Re-reading for the 3rd or 4th time. I am noticing a real sense of scornful disgust for poor people. And Frannie is very hateful.

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The Walkin Dudemar

Active Member
Jul 17, 2012
31
132
I read the chapter about Norm Bruett and his wife last night. Wow, King really sticks it in and twists it with his portrayal of them as poor white trash. From Norm's constant racist thoughts to Lila's misspelled note and her awed appreciation of Sally Hodge's paint-by-number art. Almost everyone in Arnette except Stu is a half-wit yokel. King must really hate low-income Texans. I've noticed this disgust and mockery toward poor white people in many other works by King. Everyone else who is poor is noble and wise like Mother Abigail, but poor whites are usually always yokels and/or hateful bigots.

Frannie is extremely unsympathetic in how she deals with Jess. Sure, he's a shallow dork, but she seems to be putting the whole onus of the pregnancy on him and handling it in a very childish, petulant way. I know how the story ends, but right now I am wishing she would come down with Captain Trips and die.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
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Spokane, WA
You have to take into account when that book was written and what the country's views/mores were. I think Steve was spot-on with his portrayals of his characters. It's one of his strongest talents. Plus, Steve came from nothing so I don't think he holds hatred and/or disgust for poor people in his heart.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
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Cambridge, Ohio
You have to take into account when that book was written and what the country's views/mores were. I think Steve was spot-on with his portrayals of his characters. It's one of his strongest talents. Plus, Steve came from nothing so I don't think he holds hatred and/or disgust for poor people in his heart.
.....troooooth!!.....
 

Wayoftheredpanda

Flaming Wonder Telepath
May 15, 2018
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I think you may be trying to connect the dots between character's personalities and their races too much

I don't think he hates low income people in the south, those characters may just be southern stereotypes for the sake of having the caricature
 

Steffen

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,233
12,800
It's one of King's greatest gifts as a writer, and perhaps the main reason people find his stories so accessible: the ability to write people (good, bad, messed-up) so realistically that it's easy for someone to mistake this depth for his own personal views on a subject.
 

Wayoftheredpanda

Flaming Wonder Telepath
May 15, 2018
4,907
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I think you may be trying to connect the dots between character's personalities and their races too much

I don't think he hates low income people in the south, those characters may just be southern stereotypes for the sake of having the caricature
A majority of white main characters in his books are intelligent and not racist/hilbillies. If anything with Mother Abigail being very religious and wise would probably be because of her age and the challenges and harsh lifestyle she would have lived through being black throughout the very early 20th century and the worst days of the Jim Crow laws. What she saw and experienced probably ingrained a lot of philosophies in her mind