The Body
”The Body” is a novella (definition: a written, fictional and prose narrative) written by Stephen King. Stephen King was born into a poor family in Portland, Maine, in the USA in 1947. He eventually got into university because he studied so hard and started writing for the college newspaper, as well as supporting the movement against the Vietnam War. He married and started a family, taking a teaching job. Although, he still wrote short stories for magazines and worked at making novels. The novel “Carrie” brought him immediate success in 1974 and he could give up teaching to become a full-time writer instead. His books normally have “small town America” as backgrounds.
Setting: The story is set in Castle Rock in Maine, USA in 1960.
Plot: The twelve-thirteen year-old boys Gordon Lachance, Vern Tessio, Chris Chambers and Teddy Duchamp decide to go and search for the body of a dead boy in the woods. It starts by Vern overhearing his older brother Billy talking about it with his friend Charlie Hogan. They tell their parents that they have gone camping and start their journey. On their way there, they are met with many different obstacles such as the dump (where they are not very great friends with the manager), crossing a bridge that is made for trains and nearly getting run over, a scary noise in the night, leeches and a powerful thunderstorm. When they finally reach the body, they are met with Ace Merrill and his gang (in which Billy and Charlie are members), who came with cars and with more people. They want to claim the body for themselves and take the credit. Being outnumbered and younger Gordon, Vern, Chris and Teddy still manage to scare them off with Chris’s father’s gun. Afterwards, realizing that it would be stupid to take the body with them, they left for home, where Ace Merrill and his gang eventually beat them up. Ace also anonymously phoned the police, telling them about the body.
Characters:
Gordon Lachance is from a relatively “good” family,
Setting: The story is set in Castle Rock in Maine, USA in 1960.
Plot: The twelve-thirteen year-old boys Gordon Lachance, Vern Tessio, Chris Chambers and Teddy Duchamp decide to go and search for the body of a dead boy in the woods. It starts by Vern overhearing his older brother Billy talking about it with his friend Charlie Hogan. They tell their parents that they have gone camping and start their journey. On their way there, they are met with many different obstacles such as the dump (where they are not very great friends with the manager), crossing a bridge that is made for trains and nearly getting run over, a scary noise in the night, leeches and a powerful thunderstorm. When they finally reach the body, they are met with Ace Merrill and his gang (in which Billy and Charlie are members), who came with cars and with more people. They want to claim the body for themselves and take the credit. Being outnumbered and younger Gordon, Vern, Chris and Teddy still manage to scare them off with Chris’s father’s gun. Afterwards, realizing that it would be stupid to take the body with them, they left for home, where Ace Merrill and his gang eventually beat them up. Ace also anonymously phoned the police, telling them about the body.
Characters:
Gordon Lachance is from a relatively “good” family,