Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King


Chapters 1-3: Protagonist, POV, Setting, Symbol, Characters.

The setting of Chapters 1-3 take place in a small town named Jerusalem’s Lot during the summer of 1975. Chapter 1 is written in Benjamin Mears’s point of view. Chapter 2 is written in Susan Norton’s point of view. Chapter 3 is written in the town’s point of view. Benjamin Mears is the protagonist, which is the main character of the entire novel. When Benjamin Mears is first introduced in the novel, he is unsure of what he returned to Jerusalem’s Lot for. He questions himself, “What was he doing, coming back to a town where he had lived for four years as a boy, trying to recapture something that is irrevocably lost? What magic could he expect to recapture by walking roads that he had once walked as a boy and were probably asphalted and straightened and logged off and littered with tourist beer cans? The magic was gone, both black and white.” (Ch. 1, Scene 1) However, towards chapter 2, as Ben and Susan are speaking to one another, they Ben reveals that he has come back to write a novel based on the town and to conquer his fear of the Marsten House. A major symbol is the Marsten House. It symbolizes the town’s hidden secrets and fears.

In Chapter 3 of Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, Dud Rogers should be considered a horrible individual. Personally, I believe that no matter what, animals should be loved. However, Dud Rogers does not care for that thought because he continuously shoots rats for fun.

Dud Rogers considered the dump as “Disneyland and Shangri-La all rolled up into one” (Ch. 3, Scene 10). He liked to yell at the kids and watch them run off. He liked to pick up dump from the piles thinking they still had a purpose in life. He liked to save car parts from one end of the dump. He liked to set the dump on fire on Sunday and Wednesday mornings, and on Monday and Friday evenings. Nevertheless, the most gruesome thing is “(holding) his .22 target pistol loosely in his hand and waited for the rats to come out” (Ch. 3, Scene 10).

                Dud Rogers did many things including shooting innocent rats. He considered them as big and dirty. Dud Rogers absolutely loved to shoot them. Still, these rats cannot speak to human beings. Human beings are unable to communicate to these rats. Similar to dogs, cats, rabbits, lizards, and snakes, but these living beings are considered to be pets. Pets require training to understand what is right and what is wrong. Human beings when they are first born are not even able to determine which actions are approved of or not. These rats that Dud Rogers enjoyably shoots should be cared for. They attend the dump to search for food, water, and shelter they need to survive. They are not harming Dud Rogers in any way that should force him to harm them.

                No animal deserves to be shot for a careless reason such as an individual finding the task fun. Animals do what they need to do to survive. They do not understand that trespassing another individual’s property is unacceptable. Dud Rogers does not care for the rats he kills and their lives. I dislike any individual that harms animals for their own liking, and that includes Dud Rogers. Do these innocent living creatures really deserve to be shot for something they are unaware of as wrong?

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