4. What's In a Name?

Jerusalem

Coming from a religious background, I can't help but connect the name Jersualem to the term used in the bible. Which in turn, opens up a whole other realm of possibilities as far as delving into this piece of literature and understanding it. What I want to focus on is the fact that Jerusalem is a holy city. In fact, it is "the" holy city. In the bible, this is the city that has been occupied by the Jews for thousands of years. And even more significant, this is the city where Jesus was put to death and where many believe he rose again. I am certain that Stephen King had a reason behind using this city as his setting for the novel. I think that in a way, this novel tests our own beliefs and has an underlying theme of being faithful to your religion.

I found this passage in the bible and online. It comes from Matthew 23:37-38 from the New International Version of the bible:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate."

Now this can be taken several ways, but the biblical interpretation of this is referring to the people of Jerusalem refusing to believe in God and killing his one and only son, leaving them desolate. It could just be a coincidence, but I think that this passage can also be applied to 'Salem's Lot. Throughout the novel, there are people like Ben Mears, Mark Petrie, Jimmy Cody and Matt Burke who believe that there really are vampires. Most of them have seen them with their own eyes. But the fact of the matter is, they are too afraid to share this with the town because they know that the people of the town won't believe them. And in the end, they find out the hard way that the believers were right. Their house was left to them desolate.