What Bothers Me About "The Stand" (SPOILERS)
Absinthe
Good Ole Poke wrote in message
<20001121193113...@ng-ca1.aol.com>...
>I've read "The Stand" a number of times, and love it. However, there are a
few
>teeny-tiny little things that bother me :-)
>
>1) This is my major nitpick. When Stu and Tom Cullen are making their way
>back to Boulder. Stu knew it was important that the members of the Free
Zone
>knew what happed in Vegas. He also wanted to get back to Frannie. And
he's a
>pretty smart dude. But he never thinks of picking up a radio in one of
those
>towns they stopped to try to talk to them. He's smart enough to drag a
movie
>projector across town to show Rambo 4, but a little CB?
Well, SK didn't think of it. Plain & simple. A writer has to draw on what
he/she knows... warp it, yes... but if one doesn't even have the thought
cross his/her mind to do that if they were in the same situation, its highly
unlikely that the character will either.
>
>2) When Larry is brought in front of the crowd in Vegas, I would have
thought
>that even though he knew he was about to die, there'd be one thing that
would
>be on his mind - even a little bit. And that is "Where is Nadine?" With
all
>that the two of them went through, and since she betrayed the Free Zone,
and
>since they found Harold's body, I would have thought that he would have
scanned
>the crowd for her. Or asked about her. Even once. (And I'm not even
gonna go
>into my Charlie Impening rant LOL).
I think after the cleansing walk & getting in touch with god and all that,
it would have been rather inappropriate for him to do such a thing. That &
something tells me he knew the answer in his mind (all that god stuff again)
already.
>
>3) Ralph claims that he's a baby when it comes to pain. Yet he lost 2
fingers
>in "the blast". And then he goes on a long walk (a day or two later) and
>there's no mention of him in pain, or needing medication, or even having to
>change bandages. Ralph is one of my favorite characters, but there seems
to be
>little about him (no background, really).
this is an excellent point. he seemed to come out of nowhere which is OK
for a character with little interaction with the MAINS, but he was much more
than that.
>
>4) Speaking of Ralph, there's definitely not enough Elise. Not even a
single
>description or line of dialogue.
>
>5) Of all the people that survived the plague, it seems that almost
everyone is
>white. I can only recall 3 African-American characters that survived the
>plague - Mother Abagail, Rat Man, and Richard Hoggins. I don't recall any
>Hispanics, or Chinese, or any other ethnic survivors in the USA.
Once again, people write about what they know. King wrote about a few of
the people who survived, but not all of them so you can throw in anyone you
want in your mind for the "background" people. Remember, King is from
Maine... not too ethnic there. he probably jsut didn't think to.
>
>Thoughts?
You have em! :-P
>
--
Heather
http://absinthe-green.com
Updated 11/20/2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I be Strokin'
Thats what I be doin'
- Clarence Carter
.
Absinthe
ald <10317...@compuserve.com> wrote in message
<3a1b4b3...@News.CIS.DFN.DE>...
>On 22 Nov 2000 00:31:13 GMT, goodo...@aol.com (Good Ole Poke)
>wrote:
>
>>I've read "The Stand" a number of times, and love it. However, there are
a few
>>teeny-tiny little things that bother me :-)
>>
>>1) This is my major nitpick. When Stu and Tom Cullen are making their
way
>>back to Boulder. Stu knew it was important that the members of the Free
Zone
>>knew what happed in Vegas. He also wanted to get back to Frannie. And
he's a
>>pretty smart dude. But he never thinks of picking up a radio in one of
those
>>towns they stopped to try to talk to them. He's smart enough to drag a
movie
>>projector across town to show Rambo 4, but a little CB?
>
>range of a CB radio, at least here in America, is only about 2.5
>miles, 5 with the best antenna, because the FCC limits them to 5 watts
>output. The *real* nit should be how Ralph was contacting people from
>further out earlier in the story. Of course, a Single Sideband CB is
>allowed to be 12 watts which, with the best antenna should be able to
>go about 12 miles, but there was no mention of them using SSB CBs in
>the story, and that's still way out of the range that Stu and Tom were
>from Boulder ;-)
>
>One other note, CB transmissions, like AM Radio transmissions, can
>bounce and go further, but this is highly unreliable.
>
>
>--
>ald
>reply via e-mail to a717 at erols dot com
Well, now, don't I feel sheepish! Re: read my post in same thread. I
completely forgot about Ralph's CB useage <g> oops, my bad! Nice point
about the range on the CB, though.
