Реферат: The Stand Essay Research Paper The StandStephen
The Stand Essay, Research Paper
The Stand
Stephen King’s The Stand is a thrilling novel that portrays
the forces of good against evil. In the year 1991, a plague
strikes America, leaving only a few thousand people alive
who are “immune” to the epidemic. Of the survivors, those
who serve G-d instinctively join in Boulder, Colorado, while
those who worship the “Dark Man” are drawn to Las
Vegas, Nevada. The two groups separately re-build society,
until one must destroy the other. Franni Goldsmith comes
very close to killing herself. She thinks she can not deal with
her parents’ deaths, being unwed and pregnant, and having
the only other survivor in her hometown of Ogunquit, Main
be her recently deceased best friend’s weird brother Harold
Lauder. Fran puts aside her personal feelings for Harold
aside, and goes with him to the place in her dreams, to
Boulder, Colorado. On their way, they meet up with six
people from various states in the United States who joined
them on their journey. Fran is disturbed by her dreams, as all
of them are by their own. She dreams of an old lady named
Abigail, in Colorado. This lady is kind and loving and
promises to protect them from the evil. In the dreams there
is also a “Dark Man”. He is always there lurking, waiting to
attack. Harold admits to himself that he is in love with Fran
and goes crazy when he realizes how serious Fran has
become with Stuart Redman, one of the newcomers to their
traveling group. Harold becomes insanely jealous and plots
to separate them, even if it means murder. Harold doesn’t
admit it to any of them, but his dreams are different from
theirs. In his dreams the “Dark Man” offers Harold power
and respect, something Harold could never imagine in the
past. Harold knows his destiny is to go to Las Vegas. The
group arrives in Boulder, and soon after are joined by over
one thousand others who dreamt of Abigail and this place.
They inevitably form a society where they settled and has
meetings to decide what they would do about the “Dark
Man”. Abigail tells the people that three of them, including
Stuart, must be sent to destroy the “Dark Man”. Meanwhile
Harold secretly leaves with the “Dark Man’s” bride-to-be,
Nadine, to Las Vegas. Harold is ready to kill Stuart, but is
killed instead by “the will of G-d”. Nadine makes it safely to
Las Vegas before Stuart and his two companions are about
to be hanged. Out of the sky “the hand of G-d” comes and
destroys the “Dark Man” sparing the three men. After much
hardship, Stuart returns to Fran and her newborn son and
together they plant the seeds of a new society. The Stand is
a book about human nature. It shows people’s inclination
toward good or evil. Mostly, it shows how it is in man’s
nature to build society and to fight for his beliefs. I found this
book to be extremely entertaining because it was well
written and somewhat realistic, despite it’s supernatural
aspects. I would recommend this book for anyone who
enjoys roller coasters, horror movies, or a good old
fashioned suspense novel.