35. Conclusion

I kept forgetting that this book was written in 1975 because it brought out the same feelings and meanings as it probably did for college students who read it in the 70s. That's how you know when an author has become succesful; when they can stand the test of time. Going into this novel, I think that I had a lot of expectations for Stephen King and it's great to say that he reached most of them if not all of them. I liked his use of symbolism through fire, time, cycles and the wind. I also liked how he could bring all of his characters to life so it felt like you were in the novel experiencing every twisting turn of the plot with them. When I can relate to the characters of a book, I tend to stay faithful from the beginning to the end.

If I had to find one thing that I would change about this novel, it would be that I would have liked to see Stephen King explore a little bit more with the vampire culture in 'Salem's Lot. As a reader I got to see the different people in the town turn into vampires, but I never heard from them again. I would have liked to know their thoughts and challenges after becoming a vampire.

I'm really glad I had the chance to read this for my english class. How many people can say that they read Stephen King for their class? I think that's pretty awesome. If I've learned anything from reading this book, it's that things aren't always what they seem and to stand up for what you believe in...even if it means believing in vampires : )

34. Relevance of Gay Terms

The term fag keeps popping up, accompanied by the occasional phrase, "they must be queer for each other." I'm not sure if these terms have any purposeful underlying meaning to the plot, but I can't help but notice how nonchalantly they have been thrown about by Stephen King.

The only possible explanation for the usage of these terms might have to do with the time this book came out. I'm assuming that society in the 70s wasn't very welcoming to the idea of gay couples being open to the public about their relationships. As a result, the term fag and queer made their way into society's language and giving off a negative connotation.

As far as their use throughout the novel, I noticed that they were used mostly when referring to outsiders. For example, Hank Peters and Royal Snow are dropping off the boxes for Larry Crockett and they start talking about the Marsten House and the new "outsiders" that live in it.

pg.101

"Those guys must be crazy, tryin' to live there. Probably queer for each other anyway," said Henry.

"Like those fag interior decorators," Royal agreed. "Probably trying to turn it into a showplace. Good for business."

Those comments are quite ignorant to say the least, but the thing that I questioned was why they used those terms in comparison to all of the other dirty words in the dictionary you can use to describe two people?

33. And So the Cycle Continues

pg.457

"The old-timers say this is where it started," Ben said. "Back in 1951. The wind was blowing from the west. They think maybe a guy got careless with a cigarette. One little cigarette. It took off across the Marshes and no one could stop it," said Ben Mears.

After I read this, the whole picture came together. Everything came full circle for me. Throughout the novel, Stephen King kept mentioning wind and fire. For example, one time he said, "When the wind was right, its irregular burping noise would come to their ears faintly, like an uneasy spirit." He would also refer back to the fire of '51 frequently. I never knew what he was talking about until Ben Mears and Mark Petrie went to revisit 'Salem's Lot to finish the job they had started; setting fire to the town. I think that the references to the wind and the fire in the novel represented history beginning to repeat itself. The cycle was starting over.

This scene is very significant because it is Stephen King's way of showing how 'Salem's Lot will be reborn again. It exemplifies a cycle. I can only assume that the fire of '51 occurred as a direct result of what was going on in the town in the present day. It also signifies a new life for Ben Mears and Mark Petrie.

What I like the most about the way this novel ends is the way it ends with the scene from the beginning of the book. Stephen King is describing how the man and young boy looked like father and son. There is a reason that he mentions this twice and why he specifically mentions it at the beginning and end. He is reiterating the fact that everything is starting over. And so the cycle continues...

32. Dracula's Influence

From the words of Stephen King, "...but none of them could match Bram Stoker's novel of old horrors colliding with modern technology and investigative techniques. That one was in a class by itself." In the introduction to 'Salem's Lot, Stephen King makes it quite clear that Bram Stoker's, Dracula, is at the top of his favorites list when it comes to vampire fiction. It is no surprise that we can see Stoker's influence in Stephen King's, 'Salem's Lot.

The first thing that I noticed that resembled Stoker's novel was the way Stephen King formatted his novel. Dracula is set up in journal entries. Similarly, 'Salem's Lot is set up by each character's personal story. Stephen King mimics the journal entry set up but he uses his own voice to describe each character instead of each character writing his or her own entry.

I also noticed a similarity between Dracula's, Van Helsing and 'Salem's Lot's Matt Burke. Both men exemplify scholarly researchers who look at the facts and try to come up with a solution. I also see a similarity between the main character Ben Mears and Dracula's, Jonathan Harker. First of all, both of them are men and second, both of them have experienced evil on a traumatic personal level. For example, Jonathan Harker meets Dracula himself and Ben Mears sees Hubert Marsten hanging from the attic of the Marsten House.

And last but not least, Stephen King goes as far as actually mentioning a line from Dracula in his book:

pg. 365

"We must go through bitter waters before we reach the sweet."

There's definitely no denying that Stephen King admires Bram Stoker. We see it throughout the whole book. I think Stephen King actually just attempted to take Dracula right out of Bram Stoker's novel and put him into an American small town called, 'Salem's Lot.

31. 'Salem's Lot Movie (1979)

I had the opportunity to view the 1979 movie version of 'Salem's Lot and was really happy I watched it, even though it was extremely long! I was really excited to see how it compared to the book because I feel that Stephen King's writing was almost made for movies. He gives a lot of description and dramatic effects in his novels that would work great for a movies. That is probably why he went on to have his books turn into movies.

If I had to choose between the movie and the book for 'Salem's Lot, I would have to say that I actually enjoyed reading the book better. I could be biased because I read the book first and had certain expectations for the movie, but either way, the concept of 'Salem's Lot remains the same and that's all that really matters.

One of the big differences that bothered me in the movie was that a lot of the characters had different names and were mixed up in the plot. For example, instead of Bonnie Sawyer having an affair with a young kid named Bryant, she had an affair with Larry Crockett. Floyd Tibbits name was Ned and Matt Burke's name was Jason.

Another thing that was different was that Susan Norton was not in the movie for most of the plot. The movie portrayed her as going off to Boston for a while. Ben Mears' late wife, Miranda, was never mentioned and his motorcycle accident was never brought up either. I felt that this part of the book was really important because it was part of Ben's motive to keep on going.

Besides other tiny things that were significantly different from the book, there was one other major difference between the two; time. In the movie, time did not play a role in the events that occurred. There was no significant scene that emphasized the importance of time at all.

I know that there is also a 2004 version, but I have not been able to see that yet. Let's just hope it did a little better of of interpreting Stephen King's novel.