Deborah
ENGL 3850-02N
Supernatural Lit
Dr. Coats
28 April, 1998
Eat Your Vegetables, Dear;
There Are Children Who Would Kill For What You're Refusing.
Well, now, who but Stephen King could begin a horrific fertilizer ad with a Lucy and Ricky Ricardo argument? Just goes to show you, folks. Wives, submit to your husbands (meaning let him do the driving and don't say 'I told you so' when you get lost on a back road in the middle of Nebraska.); Husbands, love your wives (meaning ask for directions when you get lost and DON'T take your eyes off of the road.). Parents, do not nag your children, lest they lose heart (and sacrifice you to the corn God).
The frightening thing about Stephen King's earlier short stories is, I believe, the distinct possibility that they could happen. Children could be gripped with religious fervor and rise up to slaughter all those who oppose their will. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio....The religious symbols begin the second they hit the boy and enter the twisted world that he so recently inhabited. The blood on the corn, the opposites of red blood and green corn, the whispering in the wind, the corn crucifix, the religious 'Burma Shave' type signs...all these things give the reader a growing sense of unease. The church (or as I call it, the Grace Baptist Church (Reformed)) is a nightmare parody of a child's perception of religion. There is no gray in their lives--only He Who Walks Behind The Rows and those who are blasphemers. But the 'God' is slipping in his power.
The way I see it, he's making two mistakes right now:
1) Children get bored with games that go on too long or begin to seem unfair.
2) If he keeps lowering the age of sacrifice, pretty soon there will be no one to serve him.
Plus, we've also seen a bit of dissension among the ranks. The girls who are bearing the next generation feel sad about their loves being taken by the corn. I feel that in a few years, the situation will become as volatile as the dry corn in fall. It will explode. Then again, I could be wrong.