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Hi, Bengals. Post below: In a well-crafted written response, please explain a theme from "The Man in the Black Suit." Make sure to provide relevant and specific detail to support your claim.
I think the theme of "The Man In The Black Suit" has something to do about making life choices. In this story Gary's dad tells him to not go past the fork in the road, but he does anyway. He made the choice of going down one path instead of the other. This shows that if you don't take choices than you wont discover anything new. Like in the story Gary discovers the man in the black suit. The man in the black suit than lied about how Gary's mother was killed by a bee sting and Gary ran away. In that case I think he made the wrong choice. You cant live life without making choices because its important.
"The Man in the Black Suit" is a story written by Stephen King, is a story that takes place in Castle Rock, Maine where an old man tells the story of how he once met the devil. I believe that this short story symbolizes the loss of innocence. "The Man in the Black Suit" takes place in 1914, three years before World War I. Gary, a man in his nineties, tells us the story of how he saw the devil through a flashback. At nine years old, Gary, still shaken up from the death of his brother Dan, went fishing by himself and was told not to go any further than where the stream splits. He ignores what he was told and fishes past his boundaries. He fades into sleep while fishing and was awoken by a bee. The cause of his brother's death was a bee sting, so Gary was quite afraid. The bee falls motionless on his lap once he heard a clap as loud as thunder. He looks in the direction of the sound and sees what he thought was the devil. After the devil claims that Gary's mother has died from a bee sting and Gary runs home with the devil right on his tail, Gary runs through the right hand of the wheelrut in the road and no longer sees the devil behind him. He runs to his father and admits he was past the split of the stream. He told his first lie to his father and says this man has a gun. Gary and his father both go back into the woods and Gary steals the family bible to bring with him. Gary's father takes the creel and rod with him back home when he thought something was still in the woods. After the flashback, Gary explains that he tells himself he is a good person, and he shouldn't fear the devil. Gary going past where the stream splits, lying to his father, stealing the bible, and having to tell himself that he is a good person is evidence that this experience with the devil scarred him and made him lose his innocence. Therefore, I believe the theme of this story is loss of innocence,
In the story,"The Man In The Black Suit" by Stephen King, the theme off the story would be fear because Gary was scared to death by a long tall creature in the woods with long talons and fire coming out of his brains. He also knows now at his old age he's valuable. This story by Stephen King took place in Castle Rock,Maine in 1914, three years before WWI and one year after his brother Dean died of a bee sting. When he starts he's in a retirement home in his 90s. He was terrified as a child of bees because of his brothers death. He believes he saw the devil as a nine year old in the woods near his house. It all starts with a rhyme and then this creature came up to him and started to taught him. This has to be such a frightening experience for a young child like Gary. Then he rambles on about his mother being killed by a bee. Now he's just plain scared. So the devil smells the big fish that he caught hours earlier. He recalls him opening his jaw unhumanly large and ate the 19" fish whole. Dream or no dream, that's scary. So after his "hallucination" he ran back to town screaming, crying and just plain petrified. He goes to see his father and then he tells him that mom is dead because of a bee sting. His dad turns around and says that shes fine. Poor Gary has lost his fishing pole made of bamboo, has had an obvious traumatizing experience and now he's trying not to lie to his father. Gary runs inside, hugs his mom and his dad starts asking questions as of what happened. After some interrogating they go back to the woods and he has the bible which took from the house and brougut it with him. It tirns out he wasn't wrong. The fish that he caught were eatin'. There was a noise in the woods and they got out of there. Fast forward 80 or so years and he's still somewhat terrified of that moment in time in which he and some malvelent creature came face to face. Therefore, I believe the theme of this story is fear.
