As my study into Stephen King's literature unfolds, his fears, or ones he deems important are more apparent. Thus far, King has examined the broken marriage or faulty relationship from several different perspectives. These elements weave in and out his texts like a black snake on pale concrete.
King's 1974 novel, Carrie, merges stories of not only Carrie White herself, but also classmates, and her mother and father. The reader is given a scope into her parents marital relationship, and her mother's religious views.
Margarette White's marriage is broken by the death of her husband, Ralph. Though this death terminated their marriage, it can be argued that their fanatic religious views contributed to their marriages downfall too. After all, even though she was married she viewed intercourse as a sin, and pregnancy as punishment from God, "Margarette said, [...] they were living sinlessly without the curse of intercourse" (King 49).
Margarette and Ralph White are only the first taste of a loveless and troublesome marriage, and bad parenting.
Again these faulty relationships appear throughout King's The Shining. The Torrence's, Jack and Wendy, have fought and continue to fight through the entire text. Jack's abusive nature towards Danny makes Wendy cautious to even allow them to be in a room together without her. Jack's drinking, takes much of the fault for many of his actions. Though divorce is talked about, or thought about, on several accounts Jack's demise, and his families escape, occurs through death.
Both texts, Carrie and The Shining portray this hazardous relationship among partners, and how it affects their children. In 1999, King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was published. And, yes, he retreads the daunting truth of the broken marriage through his main character, a preteen, Trisha McFarland.
Unlike The Shining and Carrie where King provides immediate back story for the ill-minded parental characters, in The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, the only back story provided by the sixth inning is what can be intertwined into the story of a ten year old girl lost in the woods. Half way through the book it is not certain what brought on the divorce of Trisha's parents. The only thing certain is the hostility held by the mother towards the father, but there is no mention of alcohol abuse, physical abusive, nor infidelity.
During Trisha's entrapment in the woods the narrator tells the reader stories about Trisha's father; some of which are alcohol related. After the scene where Trisha finds the beechnuts and checkerberries the narrator drops the reader into a reminiscent thought. "She remembered thinking about her Dad's backyard behind the newer, smaller house, how the grass needed cutting and the lawn-dwarves looked sly-- as if they knew something you didn't-- and about how Dad had started to look sad and old to her, with the smell of beer always coming out of his pores..."(King 141). During the reflection back King makes it potent to bring in the the drinking. Like Jack in The Shining, both these dads have a drinking problem. This is one of Stephen King's most popular themes throughout the texts I've studied thus far. The children in both these stories, like many children in similar circumstances, will reflect back on their father's with the thought of alcohol at the front of their memories.
Although both these fathers have a related issue, it's safe to say their issues are not on the same level. Jack, coming from an abusive home, falls into the habit of drinking early on. While Trisha's reflection makes is seem that her father didn't start drinking, and letting go until after the divorce. Throughout the entire story of Trisha Mcfarland it is unclear why her parents are getting a divorce in the first place. One thing that is clear-- the children are affected and the parents don't take the time to try to fix it.
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