THE STAND - where do I start?

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koehne78

New Member
Sep 22, 2014
4
20
The Stand is such a great novel. When I finished the book it made me wonder who really wins in the end? Can we ever really defeat evil? Will we just keep on making the same mistakes? The version I read was published in 1990 and the questions it puts forward are universal questions. If you want to know what I'm talking about just turn on your television. People die around the world from the Ebola virus and there is no cure. We fight violence with violence. We kill them they kill us. To me the fight between good and evil in The Stand has a grey area where we feel sympathy for characters like the "trash can man" (Donald Merwin Elbert) and other characters who are manipulated by Flagg (the Dark Man). Most of the characters who end up supporting Flagg have been rejected by "society." They feel they have no option left but to follow Flagg. There are so many other great moments in the book. The slow corruption of Harold Lauder and Nadine Cross. Anyway I could just keep on babbling on. But I just thought I would add these thoughts as I like the book so much.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
TheStand.jpg
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
Welcome to the SKMB!
The Stand is such a great novel. When I finished the book it made me wonder who really wins in the end? Can we ever really defeat evil? Will we just keep on making the same mistakes? The version I read was published in 1990 and the questions it puts forward are universal questions. If you want to know what I'm talking about just turn on your television. People die around the world from the Ebola virus and there is no cure. We fight violence with violence. We kill them they kill us. To me the fight between good and evil in The Stand has a grey area where we feel sympathy for characters like the "trash can man" (Donald Merwin Elbert) and other characters who are manipulated by Flagg (the Dark Man). Most of the characters who end up supporting Flagg have been rejected by "society." They feel they have no option left but to follow Flagg. There are so many other great moments in the book. The slow corruption of Harold Lauder and Nadine Cross. Anyway I could just keep on babbling on. But I just thought I would add these thoughts as I like the book so much.
Welcome to the SKMB! Good thoughts on The Stand. I think sK is wondering how individual humans might react under apocalyptic circumstances, wherein a choice is presented them. The ones who choose Flagg aren't essentially different from anyone else, especially once humanity is so reduced, though they might feel they are. It becomes a personal question of choice between following evil versus good.
 

EvieLucinda

Well-Known Member
Sep 21, 2014
197
723
Tennessee
The people who followed Flagg weren't all rejects from society; some were there because it was easier. He got the lights on First. We don't know much about the suffering those people went through to get to Vegas, but we do find out how they suffeed under Flagg. Many were leaving. More stayed.
While the Boulder group as demonstrated by Frannie would wash their clothes by hand on washboards instead of throwing them away. They adapted to the hardships by using the "old ways" instead of relying on technology.
I wonder with all the gadgets we've gained since SK wrote The Stand, if more people would go with the comforts found in Vegas. Would we sell our souls for a cell phone and social media?

I'd like to think Good would win out today, but I fear we've grown lazy and would sell out for Facebook and some popular game.....it might be close.
 
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koehne78

New Member
Sep 22, 2014
4
20
I can barely remember what it was like without the internet. I think that many of us would be lost without it. I agree with your point that Flagg "got the lights on first." If we were offered a choice between the comfortable life we have now and going back to hunting for our food I wonder which one we would choose?