Ashley Adams
Blog Option #3
Coming from a small town myself, I immediately connected with the short
story “The Reach” by Stephen King. Where I’m from everyone knows everybody and
they all do what they can to help each other out and keep each other safe. That
being said, going to the extremes like the people in “The Reach” is not
something my town has personally done. I have however, heard about it. People taking
justice into their own hands is all over the news. When reading "The
Reach" by Stephen King, I couldn't help but notice the similarities in the
residents of the island and people today.
On August 15, 2013 a news article was posted on
CNN.com about a man in Detroit that was beaten up after his neighbors say that
he raped a 15 year old with Down Syndrome. The neighbors “decided they weren't
going to wait for police and prosecutors to act” and chased the man and beat him
with baseball bats. They felt the police were taking too much time to convict the
suspect, so they took justice into their own hands. This news story is just
like the scene in “The Reach” when Stella is recounting the incident when “the
town watched out for their own” (389). She remembers a man molested 3 girls
from the island and the next day the accused was found dead. The townspeople
say he just so happened to slip, fall, and break his neck (390). We can all
assume that this was no accident.
Unlike the neighbors in "The Reach"
however, some of the neighbors in Detroit did not agree with this vigilante
action. "They
are every bit as guilty as they believe he is" someone commented to the
reporters. According to Stella, no one on the island followed this mentality.
Things there just happened, and they let them. It was all a part of the
islanders taking care of their own, no matter what.
Every day, people get away with doing terrible
things. Sometimes, it catches up with them, and sometimes it doesn’t. Does this
mean we should take matters into our own hands? Or should we trust that
whatever happens, it happens for a reason? Who is the victim? Who is the guilty
one here?
King, Stephen. "The Reach.”
American Gothic Tales. Ed. Joyce Carol Oates. New York: The Penguin Group.
378-397. Print.
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