To say the truth, just after I completed reading the story, what I felt was, ‘so what?’ When Mr. Garrioch commented on one of my blog essays, “Do you think the elements of a hero’s journey are more evident in ‘The Body’ than in ‘Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption’?”, I replied that they weren’t, because the hero in ‘The Body’ did not bring ‘the elixir’ with his return. However, in fact, I had not found out the hidden elixir in the story. After I carefully meditated and read a review, I discovered the true value of the story. The adventures, which seem to be meaningless, considering that the result was only a corpse which they couldn’t even take with, were in fact a trip destined to the elixir of maturity.
When I was an 8-years-old kid, I was sitting in a car, and suddenly I started to imagine about death. What would I feel during I die? Would it be like falling asleep? Then what would I feel after I die? Wouldn’t I feel anything? Then suddenly I was so scared that I burst out in tears. Death is abstruse. Perhaps it might be impossible to be understood not only by an 8-years-old kid but to anyone alive. And death is horrifying. The intense instinct of an 8-years-old kid implied that death is horrible, and made the kid cry. However, despite the esoteric and dreadful attributes of death, to be mature, one should at least achieve the most simple and universal understanding about death: death is karma to everyone. Furthermore, one approaches maturity closer by confronting death in an indirect way. In my own experience, the atmosphere of the funeral, for example, the forlorn and repetitive sounds of the prayers, and the poignant smell of the incense, made me think quite deeply about the fate of a human being, brevity and meaninglessness of life, the reason I live, and identity of myself. To sum up, death makes one mature. Therefore, in ‘The Body’, even though the four protagonists seem to make indiscreet decisions as mere children when they plan to see the corpse, they are ultimately heading for maturity. Perhaps the reason Gordie felt sort of an obligation to seeing the corpse was that he knew he was destined to maturity.
The tests and sufferings in the trip make the kids mentally stronger. While the kids cross the dump, run away from a train, and eliminate the bloodsuckers, they attain firmer mentalities, and prepare to confront the horrible truth of death. Meanwhile, during deep conversations, Gordie and Chris help each other find their identities, which were veiled by ignorant family and prejudiced society. They realize that they should break the confinement of the irrational values of the family and the town, and pursue greater values. Then the children approach the body. The corpse is more horrible than they expected. Dried strain of blood above his mouth, eyes turned over, and bugs all over his face……. Gordie feels sick and horrible, but at the same time, he realizes the aspects of death and karma. Chris seems to be overloaded by the sudden and tremendous inflow of the truth of mortality,. Even though he shows great masculinity and bravery during the fight with juvenile delinquents, after the j.ds leave, he plunges himself into the muddy water and screams and cries. However, eventually, Gordie and Chris overcome the experiences, accept the truth presented by the corpse, and become mature.
The adventure starts with a mere curiosity that how would a corpse look like. However, the sufferings during the trip let the children find their identities and become mentally stronger. The corpse shows them the terrifying attributes of mortality and let the children lose innocence, as the subtitle 'Fall from Innocence' states. The conflict between the juvenile delinquents adds manhood and courage to their maturity. Finally, the children return, with the elixir of maturity. The novella portrayed the course of children becoming mature in such an honest and beautiful way.
