King, Stephen.
The Stand. New York: New York, 1978tephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine He was a surprise to the family because his mother was told that she would never have children. His parents, Donald and Nellie King, were having trouble in their marriage, and when Stephen King was only 2, his father, a door to door salesman for a company, left the house to buy a pack of cigarettes, but never returned. Stephen King hasn’t seen his father since. Stephen and his adopted older brother, David King, lived with their mother back and forth between Massachusetts and Maine. And his passion for writing came about in 1959 when he wrote articles in his brothers local newspaper titled Daves Rag.
Copied on a mimeograph machine, and with a circulation of only 20 or so Stephen wrote articles. Inspired by the relative success, Stephen copied some of his short stories and sold them to local people for a whole thirty cents. Stephen actually sold some of his work at school until teachers stopped it. And thats how he started his carrier in writing.
The setting of the story takes place in 1991 in America. A plague struck the U. S. only leaving a few thousand survivors. In the year 1991, a plague strikes America, leaving only a few thousand people alive who are immune to the epidemic. Of the survivors, those who serve G-d instinctively join in Boulder, Colorado, while those who worship the Dark Man are drawn to Las Vegas, Nevada.
The two groups separately rebuild society, until one must destroy the other. Franni Goldsmith comes very close to killing herself. She thinks she can not deal with her parents’ deaths, being unwed and pregnant, and having the only other survivor in her hometown of Ogunquit, Main be her recently deceased best friend’s weird brother Harold Lauder. On their way, they meet up with six people from various states in the United States who joined them on their journey. Fran is disturbed by her dreams, as all of them are by their own. She dreams of an old lady named Abigail, in Colorado.
This lady is kind and loving and promises to protect them from the evil. In the dreams there is also a Dark Man. He is always there lurking, waiting to attack. Harold admits to himself that he is in love with Fran and goes crazy when he realizes how serious Fran has become with Stuart Redman, one of the newcomers to their traveling group. Harold becomes jealous and plans to separate them, even if it means murder.
Harold doesn’t admit it to any of them, but his dreams are different from theirs. In his dreams the Dark Man offers Harold power and respect, something Harold could never imagine in the past. Harold knows his destiny is to go to Las Vegas. The group arrives in Boulder, and soon after are joined by over one thousand others who dreamt of Abigail and this place. Abigail tells the people that three of them, including Stuart, must be sent to destroy the Dark Man.
Mean while Harold secretly leaves with the Dark Man’s bride to be Nadine to Las Vegas. Harold is ready to kill Stuart, but is killed instead by the will of G-d. Nadine makes it safely to Las Vegas before Stuart and his two friends are about to be hanged. Out of the sky the hand of G-d comes and destroys the Dark Man sparing the three men.
After much hardship, Stuart returns to Fran and her newborn son and together they plant the seeds of a new society. The Stand is a book about human nature. It shows people’s emotions toward good and evil. Mostly it show it is in mans nature to rebuild society and to fight for their beliefs. e book didnt really have to much effect on my life because I realize it is a fiction book.
But it does make me think about what if this actually did happen and what it would be like for me to live with that. Also to what side I would go on, good or evil.Words/ Pages : 693 / 24
