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The Body: Fall From Innocence

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The Body: Fall From Innocence
“The Body” has strong recurring themes throughout the story. One of the strongest relates to the subtitle of the novella, “Fall from Innocence”. The boys journey shows their fall from innocence as they encounter new experiences over the two days. Each boy shows their own emotions and ideas during the duration of their journey to discover Ray’s dead body. Over time, chris, Teddy, and Gordie lose their innocence by having hostile home environments, escaping death by a train, and having to point a gun at people they grew up with.
Chris Chambers was the leader of the group. He helped the boys get through the journey. He was described as “smart, really smart, but he played truant a lot (King 304)”. He had a rough home life since his father was abusive. His harsh home life is a major factor with his fall from innocence because he is forced to grow up and put up with challenging people at such an early age. The journey to Ray's body adds to this because he is forced to do certain tasks that kids are not meant to do, such as push Teddy out from in front of the train, or point a gun at people that he grew up around. After he pushed Teddy out from in front of the oncoming train you could tell he was frustrated. They all began to see that their relationship and …show more content…
He had a tough home life because his father struggled with the after effects of war. His dad abused him, much like the other boys fathers. He was forced to grow up at such a rapid pace because he did not have a stable household. Anytime someone mentions his father being crazy, he immediately becomes defensive and defends himself and his dad, showing that he is older mentally. It was evident that his father's PTSD played a major role on him. Before he jumped in front a train to dodge it he said “Just like the beach at Normandy!” (King 381). This showed that he was slowly losing his child mentality and growing up at such a young
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