The Main Message of the Book the Body

“The Body”: Fall From Innocence

Through the use of symbols, Stephen King creates a story about four boys losing their innocence in the search for a dead body. In the book it describes the boys going on a journey through the woods and on the train tracks, they may have faced some difficulties but they still kept going. It showed how the boys started off as children and became young men by the end of the book.

At the start of the story, Stephen King introduces the protagonist, Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern. the boys traveled to see a dead body when Vern overheard his brother and his brothers friend talking about how they found a dead body along the tracks. In the beginning of the book, all four boys started off as children. A quote to show you is “I was twelve going on thirteen when I first saw a dead human being.” Pg.335 Gordie was the one to state the quote. The quote symbolizes how the boys were children at the beginning of the story as it shows how the boys didn’t know what death was. Also, it shows how the boys couldn’t understand that they can’t take the body with them. That is how in the beginning of the book the boys started off as children.

Throughout the boy’s journey, they come to terms with many challenges, like starting to realize how their lives are and thinking about their future. Also, how the boys are cleansing their lives by them crying at least once each in the story and how it rained for the first time that summer. A quote to show how the boys lives are cleansing is “Then the storm came down all at once as if a shower chain had been pulled in the sky.” Pg. 468 The person to state the quote is Gordie. The rain and tears of the boys is a symbol of the boys lives cleansing and getting rid of all the bad things happening in their lives. It shows you that the are finally starting to mature as they keep going. They may have had some challenges such as almost getting hit by a train, a lake full of leeches that got stuck on them, and them pulling a gun on the older boys but that’s the thing, they kept going and didn’t even have a thought about turning around and going back home. That is how rain and tears is a symbol of the boys maturing throughout the middle of the book.

At the climax of the story, the boys find the dead body of Ray Brower, and that is when the boys realized that they couldn’t take the body and what death was. The boys couldn’t take the body with them because if they did then the police would state how the boys are the blame for what happened to Ray Brower and since their parents didn’t care about them the boys would have ended up in jail even if they didn’t commit the crime. By the end of the book the boys turned into young men and a quote to show that is “Some people drown, that’s all. It’s not fair, but it happens.Some people drown.” Pg.498 Gordie was the person to state this quote. This quote is a symbol of how Gordie realizes that his and his friend’s life starts a new chapter. By the time they all went back to school they were new people, they all went their separate ways and weren’t close friends anymore like they used to be. And that was when they all learned something from experiencing Ray Browers body laying there on the tracks.

Throughout “The Body,” Stephen King creates a story about four boys on a journey to find a dead body. Above tells you on how King uses quotes and symbols to describe how the boys grew up through the story. Such as in the beginning the boys were children, the middle they are starting to mature and at the end, they are all young men. That was when they all went their separate ways.