Catherine Rivera
The Reach - Blog Option 2
In
“The Reach” by Stephen King the supernatural comes to life in the form of a
ghost. Stella Flanders is the main
character, and her husband George haunts her throughout the story. She is an older woman, and she often daydreams
about her past. She has a deep
fascination and fear of the reach. The reach is the sea between the island she
lives on and the main land beyond. She
has never crossed the reach and even in her old age she remains weary of
it. George comes back as a ghost and he
beckons her to join him on the reach. The following paragraphs contain pieces of
songs that have the same superstitious vibe that exists in “The Reach.”
The
group The Gun Club wrote a song called “Ghost on the Highway,” and its
lyrics can be used to accompany a scene in “The Reach.”
You're
a ghost on the highway
You're
like straw and meaningless
I hate you but I love you
I'll
carry that to the end
Oh,
you lost on the highway
You're
lost on the highway
This song fits with the scene when Stella meets her ghost husband on the frozen
reach. Both the song and the story
involve places that contain supernatural beings. In both pieces the sense of love is
suppressed by a feeling of doubt and dread.
There are also references to being lost in both pieces. The characters are emotionally lost, and they
quickly become physically lost as well.
Stella seems to lose her sense of reality when she enters the reach, and
she loses her life to the bitter cold.
In the
song “Ghost” by Michael Jackson the ghost that he describes haunts him the way
that Stella’s ghost haunts her.
There's a
tappin in the floor
There's a
creak behind the door
There's a
rocking in the chair
But
nobody's sitting there
There's a
ghostly smell around
But
nobody to be found
This song fits
the scenes when George’s ghost haunts Stella, but she cannot prove to anyone
that he exists. Michael says
he can hear and smell the ghost, but he lacks physical proof of the ghost’s
existence. Stella knows her husband is
no longer alive but she still feels his presents. George talks to Stella, and he eventually
convinces her to take a walk on the reach.
In both
the story “The Reach” and the song by Kid Cudi called “Ghost,” the characters
are forced to face their fears of supernatural beings that dwell in dark and
unknown places.
I tried to fight, but soon gave in
Went down a road with no lights on
You should tell a friend and tell a friend to
tell a friend
This song fits
the scene when Stella tries to fight her urge to cross the reach, but she
eventually gives in. Just like in the
song Stella ends up in the middle of nowhere in the freezing cold. She should have told someone that she was
leaving her house but maybe she instinctively knew that this would be her last
adventure into the unknown.
Jason
Aldean’s song “I Believe in Ghosts” infers that a strong memory can grow into a
hallucination.
Well I'm
haunted by a memory
That
won't leave or let me go
Call me
crazy and I may be
But I
believe in ghosts
Is Stella
really seeing her husband’s ghost or is she just hallucinating? Maybe the memory of her husband is causing
her to think she can hear his voice.
Stella might be haunted by the memory of her loved one rather than a
“ghost.” In the song Jason is singing
about an ex-girl friend who left him.
His song emphasizes how powerful memories can be and that they can lead
people to see things that do not exist.
Stella may have wanted to go to the reach all along, so she convinced
herself that her ghost husband also wanted her to go the reach.
Little
Big Town’s song “Tornado” describes the weather in the same terrifying way that
it is described in “The Reach.”
Thought
you'd change the weather
Start a
little storm
Make a
little rain
But I'm
gonna do one better hide the sun until you pray
I'm
a tornado looking for a soul to take
This
song fits the scene at the end of the story when Stella is overcome by the
blizzard, and she dies in the cold. Stella becomes
disoriented late at night on the frozen reach, and she cannot find her way back
home. The weather becomes more than an
interesting thing to look at; it become an unnerving force that can easily take
people’s lives. In the song the tornado
embodies an angry spirit also looking for souls to take.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl
No comments:
Post a Comment