PLOT
"'You guys want to go see a dead body?'" (pg.299). The simple question asked by Vern Tessio, one of the main characters, to his group of friends, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and the narrator, Gordie Lachance, summarizes the plot of The Body into a single sentence. On a hot summer day in 1960, a group of four best friends decide to go on a journey to find the body of a boy who is their age. In the exposition, the narrator introduces out his story by describing each of the four main characters and their very different childhoods. The exposition continues as the boys begin their journey into the woods. Rising action begins the night that the boys must spend camping in the woods. The climax, of course, happens when the boys find the body of Ray; even though the reader knows it's coming, it's still surprising to read, " Vern began to screech triumphantly: 'THERE! THERE HE IS! RIGHT THERE! I SEE HIM!" (pg 406). The falling action occurs almost instantly when Vern and Chris' older brothers and their gang arrive; after threats, the boys never speak of the incident again. The resolution happens very quickly too; Gordie quickly tells of how Vern and Teddy separated from himself and Gordie after that year, and then in a few pages, Gordie tells how all three boys died in young adulthood.
POINT OF VIEW
The Body is told from first person point of view; the narrator is Gordie Lachance, one of the boys, who was on the adventure. Gordie is now around thirty years old and retelling his childhood adventure. As with any story told from first person, the audience does not get to read what is going on in the minds of the other characters, as well as the perception of the story's events being different than they would be from say, Chris' point of view because the situation he is growing up in greatly varies from Gordie's. Additionally, it becomes slightly confusing at times because Gordie slips in and out of the past and the present. For instance, Gordie is recalling his story: "For a moment, I was puzzled-why was he here and his tennies there? Then I realized, and the realization was like a dirty punch below the belt. My wife, my kids, my friends-they all think that having an imagination like mine must be quite nice; aside from making all this dough, I can have a little mind-movie whenever things get dull...He had been knocked spang out of his Keds" (page 408). There are a multitude of moments such as this throughout the short story; as the reader, it definitely slowed me down because I would get confused and have to reread paragraphs or pages.
Listen to Gordie's Point of View! CHARACTERIZATION
Teddy Duchamp is one of the four main characters in The Body. Gordie uses indirect characterization to reveal the kind of person Teddy was. Teddy is the first character in the book to be described by Gordie; he "was close to being thirteen like the rest of us, but the thick glasses and the hearing aid he wore sometimes made him look like an old man" (pg 295). Gordie describes Teddy's physical appearance which we later find out happened because his father was angered at Teddy, causing him to shove Teddy's head onto to a stove making his ears look like "two lumps of warm wax" (page 296). This depicts Teddy's home life as one that no one would envy, in addition to giving the reader insight into his childhood. Gordie also reveals Teddy's values by his loyalty to his father throughout the entire story. For example, after an argument with the dump owner who calls his father a loony, Teddy becomes enraged. Gordie cannot comprehend this and "wonder[s] how Teddy could care so much for his dad when his dad had practically killed him" (pg 353). Gordie's characterization of Teddy is indirect because he uses appearance, actions, interactions, and dialogue throughout the story.
SETTING
There are many settings involved in The Body because it is the story of a journey. However, the one that best encapsulates the story is the "treehouse in a big elm which overhung a vacant lot in Castle Rock" (pg 293). The treehouse symbolizes the boys' childhood; it was the place for them to go to be young boys. The boys thought of it as a "kind of social club, although it had no name" (pg 293). The description of the club: "the sides of the treehouse were planks scavenged...the roof was a corrugated tin sheet...the screen door was rusty" (pg 294) reminded me a lot of other stories and movies about a group of boys. The setting caused me immediately to think of movies like The Little Rascals and The Sandlot, which are also about groups of very different young boys and a very distinct memory from childhood. The setting in The Body added to the story because it shows that these are outdoors boys; they are adventurous and think that they don't need anyone else besides each other. The boys clubhouse adds to the message of the story because it is physical evidence of their loyalty for one another.
THEME
One of the major themes I picked up from The Body is friendship. I personally saw Gordie (or maybe King, since this story is supposed to be pretty autobiographical) as being deeply conflicted about friendship. There are moments in the story in which he places a great amount of weight and value and importance on friendship. There are two lines regarding friendship in this novel that contradict each other. At first, Gordie reflects on his friendship: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you?" (pg 341). At the end of the story, Gordie says, "It happens. Friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant, did you ever notice that?" (pg 432). Since both of these aphorisms end in a question, Gordie clearly wants his readers to reflect on the paradox of friendship; he wants us to understand that childhood friendships are exactly that- friendships that may not be able to withstand the changes and different paths everyone takes, which lead to his second question. Friends can easily disappear and reappear in one's life depending on a variety of things; life moves on, just like people do. The theme of friendship in The Body definitely causes the reader to pause momentarily and reflect upon the points brought up by Gordie Lachance.
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