The theme of “The Man in the Back Suit” by Stephen King, is the loss of the innocence. Some examples from the story to support loss of the innocence are Dan was a good person, Gary lived a good life and believe in the unexpected or impossible. Dan, Gary’s brother was a good person. He absolutely did nothing wrong, as Gary said in the story. Here are some details about him “She smiled , but it was that worried kind of smile she always seemed to make since my father brought Dan back from the west field in his arms. My father had come sobbing and bare-chested. He had taken his shirt off and draped it over Dan’s face, which had swelled and turned color.” (page 48, King) Just from one bee sting, on an unlucky day. In the matter of minutes he was gone, and had done nothing wrong to deserve it. Gary had lived a good life but for only one reason. He had barely escaped his death and would never forget it. He had know it right as he looked at him, the Devil, whatever he said was alive. But for some reason he believed the Devil. “...but the entire front of my mind was taken up by the enormity of what he’d said. My mother dead? He might as well told me that there was a new ocean where the Rockies had been. But I believed him. On some level I believed him completely, as we always believe, on , on some level the worst thing our hearts imagine.” (page 56, King). Now that he’s old, he wonders if the devil will come back, if all the good stuff that he did in his life was for nothing. Always believe in the unexpected or impossible, even if you don’t think it’s real. Gary definitely believed that he saw the devil, and made his mom go back to church after what happened. “Sometimes I remind myself that it was not I not my father, who finally coxed my mother back to church later that summer.” (page 69, King). Overall loss of the innocence was the main part of the theme, along with, Dan was a good person, Gary lived a good life and believe in the unexpected or impossible.
The theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is that bad things can happen to good people. There are many pieces of evidence in the story that show innocent people going through awful things in their life that they don’t deserve. This also ties in with the, “life isn’t fair” and “loss of innocence” themes. Some examples of “bad things can happen to good people” include how Dan died, where they were in the forest, and Gary’s visit with the devil. Firstly, Gary’s brother, Dan, died of a bee sting. Gary’s father was carrying Dan in from the west field with his shirt wrapped around Dan’s head. In the story, King states, “...Dan’s face, which had swelled and turned color.” which shows that Dan had died of suffocation, or his throat closing from the sting. Dan was just a boy who wanted to play in the woods that day, when he lost his life. This example shows the theme that bad things can happen to good people. Another example that shows the theme in the story is the fork in the stream. King writes, “I’ve never told anyone about what happened at the fork in the stream that day…” Which shows that Gary had not gone past the stream, but saw the devil at the fork of it. This shows that no matter which was Gary would have went, something bad would’ve still happened. In real life, this represents that no matter which path you take, or what decisions you make, there will always be trouble and struggle either way. This shows the theme because it represents that life isn’t fair. Lastly, a third example of theme in this story would be when the Devil visits Gary. Gary was a good person that simply went fishing, and something terrible happened. A quote that shows this in the story is, “Please don’t hurt me.” When Gary starts lying to his parents after seeing the devil, he loses his innocence. With all these examples, Stephen King shows that the theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” is that bad things can happen to good people. Some other themes that are shown in the short story are life isn’t fair and loss of innocence.
The theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is loss of innocence, based on how Gary lies to his parents, and takes the family bible without his mother’s knowledge in the story. First, after seeing the devil in the woods, Gary lies to his father about the man, which he never would’ve done before. This is evident when King says, “I could never lie to my father when he asked a direct question-not to save his life or mine.” This shows that Gary never lied to his father before. In the short story, Gary tell his father that the man he saw in the woods had a gun, when, in fact, he did not. “Inspiration struck like an illuminating lightning-bolt. ‘I think he had a gun,’” King wrote. Gary gave his father false information to persuade him not to go into the woods, but lied to him for the first time nevertheless. This means Gary is losing his innocence. On top of that, Gary steals the family bible when he goes with his father into the woods, and keeps this a secret from his mother. When Gary’s father finds out he took it without his mother knowing, all he says is, “‘Then we’ll hope she doesn’t spot it gone before we get back. Come on. And don’t drop it,’” (King, 66). Instead of acknowledging that he shouldn’t hide things from his mother, Gary goes along with his father and keeps it a secret, showing that he is no longer an innocent child. In conclusion, when Gary lies to his parents and takes the family bible without his mother’s knowledge, Stephen King conveys the theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” as loss of innocence
I believe that the theme of the “Man in The Black suit” is loss of innocence. The story takes place in Maine three years before world war one and after Gary’s brother died. Examples leading to this idea for theme include his brothers death. Not many children see their dead brother when they are young because that kind of thing doesn’t happen often. Another explanation for loss of innocence would be that Gary sees the devil in the woods and the Devil tells him that his mother is dead. As the story continues, Gary becomes more and more afraid of what will happen until he gets home to see his parents. His father wants to go and get his rod and creel and Gary takes the family bible to protect himself. When father asks him what he saw, Gary said that the man had a gun. His father went to the stream anyway and saw dead grass in the shape of a man. Gary’s dad realizes that the devil was there and that he had taken Gary’s other fish. His dad threw the creel down the river so his mother would not question the smell of burnt matches. In conclusion the things Gary experienced that day made him lose his innocence.