David Hendrix
knew, you were in alt.books.stephen-king on 22 Nov 2000 00:31:13 GMT,
saying something like this:
>I've read "The Stand" a number of times, and love it. However, there are a few
>teeny-tiny little things that bother me :-)
All of it is stuff that has never occurred to me before, but is very
compelling.
I doubt very much of it occurred to SK either.
>1) This is my major nitpick. When Stu and Tom Cullen are making their way
>back to Boulder. Stu knew it was important that the members of the Free Zone
>knew what happed in Vegas. He also wanted to get back to Frannie. And he's a
>pretty smart dude. But he never thinks of picking up a radio in one of those
>towns they stopped to try to talk to them. He's smart enough to drag a movie
>projector across town to show Rambo 4, but a little CB?
An excellent point, slightly negated by the later post about the range
of a CB radio.
But there are other modes of communication. How about cellular phones?
They were invented by 1990, the year in which the uncut is set,
weren't they? Seems like at least one cellular techno-person on both
sides would have survived the plague to fix up the transmitters...?
>2) When Larry is brought in front of the crowd in Vegas, I would have thought
>that even though he knew he was about to die, there'd be one thing that would
>be on his mind - even a little bit. And that is "Where is Nadine?" With all
>that the two of them went through, and since she betrayed the Free Zone, and
>since they found Harold's body, I would have thought that he would have scanned
>the crowd for her. Or asked about her. Even once.
Seems unlikely he'd think about her at the moment he's supposed to
die. But you're right, during the several hour drive back to Vegas
with Flagg's police, he could have broached the subject, to alleviate
the boredom of the ride, if nothing else.
I doubt anybody would give him an answer, though. That would have to
be one of those "taboo" topics in Flagg's zone.
>(And I'm not even gonna go
>into my Charlie Impening rant LOL).
I liked him. And would have appreciated at least one scene featuring
him talking to somebody in Vegas. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a
crucial, extremely important scene.
If The Stand's premise ever happened in real life, methinks there'd be
a lot more people like that in Boulder than just one. Seems like the
entire population would be a little freaked out there after a while,
and ponder going over to the side that has all the military hardware.
;)
>3) Ralph claims that he's a baby when it comes to pain. Yet he lost 2 fingers
>in "the blast". And then he goes on a long walk (a day or two later) and
>there's no mention of him in pain, or needing medication, or even having to
>change bandages.
I bet SK just plain forgot. I did.
>Ralph is one of my favorite characters, but there seems to be
>little about him (no background, really).
Just a "stock" Okie character -- he didn't seem to have any really
important role in this quest to play, like the other three did. All he
did was go to Vegas and get fried, basically.
Although, earlier, he did seem to be the one with the closest
relationship to Mother Abagail.
>4) Speaking of Ralph, there's definitely not enough Elise. Not even a single
>description or line of dialogue.
I'd forgotten her name. His late wife, I assume?
>5) Of all the people that survived the plague, it seems that almost everyone is
>white. I can only recall 3 African-American characters that survived the
>plague - Mother Abagail, Rat Man, and Richard Hoggins. I don't recall any
>Hispanics, or Chinese, or any other ethnic survivors in the USA.
Well, most SK characters are white, anyway. ;) I doubt he gave that
much thought, either -- but if asked, he might conjure up something
off the top of his head about some races just not having this
mysterious built-in immunity. Now that you have me thinking about it,
I don't think there were any Native Americans, either.
William E. Innes
David Hendrix <dhen...@libertybay.com> wrote in message
news:6bkm1tg6qkjur677o...@4ax.com...
Yeah, but I got the impression that there wasn't a lot of "updating" in the
unedited/uncut version.
The technology and popular culture references (for what King presumed the
nineties would be like) are
pretty much off base, way out there and not really in the ballpark in
reflecting the way things turned out to be.
THE STAND is a fine story, certainly captivating and engaging
(understatement of the year, I know).
But, upon reading it in the year 2000, much of it seems dated.
Which, of course, is the curse of much of King's work.
And that is why I will always contend that King is a damn fine and readable
writer.
But his penchant for having his work become so easily dated (and often for
the easy slam-dunk, quick fix)
is what often prevents him from being a GREAT writer.
