#TheStandChallenge #StephenKing Chapters 25-42

Welcome back to the company of the mad, and the second part of this Stephen King readalong of ‘The Stand’, inspired by the times we live in and accompanied by the Jason Sechrest podcast (link below)

This will focus on Chapters 24-42 where pieces who were set up in the prior chapters now start to move to their destinations-the dreams that several individuals had begun to have, touching on the approaching nightmare generated by The Walking Dude,Randall Flagg,is both terrifying and solidifying where some will make their stands.

For some, the influence of centarian ‘Mother’ Abagail Fremantle draws them to Hemmingford Home in Nebraska, for others, the darkness lures them to the contrasting bright lights of Las Vegas,Nevada.

*Warning!Potential Spoilers Ahead!*

Up until now, the major themes of this book appear to this constant reader to be desperately sad and centered on loss (Fran’s dad, Larry’s mother, Stu’s community, Nick’s friends) grief and loneliness.  This is particular is embodied by Stu’s new walking companion-or should I say, companions to include Kojak the red setter) socioligist, Glen Bateman.

He provides one of the most popularly known quotes from the Stand, as he and Stu sit discussing what to do next, he ventures forth his anger and frustration at the human race and its self destructive instincts-

“Show me a man or a woman alone and I’ll show you a saint. Give me two and they’ll fall in love. Give me three and they’ll invent the charming thing we call ‘society’. Give me four and they’ll build a pyramid. Give me five and they’ll make one an outcast. Give me six and they’ll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they’ll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.

Small groups start to form as the individuals from the beginning meet other random leftovers of the human race-it is as if having cleared the board, King rolls up his sleeves and begins to set to work.

Harold Lauder, Fran’s travelling companion, is the only surviving member of his family, an overweight and pretentious young man who inspires revulsion and pity in equal measures. He and Fran travel out of necessity for companionship rather than wanting to (on her behalf) and leave messages at the roadsides, on barn roofs and so on, to let others know that they are heading west. Fran begins to start a diary to her unborn child in this section,unwittingly setting herself up as the bad guy to Harold Lauder’s thwarted ambition and letting the reader into her innermost thoughts. There is a delicious irony in how much Larry imagines and reveres the enrstwhile Lauder and much to look forward to when these men fianlly meet.

Larry Underwood (haunted by his foreshadowing dental assistant (‘you ain’t no nice guy!)) loses his companion in a traumatic and hideous part suicide/part accident and goes through the darkest of times.He experiences some very deep soul searching as his selfishness,and easy discarding of the women in his life, comes back to bite him. He comes across Nadine Cross, a schoolteacher with her companion,a rescued child who she has named Joe.

Nadine is a neat foil for Larry, what he wants from her she is clearly savng for someone else, and as they head towards Nebraska, you wonder why she has hooked up with him-the potential answer is his disposability, he can advance her closer to where she needs to be, she can be protected by him and the scenes with Nadine and Larry neatly contrast with those of Fran and Stu.

Fran and Harold come across Stu and Glen on their travels, to Fran’s enormous relief, and her attraction to Stu (and his reciprocated feelings) not only enrage Harold, they make his future decisions easier to make. Fran entirely has her own agency, it would be very easy to dismiss Fran allying with Stu, and Nadine with Larry, as women needing this proitection, that they could not defend themselves. However, I would posit that they choose their sides carefully and wisely, not in a ‘chucking themselves at the first man they come across to survive’ trope. This is further supported by Larry and his newest companion, Lucy, who calls him on his bad behaviour and obvious attraction to Nadine. She makes her feelings and rationale so well known that this seems ahead of its time.

After having met Randall Flagg and being aware of where he is coming from, the images of whispering corn, and singing, and an ancient black woman become clearer as Abagail Fremantle comes into view. Through a potted history of her backstory, she becomes more real and solidified as the chapters progress and characters are drawn to her. Religion reveals its hand as she interprets her dreams and visions to the will of God. This is very much an Old Testament, vengeful God with whom Abagail battles as she struggles to understand her part in this.