While reading Stephen King's short story "The Man in the Black Suit" I figured that the theme is loss of innocence. The setting is in Castle Rock, Maine in the year 1914. This is a year after the main character's brother Dan died and three years before World War 1. This story is told from the point of view in the main character Gary when he is in his nineties. When he was nine he was going fishing down at Castle Stream. He had fallen asleep and was woken up by a bee landing on the tip of his nose. Someone clapped behind him and the bee tumbled off his nose and died. When he looked behind him there was a man with fiery eyes and talons as fingernails. This man was the devil. The devil was chasing him and after his encounter with the devil, he started lying. He has stolen the Bible, lied to his father, passed where the stream splits, and he has to tell himself he is a good person. He is now scared that the Devil will get him after he dies because he lost his innocence and he isn't sure if he has done enough to be protected. Also, this story is connected to World War 1 which can be called The Great War or A War to End All Innocence. This war didn't need to happen and it made World War 2 possible. This story is placed before World War 1 because it shows that worse things are yet to come. The war didn't accomplish much in the end either. These are reasons why the theme of this short story is loss of innocence.
"The Man in the Black Suit" is a short story written by Stephen King, this story takes place in Castle Rock, Maine. The theme of the story is loss of innocence. "The Man in the Black Suit" was taken place In 1914, between two sad times, Gary’s brother’s death the year before, and 3 years before World War 1. The story is told by Gary, a man in his nities and is telling the story as a flashback when he was nine. When Gary was nine he was pretty shaken up by coming face to face with the Devil. The only reason that all of this story uncoils, is because Gary goes beyond the boundaries where his mom said not to go past, where he said that he was not going to, and not going past the fork in the stream, but he did, so this is where the antagonist showed up, the devil, more known as a lier, the reason why the devil shows up is because he lied, this is where Gary loses his innocence. Then comes more lies and bad things, first is where Gary said that the man had a gun, next is that he stole the family bible, then he later on after the flashback told himself that he is a good person, and should never fear the devil. After the following reasons, Going past the fork in the stream, lying to his father, stealing the family bible, and telling himself that he is a good person. In conclusion the theme of "The Man in the Black Suit" is the loss of innocence.
"The Man in the Black Suit," is a short story written by Stephen King. this story takes place in Castle Rock. The theme of the story is loss of innocence. A couple of exMples to prover this statement are; Dan's death and Gary's visit from the devil. The first reason was Dan's death from a bee sting. Dan was a good man and had done nothing wrong in his life. One day his father was sobbing and he was carrying Dan from the west field, with his shirt over his swelled and colored face. In minutes he had been gone from a single bee sting. This reason illustrates that bad things can happen to innocent people. The second reason was Gary's special visit from the devil. Gary lived a very good life, he believes in God, he goes to church, and he's done nothing wrong. That day at the house Candy Bill would not follow Gary to fish. Little did he know soon after he was able to escape his own death from the devil. Gary then lies to his dad about the so call "gun" and lies to both his parents about not seeing the devil is when he loses innocence. In conclusion Stephen King shows how life isn't always fair and bad things can happen to innocent people, therefore the theme is loss of innocence.
The theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is loss of innocence and how innocence cannot be restored once it is lost. This short story shows that bad things can happen to good people. “The Man in the Black Suit” is a flashback of 90 year old Gary who is writing about an event from when he was only nine years old. The setting is the summer of 1914, three years before World War I, in Castle Rock, Maine. First of all, World War I relates to a loss of innocence because many innocent people were forced into fighting in the war. During the war they experienced many unforgettable memories that caused them to lose their innocence. Secondly, Gary lost his innocence when he witnessed seeing the devil. Gary sprinted away as fast as he could. Nowadays, he can’t run as fast because he has no more strength left in him. He is afraid that the devil will come back and haunt him. He will never forget the devil’s face. In the story it states, “A man in his nineties should be well past the terrors of his childhood, but as my infirmities slowly creep up on me, like waves licking closer and closer to some indifferently built castle of sand, that terrible face grows clearer and clearer in my mind’s eye.” This quote proves that he shouldn’t still be terrified because it has been 81 years, but he still is. He is fearful of the man in the black suit and he will never forget about him and how he scarred him for the rest of his life. Lastly, after Gary lost his innocence, he lies to his father. In the story it states, “I could never lie to my father when he asked a direct question.” This quote confirms that before Gary lost his innocence he would always tell the truth no matter what. After he loses his innocence he continuously lies to his dad. Gary lies and says that the devil had a gun. He also lies by saying that he had only caught one fish. In reality, he had caught two fish, a rainbow and a brookie, but the devil ate the brookie. Gary and his father also kept secrets from the mom. They didn’t tell her that Gary had took the Bible. They also lied to her by saying that they couldn’t find the creel. In all, with these examples, it proves that the theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is the loss of innocence.
In “The Man in the Black Suit”, a short story by Stephen King, the theme that is eluded to throughout the entire story is ‘the loss of innocence’, which is hinted at through Gary’s lying and his encounter with the devil. The story takes place in 1914 in the backwoods of Castle Rock, Maine, a year after the death of Gary’s brother and three years before the start of World War I; a war that is meant to symbolize the loss of innocence, itself. Gary decides to go fishing at the stream in the woods, and is told to not go past where the stream forks. Despite this, he disobeys his parents’ orders and goes pass the stream fork to catch a bigger fish. It is there where he eventually has his encounter with the devil, traumatizing him so badly that it still haunts him well into his nineties. Not only this, but after his encounter, he begins to lie to his parents in order to justify why he’s so terrified. “‘Please don’t. He was a scary man.’ Inspiration struck like an illuminating lightning-bolt. ‘I think he had a gun.’” Gary lies to his own father just to make him seem more believable, which is when he starts to show that he’s no longer as innocent as he once was. This is further backed up when he decides to take the bible with him when going back into the woods, and telling his father to not tell his mother. In conclusion, “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is a story about losing innocence, and life isn’t always fair to those who are good.
I think the theme of "The Man In The Black Suit" has something to do about making life choices. In this story Gary's dad tells him to not go past the fork in the road, but he does anyway. He made the choice of going down one path instead of the other. This shows that if you don't take choices than you wont discover anything new. Like in the story Gary discovers the man in the black suit. The man in the black suit than lied about how Gary's mother was killed by a bee sting and Gary ran away. In that case I think he made the wrong choice. You cant live life without making choices because its important.
ReplyDelete"The Man in the Black Suit" is a story written by Stephen King, is a story that takes place in Castle Rock, Maine where an old man tells the story of how he once met the devil. I believe that this short story symbolizes the loss of innocence.
ReplyDelete"The Man in the Black Suit" takes place in 1914, three years before World War I. Gary, a man in his nineties, tells us the story of how he saw the devil through a flashback. At nine years old, Gary, still shaken up from the death of his brother Dan, went fishing by himself and was told not to go any further than where the stream splits. He ignores what he was told and fishes past his boundaries. He fades into sleep while fishing and was awoken by a bee. The cause of his brother's death was a bee sting, so Gary was quite afraid. The bee falls motionless on his lap once he heard a clap as loud as thunder. He looks in the direction of the sound and sees what he thought was the devil. After the devil claims that Gary's mother has died from a bee sting and Gary runs home with the devil right on his tail, Gary runs through the right hand of the wheelrut in the road and no longer sees the devil behind him. He runs to his father and admits he was past the split of the stream. He told his first lie to his father and says this man has a gun. Gary and his father both go back into the woods and Gary steals the family bible to bring with him. Gary's father takes the creel and rod with him back home when he thought something was still in the woods. After the flashback, Gary explains that he tells himself he is a good person, and he shouldn't fear the devil.
Gary going past where the stream splits, lying to his father, stealing the bible, and having to tell himself that he is a good person is evidence that this experience with the devil scarred him and made him lose his innocence. Therefore, I believe the theme of this story is loss of innocence,
In the story,"The Man In The Black Suit" by Stephen King, the theme off the story would be fear because Gary was scared to death by a long tall creature in the woods with long talons and fire coming out of his brains. He also knows now at his old age he's valuable.
