Themes in The Stand
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2022-10-25T17:07:11-07:00
Within The Stand, there are many powerful themes that arise, the most prominent being the idea of Good vs. Evil. Stephen King calls this book a “dark tale of Christianity” (The Love of Reading, 2021), and many aspects of the book support this claim. Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg represent God and Satan respectively. The good tend to have dreams of Abigail and are encouraged to keep faith in the good individuals of the human race, while those with criminal or unjust tendencies are more susceptible to manipulation by Randall Flagg through the dreams he projects to them. Mother Abigail offers peace and security and what seems like a route to Heaven, while Randall Flagg offers dominance, wealth, and fame. Randall Flagg’s manipulation of his followers can be tied to Satan as he lures them with many material rewards, which ultimately leads them down the wrong path and causes them to get involved in unjust activities(directly to Hell).
This leads directly to another prominent theme in the novel: Temptation. Throughout the novel, Randall Flagg’s “minions” are constantly tempted with material desires and his mind manipulation techniques as a sorcerer. Since his followers already possess a corrupted mindset, their minds are feeble and therefore they easily give in to his mind games. This can be very clearly seen towards the end of the novel when Flagg takes control of Nadine Cross's mind. The moment he entered her mind, she reported that "Her mouth was slack, trembling; the eyes themselves dazed and horror-drugged. The dark man had been in her, Flagg had been in her, and when he had come he had driven her away from the windows of her five senses, her loopholes on reality" (King, 1978). This is a key excerpt from the novel that showcases how Flagg uses his powers to his advantage. As soon as Flagg knew that Nadine had a weak mind, he saw an opportunity to control hers and urge her to join his cause. From this passage the reader realizes that Randall Flagg is not only able to enter his victim's mind, but also control and alter their senses. Even for those with strong minds, phenomena that alter the senses can distort their sense of reality. In this case, since Nadine had a feeble mind, she allowed Flagg to plant a seed in her mind to join his army of unjust people. Later on in the novel, she eventually succumbs to his continued mind games and completely surrenders to him. In this way, people who may have low will power or self-esteem may fall victim to Flagg's mind games, ultimately contributing to his tyrannical desire to control all remaining humans who survived the virus and rule the world. This ongoing theme of temptation can also be tied to the forbidden fruit in Christianity because Adam and Eve were specifically instructed to not eat the forbidden fruit or else there would be dire consequences. However, they could not resist the urge and ended up eating it anyway, inherently making it so that every following human would be able to sin.
Looking at The Stand and how it relates to virus eco horror, the entire story is a deep depiction of how humanity would survive after an apocalypse. It talks about atomic bombs and other deadly weapons, bringing up questions regarding science and technology, and whether too much sophisticated technology can lead to the downfall of mankind. The superflu that was released shattered all living individuals' notions of everyday life. In the 1% of the population that survived, people were desperate to survive and would break off into small groups, trusting nobody but themselves. On top of trying to satisfy their basic needs, the inherently good also had to live a life of constant secrecy, all the while trying to reach Mother Abigail and join her cause. This plays directly into the "Survivor and Savior" archetype, where the survivors are all of the followers of Mother Abigail, and Abigail is the savior. The fear that Randall Flagg instills in his opposition amplifies his stance as an antagonist. The survivors who desire to live a peaceful life after seeing the extinction of almost the entire human race hope to never encounter Randall Cobb or his followers. Therefore they live in constant fear of being caught. One can infer that the political figures responsible for releasing the virus directly destroyed the concept of community and brotherhood by releasing the virus, and as a result, deprived the survivors of a normal life. Stephen King's The Stand becomes increasingly relevant in modern times as we have been in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and have seen how a virus can shape the flow of the world.
