Tomorrow morning, before you begin work on your final essay and annotated bibliography, we will revisit Stephen King‘s “Strawberry Spring” and discuss the answers to your collaborative exercise on the story.
For that exercise, I asked you to determine whether you could identify any details that indicate why the narrator may have murdered any of his victims. Although there is no indication that the narrator knew Gale Cermann, Adelle Parkins, or Marsha Curran, he did know Ann Bray, which he reveals after he tells the readers that she was editor of the school newspaper: “In the hot, fierce bubblings of my freshman youth I had submitted a column idea to the paper and asked for a date–turned down on both counts” (275). Though the narrator’s rejection by Ann Bray could have motivated him to murder her, the fact that the other victims were virtual strangers to him indicates that the phenomenon of Strawberry Spring itself awakens his killer instinct
I also asked you to identify words and phrases that illustrate how the story is not only a horror story but also a commentary on war, the Vietnam War in particular, and the Vietnam era. I offered these examples as models:
- King’s description of the snow sculpture “caricature of Lyndon Johnson” (269) signifies the derisive responses to the President’s Vietnam War policy.
- The description of the snow sculpture “caricature of Lyndon Johnson” (King 269) signifies the derisive responses to the President’s Vietnam War policy.
Some of the words and phrases you may have identified include these:
- Civil War cannons (269, 275, 282)
- the dove “lost its frozen feathers” (269)
- the fog (269, 270, 272, 277, 279, 280)
- “who had been drafted” (273)
- SDS (276), Students for a Democratic Society
- quagmire (277)
- “a series of draft protests and a sit-in” (281)
- “well-known napalm manufacturer . . . holding interviews” (281)
I also asked you to try to identify the two literary allusions in King’s story. The first is an allusion to J.R.R. Tolkein‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy: “You half expected to see Gollum or Frodo or Sam go hurrying past” (269). The second is an allusion to a poem by Carl Sandburg, titled–perhaps unsurprisingly–“The Fog” (272).
Pop Quiz
Rather than listing the answers to yesterday’s quiz, I have followed each question below with a note regarding where to find the answer. By finding the answers yourself, you will learn more than you would from simply reading them in a list.
- What did you learn about Stephen King from the author’s page that you read for today’s class? See the author’s page on King’s website.
- What is a primary source? See the class notes for March 12.
- Name one primary source that you have read for class. See the class notes for March 12.
- What is a secondary source? See the class notes for March 12.
- Name one secondary source that you have read for class. See the class notes for March 12.
Your quiz also included two bonus opportunities. For the answers to those questions, see the class notes for March 13.
Be sure to write notes in your journal on all of your readings, including the notes posted on my blog. Before each class begins, take out your journal and review your notes. That will increase your knowledge of what you read and ensure that you will earn high grades on your pop quizzes.
Next Up
At the beginning of tomorrow’s class, we will continue our discussion of “Strawberry Spring.” Afterward, you will have the remainder of the period to devote to your preliminary work for your final essay and annotated bibliography. Details TBA.
Jane Lucas 