Posted by
Amanda Minter
| Posted on
3:07 PM
Should Louis have listened to Victor
Pascow's warning to not go up to the burial grounds?
While Louis was on his first day at work, a man bleeding from his head is rushed into Louis' office. The man was hit by a car and flung at a tree. His name is Victor
Pascow and dies within minutes of entering Louis' office. Louis wants to help him but is in shock from what Victor manages to say to him.
"And this time, as clear as the words of a speaking parrot or a crow whose tongue had been split, the words were unmistakable: 'It's not the real cemetery.' The eyes were vacant, not-seeing, rimmed with blood: the mouth grinning the large grin of a dead carp" (King 74).
"'The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis,' the dying man whispered. 'A man grows what he can . . . and tends it'" (King 74).
Louis is stunned and Victor dies shortly after talking to him. Then later on in the night, Louis is woken up from a deep sleep when he hears a loud crash. When he gets up, he sees Victor standing at the door.
"He stood there with his head bashed in behind the left temple. The blood had dried on his face in maroon stripes like Indian warpaint. His collarbone jutted whitely. he was grinning" (King 83).
Victor takes Louis to the pet
cemetery where Jud had taken him a few days before. He stops at the
deadfall in the woods.
"The deadfall from which Jud Crandall had called Ellie in alarm had become a heap of bones. The bones were moving. They writhed and clicked together, mandibles and femurs and ulnas and molars and incisors; he saw the grinning skulls of humans and animals. Finger bones clittered. here the remains of a food flexed its pallid joints" (King 86).
He warns Louis to not go over the
deadfall no matter what happens.
"'The door must not be opened,' Pascow said. he was looking down at Louis because Louis had fallen to his knees. There was a look on his face which Louis at first mistook for compassion. It wasn't really compassion at all; only a dreadful kind of patience. Still he pointed at the moving pile of bones. 'Don't go beyond, no matter how much you feel you need to, Doctor. The barrier was not made to be broken. Remember this: there is more power here than you know. It is old and always restless. Remember'" (King 87).
Louis doesn't listen to Victor, because he thinks it's only a dream, even though he wakes up the next morning with his feet covered in dirt and pine needles seemingly proving it wasn't. However, he still cannot bring himself to believe it wasn't a dream. If Louis would have listened to Victor's warning about the deadfall, would there have been a chance that Gage would not have been killed by a truck? If it was true that the cemetery brought Louis in because of the night that Jud brought Louis to the cemetery to bury Ellie's cat, could the whole situation have been prevented by not doing this?
Posted by
Amanda Minter
| Posted on
1:51 PM
Was Gage's death Jud's fault? If Jud hadn't brought Louis to the burial ground would all that have happened?
Jud knew the power of the burial ground and still brought Louis to it to bury Church Ellie's cat. Not only that, but also he did not ask if it was alright. Jud knows what can happen when a person is buried in the Micmacs Burial grounds. Jud didn't know Gage would be run over but still he knew what could happen because he knew that the burial grounds' power pulled people in. He brings Louis to it only because Louis saved Norma's life and he wanted to do Louis a favor. He also thought it could help teach Ellie a lesson. However, given Jud's past experience with Timmy
Baterman, why would he want to risk anything like that?
After Gage's death, Jud realizes that it was a mistake to bring Louis to the burial grounds.
"'...It's an evil, curdled place, and I had no business taking you up there to bury that cat. I know that now. It had a power; you'll beware of it if you know what's good for your family and what's good for you. I wasn't strong enough to fight it. You saved Norma's life, and I wanted to do something for you, and that place turned my good wish to its own evil purpose. It has a power . . . and I think that power goes trough phases, same as the moon. It's been full of power before, and I'm ascared it's coming around to full again. I'm ascared it used me to get to you through your son. Do you see, Louis, what I'm getting at?' His eyes pleaded with Louis. 'You're saying the place knew Gage was going to die, I think.' Louis said. 'No, I am saying the place might have Gage die because I introduced you to the power in the place. I am saying I may have murdered your son with good intentions, Louis'" (King 275).
Jud tries to warn Louis not to do anything stupid like trying to bring back his son in the burial grounds. He tells him the story of Timmy
Baterman, a tale of how Mr.
