Ray Brower Body - Essay Example

?Ray Brower’s Body Ray Brower’s Body Ray Brower, a character in Stephen King’s book Different Seasons dies after a train hitshim in the forest where his body lies for days without anyone finding it. The tree house gang that comprises Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy learn of the spot where the body lies and decide to go after it. They find it after a long journey full of hardships that plays a crucial role in the transition of Gordie and Chris into better individuals who come out of the adventure more mature and are even seen progressing in life unlike Vern and Teddy who barely change at all. The details in this essay explain the events in the adventure that leads to their transformation. Vern informs the gang of the body’s location after eavesdropping on a conversation his brother shares with a friend. Curiosity is one of the reasons why the young boys go looking for the body. At the beginning of the story, the narrator tells us that he had never seen a dead body so when the chance to see one came, he could not miss out. They want to see how a dead body looks like. The boys’ search of adventure makes them want to see the body as we can tell from the story that adventure is a favorite pass-time for the gang, as they seem to enjoy engaging in otherwise prohibited behavior. They smoke cigarettes while at the tree house and keep girly magazines that are bound to be adult content. In their town, reporting the case of the body meant being on the news on the paper and in the radio. They find this a very rewarding journey, as they will become heroes. This tells us that the boys wanted to see the body so they report it and become famous, a lame reason to go looking for the body “'Look, Chris said, leaning across the ratty card-table. We can find the body and report it! We’ll be on the news!” (c.5, p.8). In my opinion, the adventure changes Gordie, and his close friend Chris than it does Vern and Teddy. Gordie The gang seems to make general decisions on behalf of every member, where they do everything that any one of them suggests without considering the consequences but after they find the body, Gordie is able to make independent decisions as we see him disagreeing with Chris over whether it is a good idea to carry the body with them. He is no longer the same boy who follows whatever his friends suggest. From the beginning of the story, the boys are moving together as a gang, all thinking that they are good friends who are going to last forever. At the end of the story, we see Gordie and Chris Shaking hands warmly, feeling the affection of friendship between them. We see these two standing up to fight the elder kids while Vern and Teddy run away leaving only him and Chris stand up to fight. “Stick with me, Gordie, Chris said in a low, shaky voice. Stick with me, man” (c.22, p.63) Gordie is a new changed person as he can differentiate true friends from the fake. Before the boys go to find the body, Gordie just like the other boys thinks death is nothing serious. He keeps thinking that his dead brother might be hiding somewhere in his room waiting to scare him. He changes by coming to realize that death is indeed real and very serious when he sees the body and it rings in his mind that Brower will never do the things that small boys do. We see him thinking and saying to himself, “The kid was dead. The kid was not sick, the kid was not sleeping.” (c.20, p.57) He realizes that Brower is forever gone and his life will never occur again. Gordie changes because he knows that life is very serious after all, and from the way he lives his life thereafter, he uses it positively, having learnt from the body the importance of life. He knows that there will be trouble when the police find the used cartridges that Chris uses to scare off the older kids, of which responsibility is theirs. He changes from an ignorant kid to somebody responsible for his actions as we see him bending on the grass to look for them. He realizes that he determines his own life by his own doings, and therefore decides to clean his bad past and live a new life responsibly. When he is on guard watching the others sleeping and the deer appears, it uplifts his otherwise fading spirit of the journey and from then, he finds a place of solace whenever there was trouble in his life. He changes from the small kid who easily gets mad at his parents when they seem to favor Dennis, to someone who does not fear the problems life. He realizes that life has vicissitudes, but in the midst of it all, there is always a good side to it. “But for me it was the best part of that trip, the cleanest part, and it was a moment I found myself returning to, almost helplessly, when there was trouble in my life”(c.16, p.47) Gordie changes from the status of the small boy who owns nothing into a brave man who is able to stand up and fight for what belongs to him; that which he has sown and cultivated himself. We see him suddenly getting furious when the elder kids want to take away the body from them where he challenges Eyeball and firmly tells him that he will not have the body. The sudden change of mood represents the change from a not-so-serious boy to a serious person who the reality of the unfairness in life unravels to him. Perseverance is a trait that he acquires while on the journey. He changes from the small boy who can get annoyed or cry at literally anything into a hardened person who does not bow to the pressures of the world. We see his hardness at the leech-infested pool when everyone is screaming and picking leeches off themselves, and Gordie does not utter a single word. Inside him, he feels the terror and wants to cry hard, but he holds onto the terror. We see him saying to himself that will not cry, and keeps pulling the leeches off his body. This tells us that he changes and comes to understand that life has problems, and rather than cry fowl when they arise, it is best to solve the problems and keep fighting back. Chris Chris changes in that he learns to use the right thing at the right time, or in other words knows that there is the right time for everything. Unlike when we see him giving the loaded gun to Gordie and make him shoot at nothing, we later come to see him using the gun at the scene of the body to scare off the older gang. We see Chris putting down his foot and claiming ownership of the body and even threaten to kill anyone who dares to take it. However at the end of the struggle, we see him give up on it and says, “you’re right, Gordie,' he said. He does not belong to anyone”(c.23, p.65). We can see that he changes into someone who knows what is worth keeping and what is not. After much consideration, Chris realizes that the body is useless, and gives up on it. He learns to go after the more important things in life like education, which he does. Chris is now thoughtful of the consequences of his actions, unlike back in the days when they put him in trouble. He lets go of the idea of taking the body with them fearing false accusations by the elder gang. He changes into someone responsible for his actions, and knows that in life, the enemy will always devise a means to cut you down therefore one should be wary of any loophole that the enemy might use to lure us. We can also say that he changes from someone who is hurt by the things that have happened to someone who is now more concerned with his achievements than the consequences he has to undergo in achieving them. He encourages the cowardly Vern who is afraid of punishment by his brother Billy telling him that no matter what happens to them, they have accomplished their mission. He says, “Richie is going to tool up on me and Ace is probably going to tool up on Gordie and somebody else'll tool up on Teddy. But we did it” (c.24, p.68) Conclusion Experience is the best teacher, with the adventure in search of Brower’s body being the teacher to the house tree gang that changes the two boys; Gordie and Chris who realize the lessons of life along the journey and learn from them. We see them pursue higher learning while their two other friends perish as they engage in undignified acts. Chris dies trying to mediate between two fighting men, a mature act. We can tell from the essay that life will try to teach us lessons that usually come in disguise, and if we are not keen enough then we miss the knowledge that comes with them. Works Cited http://storythebody.blogspot.com/2012/03/body-by-stephen-king.html http://m.friendfeed-media.com/e0c7e5a6e250b8513b3b1baa6345bf2f983be9b6 Read More