Some ideas from The Stand

[Edgar David Ross]

When I read The Stand a short while ago (one of the best books I've read), I picked up on a few things. I don't know if they were in the story for the reason I thought, but maybe they were. The first one is people being split up and having to recreate civilization among themselves. I just graduated high school, and when I was reading (still a senior in HS), I thought that the characters were very relatable. To me, reconstructing civilization in the story was like making reaching out and making friends in a new school. I moved from Colorado to California for my senior year and had to start over with new friends, teachers, all that. On a deep level, taking the apocalyptic scenario away for a moment, this story could be following students beginning middle school or high school and they have few or no friends from the past. The other idea I thought of was when I discovered how empathetic I felt towards the characters who went to Mother Abagail as well as those who went to Randall Flagg-- especially Trash. It reminds us that these are people who are going to the places they think are right for them. None of them is an angel or demon, no matter how they look to another. Flagg is another Abagail, but through clever words we can decide if he really is bad or good for us. At the end of the book, this becomes more obvious when Larry and Ralph are about to be executed and the people of Vegas don't want it to happen. Throughout this book, I think that no one is inherently good or evil. We're all human (except for RF). Just an idea though.

 

[Steffen]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the book. I'm always pleased to read/hear about other people's perceptions on one of my favourite SK novels.

 

[GNTLGNT]

When I read The Stand a short while ago (one of the best books I've read), I picked up on a few things. I don't know if they were in the story for the reason I thought, but maybe they were. The first one is people being split up and having to recreate civilization among themselves. I just graduated high school, and when I was reading (still a senior in HS), I thought that the characters were very relatable. To me, reconstructing civilization in the story was like making reaching out and making friends in a new school. I moved from Colorado to California for my senior year and had to start over with new friends, teachers, all that. On a deep level, taking the apocalyptic scenario away for a moment, this story could be following students beginning middle school or high school and they have few or no friends from the past. The other idea I thought of was when I discovered how empathetic I felt towards the characters who went to Mother Abagail as well as those who went to Randall Flagg-- especially Trash. It reminds us that these are people who are going to the places they think are right for them. None of them is an angel or demon, no matter how they look to another. Flagg is another Abagail, but through clever words we can decide if he really is bad or good for us. At the end of the book, this becomes more obvious when Larry and Ralph are about to be executed and the people of Vegas don't want it to happen. Throughout this book, I think that no one is inherently good or evil. We're all human (except for RF). Just an idea though.

....very nice take on the novel.....it's a long abiding King gift, that he makes us "feel" his characters and then make our own judgement...he understands we don't suffer from a "hive mind"......