Figurative Language In Pet Sematary

An Analysis of Pet Sematary

Stephen King is known for writing an array of horror books, IT being his most popular. I believe that his other books are overshadowed by IT, especially Pet Sematary. Taking one’s grief and turning it against them is an interesting concept that is creatively used throughout the book. The road in front of Dr. Louis Creed's rural Maine home frequently claims the lives of neighborhood pets. Louis has recently moved from Chicago to Ludlow with his wife Rachel, their children and pet cat. Behind their house, local children created a cemetery for the animals killed by the highway many years ago. Farther in the woods lies another graveyard, an ancient Native American burial ground whose strange properties Louis discovers

First off, the theme is a central point of every story. I believe that Stephen King uses figurative language to convey that grief should not dictate one’s life. Throughout Pet Sematary, Louis continued fighting himself on whether or not he should go through with decisions, especially ones related to the Micmac burial grounds. This was most likely due to paranormal intervention, the wendigo were trying to kill Louis via picking off his closest relationships one by one. While Louis tries to dig up Gage, he is fighting whether or not he should be doing the things he was, and he thought, “going to break you out Gage, see if I don’t!” (King 304). Louis seems to believe that Gage is alive even before he resurrects him, forcing himself to want to dig up Gage like he will die if he doesn’t resurrect him. It took control of him so much he distanced himself from his family and even someone who was like a father figure to him, despite the warnings of what would happen. Moments before Louis digs up Gage’s grave, he thinks about it one last time,

In this story, Louis learns that not everyone deserves a second chance and that doing things alone only led him down a darker path, his grief took over him and because he was in such an isolated place, there was no one to check if his decisions were made in the right place. A connection I’m able to make between Pet Sematary and the world is that curiosity may not always be bad, but not entirely good either, like Einstein’s discovery on how to harness nuclear energy which has led to the creation of many destructive weapons which could make humanity go extinct. King teaches the reader a lesson about grief, how it can affect someone and cloud their judgment and why it is important to keep your head clear before making potentially life changing decisions, but also that leaning on others is okay because if the people you care about cannot help you, can you truly help yourself alone? Taking everything into account, Pet Sematary is one of Stephen King’s best books because he uses so many different techniques to make the reader feel immersed in the story of Louis Creed and the Micmac burying