However, I think that works such as THE GREEN MILE and (some of) HEARTS IN
ATLANTIS might gradually
begin to change his stature. If he keeps them coming with this sort of
quality, then who knows~perhaps the next five decades will change his
stature from good to great.
billyi
Good Ole Poke
teeny-tiny little things that bother me :-)
1) This is my major nitpick. When Stu and Tom Cullen are making their way
back to Boulder. Stu knew it was important that the members of the Free Zone
knew what happed in Vegas. He also wanted to get back to Frannie. And he's a
pretty smart dude. But he never thinks of picking up a radio in one of those
towns they stopped to try to talk to them. He's smart enough to drag a movie
projector across town to show Rambo 4, but a little CB?
2) When Larry is brought in front of the crowd in Vegas, I would have thought
that even though he knew he was about to die, there'd be one thing that would
be on his mind - even a little bit. And that is "Where is Nadine?" With all
that the two of them went through, and since she betrayed the Free Zone, and
since they found Harold's body, I would have thought that he would have scanned
the crowd for her. Or asked about her. Even once. (And I'm not even gonna go
into my Charlie Impening rant LOL).
3) Ralph claims that he's a baby when it comes to pain. Yet he lost 2 fingers
in "the blast". And then he goes on a long walk (a day or two later) and
there's no mention of him in pain, or needing medication, or even having to
change bandages. Ralph is one of my favorite characters, but there seems to be
little about him (no background, really).
4) Speaking of Ralph, there's definitely not enough Elise. Not even a single
description or line of dialogue.
5) Of all the people that survived the plague, it seems that almost everyone is
white. I can only recall 3 African-American characters that survived the
plague - Mother Abagail, Rat Man, and Richard Hoggins. I don't recall any
Hispanics, or Chinese, or any other ethnic survivors in the USA.
Thoughts?
ald
wrote:
>I've read "The Stand" a number of times, and love it. However, there are a few
>teeny-tiny little things that bother me :-)
>
>1) This is my major nitpick. When Stu and Tom Cullen are making their way
>back to Boulder. Stu knew it was important that the members of the Free Zone
>knew what happed in Vegas. He also wanted to get back to Frannie. And he's a
>pretty smart dude. But he never thinks of picking up a radio in one of those
>towns they stopped to try to talk to them. He's smart enough to drag a movie
>projector across town to show Rambo 4, but a little CB?
Snipped the rest 'cause I have nothing to add to it, but the effective
Alexis Machine
flagrant holes.
"Good Ole Poke" <goodo...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20001121193113...@ng-ca1.aol.com...
Tina
<billy...@prodigy.net> writes:
>THE STAND is a fine story, certainly captivating and engaging
>(understatement of the year, I know).
>But, upon reading it in the year 2000, much of it seems dated.
>Which, of course, is the curse of much of King's work.
>
I don't know if I would call it the curse of Stephen's work, it's the curse of
our times...technology moves so fast! I had to explain to my fourth graders
today what a "record player" was while we were reading "Tales of a Fourth Grade
Nothing."
Tina
ald
wrote:
>Well, now, don't I feel sheepish! Re: read my post in same thread. I
>completely forgot about Ralph's CB useage <g> oops, my bad! Nice point
>about the range on the CB, though.
>
>--
>
>Heather
Actually, I got to thinking about it further after I posted, IIRC it
said in the book that Ralph had juiced up the CB that he was using
from Boulder, which would make it go further. The other people,
though, wouldn't have had juiced up ones, so their range would have
been about what I said. Makes my apparent nit a little less valid, but
still it was implied that they were getting further range, since Ralph
said to Mother Abigail something about talking to another group that
should be in by the next day, and since they would have had to have
been travelling by vehicles to use a CB, that would imply a distance
of a *lot* more than 5 miles ;-)
Absinthe
You know, it has been so long since I read that book that I am surprised
that I remember *anything* at all! Must be a good book for me to recall
what I can <g>. I figure with the rads being blocked by dead cars with dead
people in them that a person travelling could probably only move a couple
hundred miles a day in ideal conditions (ideal being country roads,
pre-plague light traffic = less dead cars). Do you think a CB could be jury
rigged for a signal to travel that far (no clue about these things)?
Gary & lois Edwards
Absinthe <hmc...@nyc.rr.com> wrote in message
I figure with the rads being blocked by dead cars with dead
> people in them that a person travelling could probably only move a couple
> hundred miles a day in ideal conditions (ideal being country roads,
> pre-plague light traffic = less dead cars). Do you think a CB could be
jury
> rigged for a signal to travel that far (no clue about these things)?
