The first element of bad death illustrates how gruesome and unnatural deaths obtain their identity as horror. It brings out the fear of the possibility that we may experience a horrible death. In Salem’s Lot, Stephen King does a good job in bring this first element to life. He uses characters that everyone can relate to and settings that are very much like our own, if not the same.

For instance King used Win Purinton’s dog, Doc, to demonstrate how horrible the death maybe. Doc was found at the local cemetery hung by the neck with his guts hanging out. “The body of a dog hung head-down from the wrought-iron gate, and the ground beneath was muddy with its blood.)pg.71 You can see as gruesome and horrible the death may be, King d

epicts even the weakest and simplest of characters. He then moves on to the next character, Ralphie Glick, which is a young boy who does not have the knowledge to protect himself from the horrible and evil events that is happening around him. “Now I bring you spoiled meat and reeking flesh. I have made sacrifice for your favor.”pg.119 Having been kidnapped and later used as a human sacrifice doesn’t fit so well with our society, but in Salem’s Lot, the vivid and clearness of this event make us feel that it is very much real.

The Marsten’s house is another form of alternative reality. Although houses are objects that are not alive, this house seems to be very different. The house itself always seems to be alive, constantly leaning, looming and awaiting something to happen. “…the really monstrous face-that I sometimes think I can see buried in the outline of that house.”pg.176 Even as Barlow arrives, the house itself is awaiting him “The house seemed to lean toward them, as if awaiting their arrival.”pg.138 The Marsten house was also viewed as an idol of a form of place for worshipping and to Hubie Marsten, this house was his own “monument to evil”pg.61

Element two is dealt with the decaying of the body. The author has many occasions where he uses descriptions of rank and rotten odors. These are primarily used when characters of the story is approaching the Marsten house, which can also be viewed as “Hubie’s Marsten’s monument to evil.”pg.176 The rancid odor is used to simply clarify to the reader that things are not normal. When the mail man, Larry McLeod, discoveries Birdie Marsten’s body, the first thing he acknowledge is the stench of the remains of the decomposing corpse. “…Larry had smelled something bad, like spoiled meat.”pg.50 Ben Mears was another person who experienced the awful smell of decaying bodies. He was somewhat a special character because he had actually had more than one terrifying experience in the Marsten house. The first occurrence was when he was a young boy entering the house as an initiation in a group. “The house smelled. You wouldn’t believe how

Some topics in this essay:
Susan Norton, Mark Petrie, Ben Mears, , Win’s Doc, Hubie Marsten, Win Purinton’s, Birdie Marsten, Ralphie Glick, Salem’s Barlow’s, marsten house, alternative reality, horrible death, decaying bodies, bad death, definition horror rules, victims barlow, hubie marsten, “the house, house house, bodies alternative, marsten house viewed, bodies alternative reality,