'The Body' Reading Journal #2

'The Body' Reading Journal

             In the beginning, I was reluctant to read ‘The Body’. The reason was that ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, another novella by Stephen was incredibly good and I didn’t expect that much fun from ‘The Body’. However, my prediction was completely wrong. ‘The Body’ was fun as much as the previous novella I read. It wasn’t just about the story, structure, or the description. It was about Furthermore, it gave me some very interesting and important morals to think about.

             The reason I liked the “The Body” was because it was very similar to the experience that I had when I was fifteen and was very interesting to compare what Gordon felt in the book. The experience I had happened in the ski resort. When I was fifteen, I went skiing with three of my best friends. Driven with the vigor and competitive spirit, we started to race down the slope, not paying a careful attention to where we were going. About an hour later, four of us were in a middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and trees. It was getting dark. It was terrifying at first, but together, we went through the wood for few hours and found our way into the lodgings. It was a very heart-thumping and dangerous experience, but it was also an unforgettable chance to bond and realize the friendship I had with my friends. Of course, the adventure I had wasn’t as life-threatening, planned, and solemn as the adventure Gordon had. However, the way Gordon felt towards his friends was very much similar. Especially, the scene where Gordon and Teddy fought and the talk between Chris and Gordon comforting each other were alike. Bringing out the old memories and mixing it with the imagination from the book was another new world of reading and became a primary factor of enjoying the novella.

             The second reason of my high praise towards “The Body” comes from the morals that I received from the book. The most important and controversial moral that book passed on was a moral about ‘real friendship’. In the novella, Gordon says “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve.  Jesus, does anyone?”  I don’t really agree with the ‘twelve’ part. In my opinion, the reason that Gordon mentioned ‘twelve’ is because friends are never so open and sincere towards each other after that age. I think that is partially correct. Still, I think that friends can be as open as the age of twelve until they become adults. This thought threw me a question about ‘real friendship’. Is the ‘real friendship’ all about being open and sincere? I have various values towards friendship like trusting or loyalty, but I came to a decision that sincerity is the most important value. If friends are not true to each other, they won’t be able to satisfy any other categories that I value. Other than this, “The Body” gave me much to think about like ‘what kind of friends should I get along with’. Think over and over, the morals were another big factor for me to enjoy the work.

             All in one, “The Body” was a completely different experience from the “The Shawshank Redemption”. While “The Shawshank Redemption” was more tense and spine-tingling, “The Body” was more philosophical and heart-warming. I personally enjoyed “The Body” more and would like to recommend it to anyone at my age pondering about what a real friend is.