Baterman brought back his son Timmy after Timmy had been killed in war. He talks about how Mr.
Baterman moved Timmy's body from the
cemetery where he was buried to the Micmac burial
grounds. He then talks about Timmy's complete transformation. Timmy walks down the road night after night and becomes a demon creature of some sort. He tells of how Timmy is now evil and talks of only hate and bad things.
"'It was only the bad it wanted to talk about though. it was only the bad it wanted us to remember because it was bad . . . and because it knew we meant danger for it. The Timmy Baterman tat went off to fight the way was nice, ordinary kid, Louis, maybe a little dull but goodhearted. The thing we saw that night, lookin up into taht red sun . . . that was a monster. Maybe it was a zombie or a dybbuk or a demon. Maybe there's no name for such a thing as that, but the Micmacs would have known was it was, name or no'" (King 273).
Then Jud tells Louis the dramatic conclusion, with Timmy's father shooting both himself and Timmy in the chest and then burning the house down. He tries to scare Louis into not even thinking of trying to bring back his son, then leaves and lets Louis think to himself. After Gage's funeral, Louis does indeed dig his son's body up and brings him back. Jud tries to wait and stay up to stop Louis from doing it because he has a feeling that was going to happen, but Jud falls asleep. Was it Jud's fault for not at least attempting a little more to stop Louis before he brings back Gage?
Posted by
Amanda Minter
| Posted on
12:28 PM
Was it wrong for Jud to just bring Louis to the
burial ground without telling him about it first or giving him a chance to change his mind?
Jud brings Louis to the
burial ground presumably as a favor for saving his wife's life during
Halloween. However, he soon reveals to Louis that this is not entirely the truth.
"'... You do it because it gets hold of you. You do it because that burial place is a secret place, and you want to share the secret, and when you find a reason that seems good enough, why . . .' Jud took his hands away from his face and looked at Louis with eyes that seemed incredibly ancient, incredibly haggard. ' Why then you just go ahead and do it. You make up reasons. . . they seem like good reasons . . . bust mostly you do it because you want to. Or because you have to...'" (King 168).
Norma, Jud's wife, had a heart attack and Louis helped her. When Jud finds Louis' daughter's cat Church dead, he feels like he owes it to Louis to bring Louis to bury his cat so it will be revived. He doesn't tell Louis what is going on until they get to the burial ground, in which he just says to bury the cat and explains what will happen and does happen the next day.
Should Louis get the right to pick the choice of whether or not he wants to bring back Church? Jud knows that when Church is brought back, he will be radically different, including a smell of rotting earth and soil. Jud had brought back his pet Spot when he was younger and has already lived the experience he puts Louis through. Jud was brought to the burial ground without being told the full details of what would happen. When his dog Spot is brought back, he has to deal with the changes.
"'But the second or third time I called him, he came. He sort of jerked toward me, and when I let him out onto the porch, damned if he didn't run right into the side of the door and just about fall over. He ate the scraps though, just wolfed them down. By then I was over my first fight and was starting to get an idea of what had happened. I got on my knees and hugged him, I was so glad to see him. Then he licked my face, and . . .' Jud shuddered and finished his beer. 'Louis, his tongue was cold. Being licked by Spot was like getting rubbed up the side of your face with a dead carp'" (King 163).
Not only will Louis have to deal with this new Church but also the fact that he is lying and
keeping secrets from his family. Jud also risks Louis' family finding out and getting upset over the whole scenario. When Church is brought back, Ellie never fully loves him the same way she did before his death.
"Elle no longer wanted Church to sleep with her, that was true, but sometimes when she was watching TV, she would let the cat hop on her lap and go to sleep. But just as often, he thought, hunting through the bag of plastic widgets that were supposed to hold Ellie's Bat-Cycle together, she would push him down after a few minutes, saying, 'Go on, Church, you stink'" (King 186).
However, because of his new actions and smell, Ellie doesn't love him as much, which means she no longer becomes upset at the thought of him dying.
"'If he died now, I could take it,' she said, and then seemed to consider the thought she had just spoken aloud, as if mildly started. then said said, as if agreeing with herself: 'Sure I could.' And with that went to find Rachel" (King 201).