ReplyDeleteThis story by Stephen King took place in Castle Rock,Maine in 1914, three years before WWI and one year after his brother Dean died of a bee sting. When he starts he's in a retirement home in his 90s. He was terrified as a child of bees because of his brothers death. He believes he saw the devil as a nine year old in the woods near his house. It all starts with a rhyme and then this creature came up to him and started to taught him. This has to be such a frightening experience for a young child like Gary. Then he rambles on about his mother being killed by a bee. Now he's just plain scared. So the devil smells the big fish that he caught hours earlier. He recalls him opening his jaw unhumanly large and ate the 19" fish whole. Dream or no dream, that's scary. So after his "hallucination" he ran back to town screaming, crying and just plain petrified. He goes to see his father and then he tells him that mom is dead because of a bee sting. His dad turns around and says that shes fine. Poor Gary has lost his fishing pole made of bamboo, has had an obvious traumatizing experience and now he's trying not to lie to his father. Gary runs inside, hugs his mom and his dad starts asking questions as of what happened. After some interrogating they go back to the woods and he has the bible which took from the house and brougut it with him. It tirns out he wasn't wrong. The fish that he caught were eatin'. There was a noise in the woods and they got out of there. Fast forward 80 or so years and he's still somewhat terrified of that moment in time in which he and some malvelent creature came face to face.
Therefore, I believe the theme of this story is fear.
The theme of “The Man in the Back Suit” by Stephen King, is the loss of the innocence. Some examples from the story to support loss of the innocence are Dan was a good person, Gary lived a good life and believe in the unexpected or impossible.
ReplyDeleteDan, Gary’s brother was a good person. He absolutely did nothing wrong, as Gary said in the story. Here are some details about him “She smiled , but it was that worried kind of smile she always seemed to make since my father brought Dan back from the west field in his arms. My father had come sobbing and bare-chested. He had taken his shirt off and draped it over Dan’s face, which had swelled and turned color.” (page 48, King) Just from one bee sting, on an unlucky day. In the matter of minutes he was gone, and had done nothing wrong to deserve it.
Gary had lived a good life but for only one reason. He had barely escaped his death and would never forget it. He had know it right as he looked at him, the Devil, whatever he said was alive. But for some reason he believed the Devil. “...but the entire front of my mind was taken up by the enormity of what he’d said. My mother dead? He might as well told me that there was a new ocean where the Rockies had been. But I believed him. On some level I believed him completely, as we always believe, on , on some level the worst thing our hearts imagine.” (page 56, King). Now that he’s old, he wonders if the devil will come back, if all the good stuff that he did in his life was for nothing.
Always believe in the unexpected or impossible, even if you don’t think it’s real. Gary definitely believed that he saw the devil, and made his mom go back to church after what happened. “Sometimes I remind myself that it was not I not my father, who finally coxed my mother back to church later that summer.” (page 69, King).
Overall loss of the innocence was the main part of the theme, along with, Dan was a good person, Gary lived a good life and believe in the unexpected or impossible.
The theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is that bad things can happen to good people. There are many pieces of evidence in the story that show innocent people going through awful things in their life that they don’t deserve. This also ties in with the, “life isn’t fair” and “loss of innocence” themes. Some examples of “bad things can happen to good people” include how Dan died, where they were in the forest, and Gary’s visit with the devil.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, Gary’s brother, Dan, died of a bee sting. Gary’s father was carrying Dan in from the west field with his shirt wrapped around Dan’s head. In the story, King states, “...Dan’s face, which had swelled and turned color.” which shows that Dan had died of suffocation, or his throat closing from the sting. Dan was just a boy who wanted to play in the woods that day, when he lost his life. This example shows the theme that bad things can happen to good people.
Another example that shows the theme in the story is the fork in the stream. King writes, “I’ve never told anyone about what happened at the fork in the stream that day…” Which shows that Gary had not gone past the stream, but saw the devil at the fork of it. This shows that no matter which was Gary would have went, something bad would’ve still happened. In real life, this represents that no matter which path you take, or what decisions you make, there will always be trouble and struggle either way. This shows the theme because it represents that life isn’t fair.
Lastly, a third example of theme in this story would be when the Devil visits Gary. Gary was a good person that simply went fishing, and something terrible happened. A quote that shows this in the story is, “Please don’t hurt me.” When Gary starts lying to his parents after seeing the devil, he loses his innocence.
With all these examples, Stephen King shows that the theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” is that bad things can happen to good people. Some other themes that are shown in the short story are life isn’t fair and loss of innocence.
The theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is loss of innocence, based on how Gary lies to his parents, and takes the family bible without his mother’s knowledge in the story.
ReplyDeleteFirst, after seeing the devil in the woods, Gary lies to his father about the man, which he never would’ve done before. This is evident when King says, “I could never lie to my father when he asked a direct question-not to save his life or mine.” This shows that Gary never lied to his father before. In the short story, Gary tell his father that the man he saw in the woods had a gun, when, in fact, he did not. “Inspiration struck like an illuminating lightning-bolt. ‘I think he had a gun,’” King wrote. Gary gave his father false information to persuade him not to go into the woods, but lied to him for the first time nevertheless. This means Gary is losing his innocence.
On top of that, Gary steals the family bible when he goes with his father into the woods, and keeps this a secret from his mother. When Gary’s father finds out he took it without his mother knowing, all he says is, “‘Then we’ll hope she doesn’t spot it gone before we get back. Come on. And don’t drop it,’” (King, 66). Instead of acknowledging that he shouldn’t hide things from his mother, Gary goes along with his father and keeps it a secret, showing that he is no longer an innocent child.
In conclusion, when Gary lies to his parents and takes the family bible without his mother’s knowledge, Stephen King conveys the theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” as loss of innocence
I believe that the theme of the “Man in The Black suit” is loss of innocence.
ReplyDeleteThe story takes place in Maine three years before world war one and after Gary’s brother died. Examples leading to this idea for theme include his brothers death. Not many children see their dead brother when they are young because that kind of thing doesn’t happen often. Another explanation for loss of innocence would be that Gary sees the devil in the woods and the Devil tells him that his mother is dead. As the story continues, Gary becomes more and more afraid of what will happen until he gets home to see his parents. His father wants to go and get his rod and creel and Gary takes the family bible to protect himself. When father asks him what he saw, Gary said that the man had a gun. His father went to the stream anyway and saw dead grass in the shape of a man. Gary’s dad realizes that the devil was there and that he had taken Gary’s other fish. His dad threw the creel down the river so his mother would not question the smell of burnt matches. In conclusion the things Gary experienced that day made him lose his innocence.
In the Man in the Blvk suit we learn how a young child innocence is ripped from his eyes within seconds.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading Stephen King's short story "The Man in the Black Suit" I figured that the theme is loss of innocence. The setting is in Castle Rock, Maine in the year 1914. This is a year after the main character's brother Dan died and three years before World War 1. This story is told from the point of view in the main character Gary when he is in his nineties. When he was nine he was going fishing down at Castle Stream. He had fallen asleep and was woken up by a bee landing on the tip of his nose. Someone clapped behind him and the bee tumbled off his nose and died. When he looked behind him there was a man with fiery eyes and talons as fingernails. This man was the devil. The devil was chasing him and after his encounter with the devil, he started lying. He has stolen the Bible, lied to his father, passed where the stream splits, and he has to tell himself he is a good person. He is now scared that the Devil will get him after he dies because he lost his innocence and he isn't sure if he has done enough to be protected. Also, this story is connected to World War 1 which can be called The Great War or A War to End All Innocence. This war didn't need to happen and it made World War 2 possible. This story is placed before World War 1 because it shows that worse things are yet to come. The war didn't accomplish much in the end either. These are reasons why the theme of this short story is loss of innocence.
ReplyDelete"The Man in the Black Suit" is a short story written by Stephen King, this story takes place in Castle Rock, Maine. The theme of the story is loss of innocence.
ReplyDelete"The Man in the Black Suit" was taken place In 1914, between two sad times, Gary’s brother’s death the year before, and 3 years before World War 1. The story is told by Gary, a man in his nities and is telling the story as a flashback when he was nine. When Gary was nine he was pretty shaken up by coming face to face with the Devil. The only reason that all of this story uncoils, is because Gary goes beyond the boundaries where his mom said not to go past, where he said that he was not going to, and not going past the fork in the stream, but he did, so this is where the antagonist showed up, the devil, more known as a lier, the reason why the devil shows up is because he lied, this is where Gary loses his innocence. Then comes more lies and bad things, first is where Gary said that the man had a gun, next is that he stole the family bible, then he later on after the flashback told himself that he is a good person, and should never fear the devil. After the following reasons, Going past the fork in the stream, lying to his father, stealing the family bible, and telling himself that he is a good person. In conclusion the theme of "The Man in the Black Suit" is the loss of innocence.
"The Man in the Black Suit," is a short story written by Stephen King. this story takes place in Castle Rock. The theme of the story is loss of innocence. A couple of exMples to prover this statement are; Dan's death and Gary's visit from the devil.
ReplyDeleteThe first reason was Dan's death from a bee sting. Dan was a good man and had done nothing wrong in his life. One day his father was sobbing and he was carrying Dan from the west field, with his shirt over his swelled and colored face. In minutes he had been gone from a single bee sting. This reason illustrates that bad things can happen to innocent people.
The second reason was Gary's special visit from the devil. Gary lived a very good life, he believes in God, he goes to church, and he's done nothing wrong. That day at the house Candy Bill would not follow Gary to fish. Little did he know soon after he was able to escape his own death from the devil. Gary then lies to his dad about the so call "gun" and lies to both his parents about not seeing the devil is when he loses innocence.
In conclusion Stephen King shows how life isn't always fair and bad things can happen to innocent people, therefore the theme is loss of innocence.
The theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is loss of innocence and how innocence cannot be restored once it is lost. This short story shows that bad things can happen to good people.
ReplyDelete“The Man in the Black Suit” is a flashback of 90 year old Gary who is writing about an event from when he was only nine years old. The setting is the summer of 1914, three years before World War I, in Castle Rock, Maine.
First of all, World War I relates to a loss of innocence because many innocent people were forced into fighting in the war. During the war they experienced many unforgettable memories that caused them to lose their innocence.
Secondly, Gary lost his innocence when he witnessed seeing the devil. Gary sprinted away as fast as he could. Nowadays, he can’t run as fast because he has no more strength left in him. He is afraid that the devil will come back and haunt him. He will never forget the devil’s face. In the story it states, “A man in his nineties should be well past the terrors of his childhood, but as my infirmities slowly creep up on me, like waves licking closer and closer to some indifferently built castle of sand, that terrible face grows clearer and clearer in my mind’s eye.” This quote proves that he shouldn’t still be terrified because it has been 81 years, but he still is. He is fearful of the man in the black suit and he will never forget about him and how he scarred him for the rest of his life.
Lastly, after Gary lost his innocence, he lies to his father. In the story it states, “I could never lie to my father when he asked a direct question.” This quote confirms that before Gary lost his innocence he would always tell the truth no matter what. After he loses his innocence he continuously lies to his dad. Gary lies and says that the devil had a gun. He also lies by saying that he had only caught one fish. In reality, he had caught two fish, a rainbow and a brookie, but the devil ate the brookie. Gary and his father also kept secrets from the mom. They didn’t tell her that Gary had took the Bible. They also lied to her by saying that they couldn’t find the creel.
In all, with these examples, it proves that the theme of “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is the loss of innocence.
In “The Man in the Black Suit”, a short story by Stephen King, the theme that is eluded to throughout the entire story is ‘the loss of innocence’, which is hinted at through Gary’s lying and his encounter with the devil.
ReplyDeleteThe story takes place in 1914 in the backwoods of Castle Rock, Maine, a year after the death of Gary’s brother and three years before the start of World War I; a war that is meant to symbolize the loss of innocence, itself. Gary decides to go fishing at the stream in the woods, and is told to not go past where the stream forks. Despite this, he disobeys his parents’ orders and goes pass the stream fork to catch a bigger fish. It is there where he eventually has his encounter with the devil, traumatizing him so badly that it still haunts him well into his nineties. Not only this, but after his encounter, he begins to lie to his parents in order to justify why he’s so terrified.
“‘Please don’t. He was a scary man.’ Inspiration struck like an illuminating lightning-bolt. ‘I think he had a gun.’”
Gary lies to his own father just to make him seem more believable, which is when he starts to show that he’s no longer as innocent as he once was. This is further backed up when he decides to take the bible with him when going back into the woods, and telling his father to not tell his mother.
In conclusion, “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King is a story about losing innocence, and life isn’t always fair to those who are good.