I think the truly horrifying part to the story of Louis Creed, and Pet Sematary overall, is the how poorly equipped we are to handle grief.
Throughout the novel we're reminded again and again about human's incapacity to handle death, represented strongly in the Pet Sematary. A place where children to go to bury dead animals, and in many respects that is how many first learn of death in the first place. In fact some of the hardest moments in my life have been after the death of a pet. The novel presents quite a conundrum to the bereaved, what if you could bring that animal... or person... back to life? But they wouldn't be the same person, they'd be a monster and I agree with Judd Crandall that "Sometimes dead is better".
But would the bereaved feel that way? Louis who feels personal responsibility for the loss of his youngest child? That is why the novel is so horrifying, because the choices made my Louis are not crazy or out there. Nor is the concept itself of wishing you could bring someone back once they pass. In this novel it just happens to be via cursed MicMac Indian Burial Grounds.
It's actually one of King's sadder novels if I really give it time to settle in my head, you even have Louis's wife talk about the passing of her sister and how conflicted she felt in those moments. Again, another interesting perspective on death. When death can be beneficial to those in pain, but also those around them who have to watch them suffer through these horrible conditions.
The ending of course is climactic and true to King horror. After everything is ripped away from Louis he makes the same mistake, because he has nothing left in his life to lose, and thus is his undoing. Thus is the tragedy of the bereaved, when we're powerless to overcome our own sorrows and drag ourselves down the wrong path.
"You don't wanna go down tha' road."
Throughout the novel we're reminded again and again about human's incapacity to handle death, represented strongly in the Pet Sematary. A place where children to go to bury dead animals, and in many respects that is how many first learn of death in the first place. In fact some of the hardest moments in my life have been after the death of a pet. The novel presents quite a conundrum to the bereaved, what if you could bring that animal... or person... back to life? But they wouldn't be the same person, they'd be a monster and I agree with Judd Crandall that "Sometimes dead is better".
But would the bereaved feel that way? Louis who feels personal responsibility for the loss of his youngest child? That is why the novel is so horrifying, because the choices made my Louis are not crazy or out there. Nor is the concept itself of wishing you could bring someone back once they pass. In this novel it just happens to be via cursed MicMac Indian Burial Grounds.
It's actually one of King's sadder novels if I really give it time to settle in my head, you even have Louis's wife talk about the passing of her sister and how conflicted she felt in those moments. Again, another interesting perspective on death. When death can be beneficial to those in pain, but also those around them who have to watch them suffer through these horrible conditions.
The ending of course is climactic and true to King horror. After everything is ripped away from Louis he makes the same mistake, because he has nothing left in his life to lose, and thus is his undoing. Thus is the tragedy of the bereaved, when we're powerless to overcome our own sorrows and drag ourselves down the wrong path.
"You don't wanna go down tha' road."