If you aren't worrying about FCC chewing you like a bone and taking your
radio privileges away, (and a hefty fine if they can catch you) there is a
way to boost it big time. Also "if God is smiling on you" the atmospheric
conditions can cause a "skip" and make transmissions go far beyond anything
you could believe. The movie "Frequency" used that premise. My husband is a
CB nut. We've got three pickups, and there's a CB in two of them. Makes it
handy though, if he's out in the field and I have to call him and boys to
supper.
Lois E.
______________________________________________________________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Still Only $9.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
With Servers In California, Texas And Virginia - The Worlds Uncensored News Source
Tom
Is that anything like an 8-track Player? I'm going to be quiet now before I
date myself any further lol.
Outer1
--
~Always Expect The Unexpected~
Chaz
>
> Yeah, that's what I was talking about with Ralph "juicing" the one in
> Boulder. A couple hundred miles would be awfully extreme, I haven't
> heard of anyone being able to get anywhere near that without
> atmospheric skips, but you can rig them to do about 50 without any
> problems. The only problem with that is that most of us (me included)
> have no idea how to juice it up to do that, so I would assume that,
> other than Ralph, no one else in the stand did juice theirs up.
>
>
> --
> ald
Without Atmospheric skip a cb is limited to line of sight at best (horizon
to horizon. about 12 miles). If I remember correctly, Ralphe lived in a
house on the highest hill in Boulder. This gives him elevation and extends
his line of sight. This and a thousand watt ham radio amplifier ( a juicer
;0) might get you out about a hundred miles or so.
Someone earlier suggested using a cell phone. This would never work. Cell
phone networks are very complex and are the first lines of communication to
fail in a disaster.
Just some food for thought.
Chaz
ald
wrote:
>You know, it has been so long since I read that book that I am surprised
>that I remember *anything* at all! Must be a good book for me to recall
>what I can <g>. I figure with the rads being blocked by dead cars with dead
>people in them that a person travelling could probably only move a couple
>hundred miles a day in ideal conditions (ideal being country roads,
>pre-plague light traffic = less dead cars). Do you think a CB could be jury
>rigged for a signal to travel that far (no clue about these things)?
>
>--
>
>Heather
Yeah, that's what I was talking about with Ralph "juicing" the one in
Boulder. A couple hundred miles would be awfully extreme, I haven't
heard of anyone being able to get anywhere near that without
atmospheric skips, but you can rig them to do about 50 without any
problems. The only problem with that is that most of us (me included)
have no idea how to juice it up to do that, so I would assume that,
other than Ralph, no one else in the stand did juice theirs up.
Nushae S Fahey
>
> Someone earlier suggested using a cell phone. This would never work. Cell
> phone networks are very complex and are the first lines of communication to
> fail in a disaster.
Cell phones have limited range as well. They need the "masts" to actually
connect. I think that's the problem. All the masts in between must work.
Nushae S Fahey
--
Nushae's law: don't ever trust a message in which credentials are quoted
nushae at stack dot nl |\ | (" |"
Anything's good if it's made of chocolate... with hazelnuts. | \| _) |"
Matthias Wenigwieser
Nushae S Fahey wrote:
>
> On Thu, 23 Nov 2000 22:48:08 -0800, chocolate overdose made Chaz scream:
> >
> > Someone earlier suggested using a cell phone. This would never work. Cell
> > phone networks are very complex and are the first lines of communication to
> > fail in a disaster.
>
> Cell phones have limited range as well. They need the "masts" to actually
> connect. I think that's the problem. All the masts in between must work.
>
Not exactly. The call is received by the first "mast" and then
transferred to a "normal", traditional phone line. Otherwise signal and
data loss would be far too big. So, all you need is *one* "mast" near
you. And a still working net on the ground, obviously.
Matthias
Absinthe
Matthias Wenigwieser wrote in message <3A1EC7BF...@netway.at>...
Ah, but in The Stand, the power was out almost everywhere & chances of there
being a working mast around was highly unlikely. Telco networks are very
finicky & complex too... one power outage in one locationcan mean an outage
for a whole sector & too much time passed for backup power to last. I think
King took on *authors's licence* on the CB thing as is... nevermind cell
phones <g>