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?
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?
No comments:
Post a Comment