From: frantz@bvc.edu
Newsgroups: alt.horror
Subject: Re: Gerald's Game (was re: psychological)
Date: 22 Jul 92 09:13:38 CDT
Organization: Buena Vista College, Storm Lake, IA

In article <22490@oasys.dt.navy.mil>, obusek@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Brenda Obusek) writes:
> In alt.horror, kmrobert@nyx.cs.du.edu (Kevin Roberts) writes:
>>        Hmmmm... I actually never thought of this book possibly being more
>>successful with woman... Dunderheaded of me, true. I just honestly never got
>>to like the woman and never much cared about anything that happened to her.
>>
> On the subject of Gerald's Game's appeal to women ...
> 
> My personal opinion is that every woman in any King novel has been severely
> underdeveloped and stereotypical. I can't recall any woman from any
> of his books having any kind of career or interest of her own, only
> things that centered around "her man." I'm no flaming feminist or anything,
> but if you really think about this point, I think you'll find it's true.
> Jessie in Gerald's Game is no exception. Her entire life had been centered
> around her husband.
> 
> I choose to overlook this flaw in King's literary style however, because
> I do enjoy his books. I enjoyed Gerald's Game a lot, and even enjoyed
> the ending, which many of you think was too drawn out. I felt that finding
> out that the ghoul was real made him that much more frightening to me.
> I've caught myself a couple of times since reading the book waking up
> in the middle of the night and looking at the closet, remembering the
> imagery that I had had while reading those sections.
> 
> I do agree however, that I didn't ever develop any feeling for Jessie,
> in fact I got to where I really didn't like her at all .. she was reduced
> to a sniveling whiner in my mind by the end, but again, I did enjoy
> the book.
> 
> Brenda O'Busek                       |     "Today is only yesterday's
> obusek@oasys.dt.navy.mil             |      tomorrow"
> 				     |
> Advanced Information Systems         |                      U. Heep
> Carderock Division, Naval Surface    |
> Warfare Center                       |


	I agree that a lot of King's women are underdeveloped, though I 
think two good exceptions to that are Mother Abigail in The Stand and now 
Jessie in Gerald's Game.  Mother Abigail is never seen in terms of "her 
man" but emerges as a strong entity of her own creation.  Jessie is unique, 
though, and I think she deserves a bit more credit than you're giving her.  
King works hard to illustrate a great deal of oppression in Jessie's life--
she has indeed been dominated and defined by all of the men who surround 
her--but King allows her to begin to emerge from that at the end of 
Gerald's Game when she defies the lawyer and spits in the bsd guy's face.  
I think the reader is allowed to see only the beginning of her strength, 
but we know it's coming.  Unlike you, I did care about Jessie, though I 
wasn't always sure that I liked her all that much.  I applaud King's 
ability to get into the mind and soul of a female character with that 
amount of depth and be able to maintain the level of realism he does.  
Having worked with a lot of abuse victims myself, I caught a great deal of 
authenticity in Jessie's voice and appreciated King's courage to deal not 
only with abuse but also a lot of subtle oppression every woman faces at 
one point or another in her life.

Andrea @ BVC
Newsgroups: alt.horror