Literary analysis of Stephen King’s book The Stand.

In his novel The Stand, Stephen King tells a tale of good versus evil. He also explores what would happen to government and society should a major disaster occur and kill the majority of the human population.
To begin since this book is a work of fiction I will give a small summary of the story and why I chose to explore one of the themes it contains. California, in a military research facility containment of a deadly virus fails. One man that was working at the facility manages to escape the military base where this facility was located and then consequently spread the virus to a few other people. It then spreads like wildfire throughout the country in a matter of weeks killing millions. It is not mentioned in the book how many survivors there are but to give you an idea the story tells of only 4 – 5 people alive in New York City, this includes one of the main characters. At this point in the story it splits into several separate lives of the main characters, their trials through the plague, and how they eventually come together. The story then goes on to tell how governments are reformed and how one society is essentially good and the other evil. It includes religion to a point whereas one leader is a believer in god, and the other is essentially the devil. Some of the characters are also sent on a religious quest. The story then tells how each “leader” comes to the survivors in their dreams and calls to them based on their nature not religious beliefs. In the end the two societies believe the other society is plotting against the other. Of course because it is a story good wins over evil and the people of the remaining society begin to leave. They go on to start their own lives or societies post plague.
One of the themes in this book King was trying to convey is that society would regroup and move forward after a major disaster. He tells a story of how it could happen and some of the issues that may come to light while we as humans recover our way of life.
There is a character in the book which King speaks his ideas about the survival of the human race through. His name is Glen Bateman; he is an assistant sociology professor at a community college at the time of the plague. In the story Bateman meets up with Stu Redman and they discuss the human race and what will happen now that the survivors of the plague are spread throughout the country. He discusses how the human race may not survive this disaster because of so many unknowns. He postulates that babies conceived after the plague may not survive once born due to the virus still being active, or if they do survive most may die after birth because of minor illness that can be cure with modern technology but that is now useless.
He also brings up the point that with no medical care readily available many survivors will die from illness or injury that is currently treatable and preventable. There is also the matter of weaponry and other dangerous items that are now lying around unprotected for people to tamper with and possibly injure themselves or others. The book then tells several short stories of people who die of preventable or treatable illness. One man has a heart attack and dies on the sidewalk because there was no one around to call for help, another is the story of a boy who falls and breaks his leg. He starves to death. Yet another is the story of a woman who gets a cut on her foot and dies of the infection that she gets from the cut.
“Man is a gregarious social animal, and eventually we’ll get back together, if only so we can tell each other stories about how we survived the great plague of 1990.” This is one of Bateman’s statements in the book on why he believes we will seek each other out. It makes me chuckle to read this because he is right. How often do we call our friends and tell them everything exciting that just happened? I know I do it all of the time! History also shows us this fact, humans overtime have come together to form tribes than later cities, counties, and finally countries. We have improved transportation so we can move within our land toward each other faster. In the book a lot of the characters have to walk to travel until they find other modes of transportation, you really get a feel of the length of time it takes a person to get from one place to another. It makes you appreciate being to just be able to get in your car and drive.
Bateman then explores the idea of what sort of governments may come out of the survivors of the plague. He says “Most of the societies that form are apt to be primitive dictatorships run by little Cesar’s unless we are very lucky.” He could be right, I think of how often I hear people say if I was in charge it would be different. With as many views of the world that could be out there after a disaster like this many societies could be run outrageously and not by the government people are used to. The story brings up a good point that most of the survivors will be scared and sick, if one strong person stands up they will follow. Especially if that person starts making promises. This idea then goes back to all of the military weapons that are now just lying around, should one society have a survivor that has training with these weapons it could take what it wanted from others by force. The idea also surfaces that should two societies get people that have weapons training but only one gets a person who knows how to turn the electricity back on that could lead to the destruction of both societies. At this point the characters are starting to form small groups, and are being lead to a place in Nebraska.
After most of the “good” characters come together in Nebraska, they then travel to Boulder, Colorado to begin to rebuild society. This is the part of the book where the author brings a form of government into play and all of the parts the characters must contribute to make it work. The story tells of how many people are starting to come together and how little things are starting to happen. Like kids driving cars, and drunks going around breaking things. It speculates on what may happen, like jealousies or fighting over property leading to murder. At this point Bateman is a very important character in the book because he basically lines out what need to happen for the people that are coming together to survive. He suggests a reinstatement of America and its laws. They then elect a board to reinstate laws and appoint people to start putting this society in order. These people include law enforcement, medical, burial services, power, water and gas services and finally fire services. While these ideas may seem easy to achieve currently the story does a very good job of telling how in a post disaster society it is difficult. The difficulties arise from lack of people with experience in these areas and lack of resources in the area. All of this part of the book makes you see how it could be very difficult to bring everything back together. For most of the book the people of Boulder have to rely on a veterinarian and a retired nurse for medical care because that was the closest thing they could get.
The story also tells a lot about what is happening with the “evil” people. This society settles in Las Vegas, which to me has an underlying meaning all by itself. These survivors were all called together in the same fashion as the good people by subconscious. The Las Vegas people have power and military weapons at their disposal far sooner than the Boulder people. It supports Bateman’s idea that one society will get people with certain knowledge and the other population won’t. While telling the tale of the other society King also supports the idea of to completely different governments forming post plague. This society is run by one person; he makes all of the laws and decides all of the punishment. Punishment in this society is severe and there is no judge and jury. People breaking his laws are punished in ways that make them examples to everyone else in this place. One punishment tells of the crucifixion of a man who was making drugs, his cross was placed in the middle of Las Vegas. The person that runs this society is also the man that called these people together, he is the “evil” man or representative of the devil throughout this story.
Finally the story explores that because human nature is somewhat curious and anxious we will go to the “other” side to see what is happening. We do this as a matter of strategy and reassurance. Spies are sent to the evil side to report on what progress has been made and if they are planning to make an attack on the good side of things. One of the spies is hypnotized so that if captured he will not tell any secrets to them. Out of all three spies only one survives the other two die in service to their society. The story then brings religion into the mix. The woman that was responsible for bringing the “good” society together then picks 5 men that God has chosen to go west and destroy the prince of darkness. “God didn’t bring you together to make a committee or a community. He brought you here only to send you further, on a quest. He means for you to try and destroy this Dark Prince, the Man of the Far Leagues.” This is said by the religious figure in the book who is also the representative of the “good”. Up until now you forget that in a post disaster society religion may rise up and take control. This also could be a good and/or dangerous thing once again because of the person that interprets God’s will.
This is a great book with many themes; I’ve just gone over one here. Of course because it is a novel by Stephen King there is a very big supernatural element to it. Go figure.


Works Cited
King, Stephen. The Stand. New American Library, 1991.