(Assignment #8) 'The Body' Reading Journal 1

     I read the first thirty pages of Stephen King’s novella ‘The Body’. Since the story did not progress much, I will only give a summary and explanations about the point of view of the story.

     The four twelve-years-old boys Gordie, the narrator, Teddy, Vern, and Chris are great friends. They have a treehouse and enjoy playing card games and looking at girly books there. Teddy has an insane father who had injured Teddy’s ears and is now in a VA hospital. Teddy is dumb, and has crazy hobbies such as ‘truck-dodging’. Vern has a juvenile delinquent brother called Billy. He has a nickname called Penny because he keeps digging to find out the pennies he had buried four years ago. Chris has a cruel father who often beats him. He is smart, but he often plays truant in school. Gordie had an elder brother Dennis who engrossed all the love and attention of the parents. Gordie felt himself to be an Invisible Man. However, his brother is dead now. His parents are terribly sad and tired. He often imagines his brother coming out of his room, pallid and bloody, and croaking “It should have been you, Gordon. It should have been you.”

    One day, Vern appears in the treehouse and suggests to the other three to go to see a dead body. He had overheard what his brother talked with his friend about the dead body. The dead body belongs to a missing boy named Ray Brower. The four boys are excited. They establish plans, and decide to go see the dead body.

     Meanwhile, in the middle of the story, Gordon’s short story 'Stud City' shows up. The main character Chico has a father, a stepmother, and a younger brother. His elder brother was dead due to a car accident. Chico has great complaints to his father’s remarriage, and even thinks that his brother died due to his stepmother. He has sex with his girlfriend in his house. He drives her to her house, and comes back. He meets his family, who just came back. He fights with his father.

    

     In the movie ‘Inception’, a story about the reality, a story about the dream, a story about the dream in a dream, and more are progressed distinctly but relevantly to each other stories. ‘The Body’ also shows a similar narrative style that includes ‘a story within the story’. Until chapter 6, Gordie is the narrator. He introduces himself and his three friends, and tells about the start of their adventure to see the dead body. However, in Chapter 7, as the font changes, a short story 'Stud City', written by Gordon, shows up. The story is in the third person omnipotent point of view. Until now, Gordon’s short story seems to be totally irrelevant from the main story which is narrated by Gordie. However, I expect the connection between the stories to be revealed later on. In sum, ‘The Body’ adopts a narrative style that implants another story within the main story. This kind of narrative style is called ‘metafiction’. By using the tool of metafiction efficiently, the author would be able to make the story more exciting and suspenseful.