Loss Of Childhood Innocence In The Body, By Stephen King
Stephen King’s The Body, is a short novella about four boy’s who embark on a journey to search for a dead body, that will determine whether or not they’re capable of losing their childhood innocence. Throughout the boys journey they come across many life threatening situations, which forces them to use survival instincts, that corresponds to their true personalities. The unique ways in which the boys handled the situations put forth in front of them, foreshadows whom they truly are as well as their individual abilities to lose their childhood innocence. Gordie, Chris, Vern and Teddy are all lower class boys who are neglected by their families. The abuse they are forced to absorb scars them mentally. “It should have been you Gordon.” This quote symbolizes how Gordie was rejected by his family. Their rejection makes them feel unwanted, so they mutually decide to look for the body of missing Ray Brower to obtain fame and fortune. Little do these boys know that the quest they are about to embark on will determine what kind of person they truly are, which makes this quest more than
…show more content…
just an adventure, it makes it their destinies. For example, Gordie is randomly chosen to get the group groceries. While on this task, his life was in jeopardy because he was attacked by the cashier and a crazy man with his dog. While he did all of that, his friends were sitting on their asses waiting for him. This contrasts Gordie from the other boys because it shows that Gordie is clearly capable of supporting a group, while his friends aren’t because they couldn’t be bothered contributing in any other way. Although Chris didn’t do anything to physically help the group, he helped an emotional Teddy cheer up once Milo the crazy man talked negatively about his father. Chris’s actions show that he is also useful, which dissolves Chris from the useless Teddy and Vern. This adventure will also determine what kind of people they are because it conveys who is capable of handling any situation at an instantaneous moment. Another example of Gordie and Chris maturing is when Gordie saves Vern and Chris saves Teddy from the train on different occasions. This shows that they’re both serious when a life threatening situation approaches them, while it shows that Vern and Teddy are not. Situations like these shows how Chris and Gordie are on the path to success by being more mature than Vern and Teddy. Chris and Gordie assuredly justified themselves as being the ones to mature and lose their childhood innocence is when the younger boys went toe to toe with Ace Merrill and the older boys.
Before the quarrel officially began between the younger boys and the older boys, Teddy and Vern ran away from the scene because they knew they were going to get hurt. But Chris and Gordie did not flee from the scene because they did not want to relinquish the body of the boy whom they desperately tried to find for an extensive period of time. Chris and Gordie made the older boys evacuate the scene once Chris threatened them with his fathers gun once he asks Ace where he wants to get shot. The seriousness of Chris and Gordie standing their ground and defending themselves from a real threat, finalizes their transition to adulthood because it proves that they’re both mature enough to handle
themselves. Therefore, in the novella The Body, childhood innocence is the state of not being able to accept reality by not being able to grow up. Chris and Gordie both started to lose their childhood innocence once they started to protect and defend themselves as well as their friends from danger. They successfully transitioned into adult hood once they stood up to Ace Merrill and the older boys, knowing that their actions were going to led to excruciating consequences. Despite Chris and Gordie losing their childhood innocence, Teddy and Vern did not lose their childhood innocence because they had lived the rest of their lives in the same position they had always been in. They both died in immature ways: Vern died in a fire at a house party, while Teddy died driving under the influences. Gordie ended up becoming a famous writer and having a family, while Chris died trying to break a fight up at a fast food restaurant. As the saying goes “if you die alone you are a hero, and if you die taking someone with you, you are sinned.”
just an adventure, it makes it their destinies. For example, Gordie is randomly chosen to get the group groceries. While on this task, his life was in jeopardy because he was attacked by the cashier and a crazy man with his dog. While he did all of that, his friends were sitting on their asses waiting for him. This contrasts Gordie from the other boys because it shows that Gordie is clearly capable of supporting a group, while his friends aren’t because they couldn’t be bothered contributing in any other way. Although Chris didn’t do anything to physically help the group, he helped an emotional Teddy cheer up once Milo the crazy man talked negatively about his father. Chris’s actions show that he is also useful, which dissolves Chris from the useless Teddy and Vern. This adventure will also determine what kind of people they are because it conveys who is capable of handling any situation at an instantaneous moment. Another example of Gordie and Chris maturing is when Gordie saves Vern and Chris saves Teddy from the train on different occasions. This shows that they’re both serious when a life threatening situation approaches them, while it shows that Vern and Teddy are not. Situations like these shows how Chris and Gordie are on the path to success by being more mature than Vern and Teddy. Chris and Gordie assuredly justified themselves as being the ones to mature and lose their childhood innocence is when the younger boys went toe to toe with Ace Merrill and the older boys.
Before the quarrel officially began between the younger boys and the older boys, Teddy and Vern ran away from the scene because they knew they were going to get hurt. But Chris and Gordie did not flee from the scene because they did not want to relinquish the body of the boy whom they desperately tried to find for an extensive period of time. Chris and Gordie made the older boys evacuate the scene once Chris threatened them with his fathers gun once he asks Ace where he wants to get shot. The seriousness of Chris and Gordie standing their ground and defending themselves from a real threat, finalizes their transition to adulthood because it proves that they’re both mature enough to handle
themselves. Therefore, in the novella The Body, childhood innocence is the state of not being able to accept reality by not being able to grow up. Chris and Gordie both started to lose their childhood innocence once they started to protect and defend themselves as well as their friends from danger. They successfully transitioned into adult hood once they stood up to Ace Merrill and the older boys, knowing that their actions were going to led to excruciating consequences. Despite Chris and Gordie losing their childhood innocence, Teddy and Vern did not lose their childhood innocence because they had lived the rest of their lives in the same position they had always been in. They both died in immature ways: Vern died in a fire at a house party, while Teddy died driving under the influences. Gordie ended up becoming a famous writer and having a family, while Chris died trying to break a fight up at a fast food restaurant. As the saying goes “if you die alone you are a hero, and if you die taking someone with you, you are sinned.”