The visions which tell her to lead them Boulder, after having spent a lifetime outliving all her loved ones, neighbours and all , wanting to live this solitary end of her life on the land her father was given fairly and squarely. This seems particualrly unfair given how she has devoted her life to making a stand-against her parents in her choice of husbands, against a society which hates women, and especially those who are not white.

It would be easy to create a character who is a trope, the wiseness of a ‘‘mammy’ stereotype. But Abagil’s unease at being out in this role, at having to leave, and then lead her band of random strangers which becomes a rising swell of anger, is a fascintaing and so rewarding read. In as much as Randall Flagg unsettles and uneases, his opposite number strengthens and resolves. This is so much to love about her character that you tend to cleave to her.

Other characters who make their appearances at this coming together section, include Nick Andros’ companion, Tom Cullen, a simple man with possible learning difficulties, whose childlike behaviour masks his importance to the overall plot.

Donald Elbert,aka Trashcan Man, is another outcast, that in later times would have been picked up for having PTSD from his childhood trauma rather than a destructive force of nature who set small fires, an became simultaneously known as local weirdo/danger to himself and others. His dreams are of a very different kind, his madness escalating as he fixates on getting his way to Vegas and prostrating himself at the feet of Flagg. His journey is reminiscent of Jesus in the desert where his entire life is gone through in flashback and he still has the chance to turn to the side of good. He casts aside his identity to be reborn in fire and flame as forever, The Trashcan Man.

In a neat bit of more foreshadowing-especially as King’s works flow so naturally and he notoriously hates planning his works-Glen discusses the people who would be drawn to Flagg’s side-

”I think he’s going to get most of the techies,’ Glen said finally. ‘Don’t ask me why:it’s just a hunch.Except that tech people like to work in an atmosphere of tight discpline and linear goals for the most part.They like it when the trains run on time. What we’ve got here in Boulder right now is mass confusion,everyone bopping along and doing his own thing….and we’ve got to do something about what my students would call ‘getting our shit together’. But that other fellow…I’ll bet he’s got the trains running on time and all his ducks in a row.And techies are just as human as the rest of us:they’ll go where they’re wanted the most. I’ve a suspicion that our Adversary wants as many as he can get. Fuck the farmers, he’d just as soon have a few men who can dust off those Idaho missile silos and get them operational again”

And Flagg has one of these, barrelling his way straight to his side. After the death and destruction of the entire known world, baby steps are being made to put a better one back together but on the opposite side, is someone, some thing which is going to stand against them.

We leave the residents of Boulder, Colorado, between a literal rock, and a hard place. The numbers who have been drawn there are in their thousands and unwillingly, but necessarily, a structure needs to be established it make it run smoothly. Yet there is a snake in the bosom of this new found society which needs weeding out before too much longer..

And in the desert, Lloyd Henried and Trash are Flagg’s right hand men, and their establishment is going to be the exact opposite of Boulder-dreams of crucified ‘wrong doers’ lining the main thoroughfares of Vegas haunt many dreams .

Whose house will be stronger? That built on rock, or the one built on sand?

Will the Free Zone Representative Board be established quickly enough to mount a defence against Flagg? And in what form will it take?

To round this off, a couple of Easter Eggs popped up in this section-Mother Abagail recounts the tale of a young Vaccuum cleaner salesman named Donald Edwin King (the name of Stephen King’s father who left one day and never returned). Another moment, belonging again to Mother Abagail,

Check out the brilliant TheCompanyOfTheMad podcast below, and let me know what you think so far!

I’m going to leave you with a song featured in the TV series based on ‘The Stand’ which never fails to make me feel both sorrowful and hopeful at the same time, hope you enjoy it!

Links-https://thestandpodcast.com/

Twitter @jasonsechrest @tananarivedue @flanaganfilm @Breznican @KateySegal