-ism.. however, the Losers Club is very much mixed culture and shows how a group of friends can co-exist together, grow to love, respect, count on and need each other. IT is hate.. IT is the town.. but the love and friendship of the multiculturalism group of friends is the hero of the story.
I dont know if i responded to this but thats what i mean. the losers club respected each other but who respected them? That is why I am saying it depends on what his teacher means. Henry beat the heck out of one of the losers because his dad was racist towards that losers father. That losers father has a story about a clubhouse being burned down because it was built by african americans and enjoyed by each race in the story. (and yes I know I am breaking it down short and not saying details exactly). The point is that is why I asked does the teacher want a story that is multiculturalism, about multiculturalism, includes multiculturalism or a LACK there of. and keep in mind I didn't go to college so I could be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off base. I am un educated so how the heck should I know?:beaten:
 

Haunted

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The woods are lovely dark and deep
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Pucker

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It was about the only one that occurred to me, as well.

There are pockets of what might be called "multi-culturalism" all over the place in King's work, but the truth of the matter is that most of his stories take place in his world.

Rural Maine.

Do the math.
 
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Lord Tyrion

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Mr. Mercedes has a bit of multiculturalism. SK even jokes about the awkwardness when white folks try to relate with black people. The main character, a retired white cop, lives in a predominantly (from what I remember) black neighborhood. The main character is friends with a black teen who helps him with with odd jobs involving his computer. They have a bit of a Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson relationship in that the main character is good at tracking criminals down, and the teen knows about technology which comes in handy.
 
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BikBoi

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Jun 15, 2015
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It was about the only one that occurred to me, as well.

There are pockets of what might be called "multi-culturalism" all over the place in King's work, but the truth of the matter is that most of his stories take place in his world.

Rural Maine.

Do the math.

You all brought up very good points, but I think Pucker sums it up best. Though some of King's work contains glimpses of multiculturalism, it never crops up as a true theme. As for the English project that required a novel about multiculturalism, I chose to read "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro.