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Hello there, Tigers of China South.... 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. Have fun, and be great!
The big question asked is what is the theme of “The Man in the Black Suite?” Well, I’ve dug deeper and looked at the creepy details from Stephen King’s story to form the theme.
ReplyDeleteThe overall theme would be to move on after things get rough. The “devil” showing up was a dream and a message from Gary’s brother Dan telling him to move on and not to keep worrying about Dan’s death. The family is so worried and upset over Dan’s death, especially his mom. For example, a quote in the story says “My father gave me a whole list of chores to do, including some that would have been Dan’s, if he’d still been alive. He was my only brother, and he’d died of being stung by a bee. A year had gone by, and still my mother wouldn’t hear that.” Part of that quote, led to the man in the woods lying to Gary about his mother’s death. When the man told Gary this I think it was Dan’s way of showing how overwhelmed his devastated family is. The fact that Gary’s mom ended up being alright after all just shows that he doesn’t need to worry. I think the fork in the river and the poem in class about the Road Untaken symbolizes what Gary did and what he could have done. Like, one road for moving on and the other for having that sadness linger over Gary and his Family about Dan’s death. When the man in the woods was first introducing himself to Gary he said “Are we well-met, fisher boy?” Dan was a person Gary knew very well. Just right after those very words Gary told us “The voice that came out of me did not tremble, but it didn’t sound like my voice, either. It sounded older. Like Dan’s voice.” That quote makes a relation to Dan, as if it were a hint Dan was sending a message in that dream. Before, the man in the woods even comes there is a bee flying around Gary’s face and he was getting so worried because of what happened to Dan. For instance, “This was a special be, a devil bee and it had come back to finish the other of Albian and Loretta’s two boys.” This shows how paranoid Gary is. Also the story taking place right before World War 1 is showing that something will happen, just like the bee flying around Gary is showing that something will happen. For example, that thing would be the man meeting him in the woods.
Overall, I think this story was meant to say when something unfortunate happens, to just let it go. I think it was a message from Dan to his family to move on because he wanted them to be happy.
Peter Caissie
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In The Man in the Black suit by Stephen King, the theme is that bad things happen to good people.
This is true because the main character, Gary experienced a number of misfortunes throughout the story. One of these was the death of his brother Dan "including some that would have been Dan's, if he'd still been alive" (Stephen King). And there is also the fact that Gary was chased through the woods by a man who was trying to eat him
In conclusion, the theme of The Man in the Black Suit is bad things happen to bad people
"The Man in the Black Suit" theme is a loss of innocence. Gary lies to his parents after he met the devil even though he claims he had never lied before. When his father wanted to go back into the woods to get his rod and creel Gary said "I think he had a gun." which is obviously a lie. Gary told his father that he might of fell asleep when he was by the stream. It was for the intention however that he thought he was protecting his father. As well when his father asked him if he lost his pole Gary responded with "No sir" even though he threw his pole at the devil when he was attempting to run away from the devil. Gary had lied throughout the story time and time again, after he meets the devil he losses his innocence.
ReplyDelete“The Man in the Black Suit” has an old and creepy theme. This is because the story is told in flashback form which adds to the old feeling of the story. Many symbols also contribute to making the theme scary such as, the fork in the river that represents a snake’s tongue. Another symbol is the woods and how it represents the unknown. The reason Stephen king made the theme of this story scary is to add more of an effect when the devil makes his appearance.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of the story is that even when a scary event is over, true fear still lives within. This is the theme because this was a very scary event for Gary, that has a lot of bad memories within. Such as it being the first time he lied to his dad, and him thinking his mom had died. He also chose to wait 81 years to write this book, stating that every day he ponders whether or not he really saw the devil.
ReplyDeleteA theme from “The Man in the Black Suit” is that once innocence is lost it is gone for good. Gary thinks that he is innocence, he said that he had never done anything wrong he went to church, made his mom go back to church.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe the theme of "The Man in the Black Suit" is the loss of innocence, but more of the fear of the unknown. Gary tells the story when he is an old, terrified man. He believes that he only escaped the devil by either luck or skill. At the end of the story, he is frightened by the possibility of death. He wonders if he will go to God, whom he has prayed to all his life, or will the man in the Black Suit return to take him away, now that he is too old to run away from him again? So the theme would be the fear of the unknown. The man in the black suit is an unknown, as well as Gary's fear of what waits for him when he dies.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many themes in “The Man In The Black Suit” are lies. In the short story, the Gary starts off with a clean record of no lies, but when the devil shows up, he tells a lie to the the boy, the lie being that his mother was stung by a bee. After running away and escaping the devil, the boy then tells his father the mother is dead, but the dad disagrees, Gary then tells his dad about the man in the woods, as the gets ready to pursue him, Gary lies and says that he had a gun, he did this to protect his dad, but he still lied, and lost his innocence right after meeting the devil. Lies are what the is, and what he portrays, and Gary has finally learned that.
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