The Reach By Stephen King Analysis

In the short story “The Reach,” Stephen King addresses the fact that in life there is a constant fear of death, but when confronted with it is easier to accept when someone has seen many deaths and knows that they are dying themselves. The narrator of the story knows that she is dying and, being an elder, has seen many deaths. We reach this conclusion when she questions the love she has for others and no longer cries when others die around her anymore. She has seen many deaths in the years and can only accept that death is inevitable and a part of life. Mostly everyone she grew up with has passed on already.

We can see the way that she is careless of death when she finds a frozen dead sparrow on the ground and throws it into the incinerator without much thought. This is also the first time that she realizes that her own death is approaching by the appearance of her late husband, who then provokes her to cross the reach on several occasions. She was hesitant of her own

death at first and later began to accept it as she started to respond to the ghosts of her past. It is not until she starts to cross the reach that she really truly accepts it.
There are different representations of death shown in the story. At the beginning, we see a dry, cold winter where everything is brown and dead. This is where a lot of the accidental deaths occur. The one man falls through ice on the reach and is swept away, never to be seen again. This death was not predicted and, knowing this, can be seen as an unaccepted death. The man who died did not get a chance to accept his death. This decaying winter can represent all deaths where in the person did not get to come to terms with their death. At the middle to the end, we see the snow start and quickly become blizzard conditions. This is where we see the character get caught in white out conditions. The color white represents purity and acceptance, as the brown catches the eye as decay.
The main character knew she was dying and that the end of her life was coming closer.

At first she is hesitant and delays until the point where she sees that she can no longer keep making excuses for herself to not go. She eats a full meal and makes sure to wrap herself in warm clothing before she leaves. She also takes the time to say goodbye to the town in a last glance. As she goes, the weather conditions worsen and she is caught in a state of disorientation. She becomes scared and unsure of what is to happen until she reaches a state of comfort (which happen to be the group of ghosts from her past.) This just shows the reality of the fear of death. We, as humans, are afraid of death and the unknown, but that shouldn’t stop us from accepting it.

Overall, Stephen King is trying to make a point that death is acceptable and that people should not fear it as much as they do. Death should be treated as a part of life. This story goes from self-doubt and hesitation to the acceptance of the

inevitable.