This leads to an easier explanation of death to Ellie, even though Jud doesn't tell Louis things work out okay. Was it right to take a risk like that on Louis' family? Was what Jud did for the best?
Posted by
Amanda Minter
| Posted on
12:12 PM
Do you think Louis had a right to bring back his dead son?
Louis loses his son Gage to a large
Orinco truck while he was playing keep away from his parents. Louis' family fights depression and sadness. His daughter Ellie won't talk and carries a picture of her and her brother everywhere she goes. Rachel can't even get the date straight. She also can not sleep and has to take pills. Louis can't comfort his family because he can't handle it himself. He just keeps re-picturing the accident over and over and wishes he could have saved Gage. Louis had a lot of bad things happen to him before losing his son, including losing Norma, Jud's wife, who was a person the kids looked to as a grandma. She was one of Louis' friends and it was hard for him to go to her funeral. Also, Louis loses his daughter's cat Church to a car. Victor
Pascow was another person Louis loses. Victor is Louis' first patient at his new job and he loses him within minutes.
"This young man in the red gym shorts began to shudder all over. Suddenly he seemed to freeze with every muscle locked. His eyes lost their vacant expression momentarily and seemed to find Louis's eyes. Then everything let go at once. There was a bad stink Louis thought he would, must speak again. Then the eyes resumed their vacant expression . . . and began to glaze. The man was dead" (King 75).
He goes through a lot of stress with moving in and is forced to cope with all the loss. Does he deserve to get back his son? Louis, throughout the novel, seems to love his son as much, if not more, than the rest of his family. He talks about his feelings toward him many times.
"'Ktye flyne!' Gage cried out to his father, and Louis put his arms around Gage's shoulders and kissed the boy's cheek, in which the wind had bloomed a wild rose. 'I love you, Gage' he said it--it was between the two of them, and that was alright" (King 224).
Was it wrong for a father to try and bring back the son whom he loved so much? If you were put in this position, what would you do?
Posted by
Amanda Minter
| Posted on
11:59 AM
Is it right for Louis and Rachel to keep death hushed around their children? Or does Ellie deserve to know the truth about what could happen?
Two of the strongest themes of the novel
Pet Semetary by Stephen King are loss and the reality and inevitability of death. Louis Creed struggles to deal with the death of his daughter Ellie's cat Church. Church is hit by a car and is in his neighbor Jud's yard and he leads Louis up into the forest into Micmac
burial grounds to bury it. Later that day, Louis finds that the cat is brought back from the dead, but doesn't tell his family about anything that happened.
"Church wasn't supposed to get killed because he was inside the magic circle of the family" (King 121).
Louis is in denial about the loss of Church and can't understand why it had happened. Just recently before Church's death Louis tried to explain to his daughter Ellie that Church could die and the concept of death when really Louis doesn't seem to handle it himself. Ellie is upset after going to the
pet cemetery and begins questioning death and if her cat will die. His wife Rachel wants to keep everything hushed about death because she doesn't want to upset Ellie and because she has a bad past with death.
"The way she was crying in there just now," Rachel said, gesturing toward the door to his office with a batter-covered spoon, " do you think it's just a pet cemetery to her? It's going to leave a scar, Lou. No. She's not going up there anymore. It's not the path, it's the place. Here she is already thinking Church is going to die" (King 53).
Both Louis and his wife Rachel struggle with telling their children about the overall concept of death. Is it wrong to keep such things a secret from Ellie? Remember, Ellie is only in kindergarten and doesn't know any better. Also, Rachel has a bad past with death as well. She hasn't coped with the loss of her sister Zelda. Rachel is still tormented years and years later. Can she really be expected to tell her daughter about something she can't grasp?
"I knew that her ghost would hate me like she did, but her ghost wouldn't be stuck in bed, so I screamed.. I screamed and I ran out of the house screaming 'Zelda's dead! Zelda's dead! Zelda's dead!' And the neighbors . . . they came and they looked . . . they saw me running down the street with my blouse all ripped out under the arms . . . I was yelling 'Zelda's dead!' Louis, and I guess maybe they thought I was crying but I think . . . I think maybe I was laughing, Louis. I think maybe that's what i was doing" (King 207).
