Stephen King's characteristic of horror in the novel Cell - Essay Example

Banning The “Cell” Stephen King’s latest novel “Cell” has been making waves throughout the UK and the United s. It is an over the blood-curdling book that remains true to the Stephen King characteristic of horror. Many see him as a literary great while others feel his novels are nothing more than blood and gore that do not hold an ounce of realism. “Cell” is a bit different than some of his novels from the past. In fact, this book does make reference to events that could happen and have happened in the past. There are no zombies, those who have perished do not come back to us however the characters are zombie-like. There are no big surprises or shocking events to suddenly jolt us then allow us to return back to reality. The terror Stephen King instills is that of honest to goodness fright that does not alleviate our senses to normalcy during as well as after one has completed the novel While using the periphery of modern technology, he goes a little too far making assumptions about human nature and placing it in such a negative, horrifying light. There is “the pulse” that is referred to in the book but is never clearly defined. It is the cause of the havoc, delivered by the cell phone, that affects society in ways that will strike fear in our hearts. It is the most disturbing as it causes human beings to revert back to a day in time where animalistic tendencies prevailed. It is unreasonable to feel that in today’s civilized society, there would ever be a regression to the day and age of destruction and murder that we will inflict upon one another. There is a lack of focus on the characters themselves – Clayton, Tom, and Alice. We know very little about them and it is difficult to concentrate on their lives while the technology of the cell phone is dominating every aspect of events that are going on around them. The cell serves as a precursor all kinds of violence inflicted on people. The notion that the user of the cell becomes maniacal-as they are labeled as “phone crazies” in the novel–is ludicrous. As Clay is waiting in line at the ice cream parlor in Boston, the pulse begins to take over causing the women in line in front of him. One attempts to kill the vendor and fails while the another succeeds by ripping out her throat. A man down the street bites off the ear of a Labrador and a poodle is run over by an out of control limousine. The only thing that saves Clay from this fate is the fact that he does not own a cell phone like the hordes of others. These particular acts of violence are simply not feasible in this day and age. Although violence obviously exists in our society, the desire to commit such acts come from within the individual. It is the person that is driven to inflict violence on human kind, not some mysterious pulse through a cell phone tower. It is unbelievable that only one force will cause such mayhem. Each person in society has a separate upbringing from another. It is the nature in how they were raised, their value system, and beliefs that will drive them to a life of crime or keep them within the boundaries of the law. This novel states many allusions to events of the past; 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center buildings, Hurricane Katrina victims, and even a reference of the Holocaust. The post 9/11 implication is that we are refugees and are held hostage to a foreign group who wishes to do us harm. The foreign power in “Cell” seems to be “the pulse.” The “phone crazies” whom are marching down the highway and those who cross the bridge into the Boston suburbs make reference to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Lastly, the Holocaust inference is mildly described as citizens are amassed and placed in an internment camp for their safety. The phone crazies do not remain permanently insane but they have evil intentions for the normal citizens. The pulse is seemingly the cause of all of this drama. We know realistically the cause of every one of these tragic events: extreme religious groups caused 9/11, Mother Nature generated Hurricane Katrina and people were the ones who caused the violent commotion in its aftermath, and a villainous dictator created the Holocaust. Again these notions should be challenged in the novel “Cell” because it was human beings that caused grief. The fictional reference to some kind of pulse emanating from a cell tower diminishes the severity each of these events and the toll it took on people’s lives. The origin of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Holocaust all revert back to the individual human being and how their thought processes compel them to do what they do. Aside from the bloody visualizations that are inherent in most Stephen King novels, the realism in “Cell” is there but its origins are dubious. The catastrophes have been categorized as caused by an inanimate object while the main characters of the piece are not the central focus. Technology of an item used in every day life should not be determined as the cause for human suffering. That is the main subject that must be challenged in “Cell.” The sheer gore and inhumane acts that are committed are used only to horrify the reader. The events that have been alluded to in this novel caused a great deal of terror in human kind that simply was not captured here. “Cell” has the characteristics that appeal only to those who wish to be grossed out. The use of the buckets of blood spilled on every page would appeal to the amateur reader but does not invoke any intellectual stimulation like that of a true thriller. Works Cited King, Stephen. Cell: A Novel. New York: Scribner, 2006 Read More