Austin Taylor
Ms. Sterling
Advanced Placement Language and Composition
12 January 2015
Pet Sematary by Stephen King Summary
When Louis Creed and his family move from Chicago to Ludlow, Maine, a small town where Louis becomes the new university campus doctor, the first person they encounter is Jud Crandall, the neighbor across the highway. Jud is a man in his late 70s/early 80s, who has lived on that road all of his life. He warns the Creed family that the road is very dangerous, and because of the big oil rig trucks that fly by, many pets’ lives are taken on it and they should watch their cat (named Winston Churchill or “Church”) very closely. Louis’ daughter, Ellie, falls off her tire swing and scrapes her knee, while discovering a trail
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Louis’ wife, Rachel is very hesitant, because she isn’t sure if it would be safe for Ellie and her little brother, 2 year old Gage, to wander through the woods on a muddy path. Jud assures Rachel that all the kids come down the path, and keep it nice and trimmed. He tells Ellie that the path is a lot like life and if she “keeps on the path, all’s well . . . you get off it, and the next thing you know, you’re lost . . .” (41) Rachel still is not content with the idea, but the beauty and grandeur takes her mind off it. Soon, they reach what the trail leads to, a “Pet Sematary” made by the kids of Ludlow for years. Jud shows them around, pointing to humorous grave stones, and even where he buried his dog in 1914. Rachel, whose encounters with death are horrific and traumatizing, doesn’t like the idea of Ellie and Gage being surrounded with death at their age. Jud says later to Louis that the cemetery is where kids really get their first experience on coping with death, and that it is a good thing that kids use and tend to …show more content…
Not long after they leave, Jud calls and says there is a dead cat at the edge of his lawn. Church was hit by a truck at some point in the middle of the night and froze. Louis sacks up the cat and goes to put it in the garage when Jud suggest something else, which they travel to the mysterious Micmac Indian burial grounds. The grounds hold a supernatural power to resurrect anything that is buried there. The only way to get to the burial grounds is through the fallen brush at the edge of the Pet Sematary, which Pascow forbade Louis to cross. Nonetheless, both Jud and Louis make the journey and bury the cat. On Louis’ way back up, he notices Church waiting for him back up at the house, yet something different is about him. What used to be a mellow, loving kitty is now a malevolent, hostile, and violent feline. Jud explains that the Micmac stopped using the burial grounds because the ground “went sour” and causes things to come back, as inhumane beings bloodthirsty for flesh, telling the story of his dog that he buried at the Micmac grounds. The rest of the family comes back from the trip, and the only noticeable thing is that the cat is terribly stinky and Ellie will not sleep with Church
The Mother is among a family of four who lives on a small farm and takes immense pride in what interests her, however her passion does not particularly lie in her two children; James and David; nor in her husband and their interests; but instead lies within her chickens. Though chickens bring the most joy to the Mother, they are not the sole animals that live on the farm. The animal that draws the most interest from the father, James and David is their horse, Scott. At a young age, Scott was used as a working mule for the family and grew up alongside the Father and two Sons. To the father, Scott was like one of his own sons, and to James and David, Scott was like their brother; but according to the Mother, “He’s been worthless these last few years”(Macleod, 267). Ever since Scott was young, he was a burden on the Mother’s lifestyle; she never took a liking to the horse even when he served as a source of profit for the family. The Mother had never appreciated the sentimental value that Scott possessed because he had never been a particular interest to her. Once Scott had aged and was no longer able...
Throughout the novel, crucial family members and friends of the girl that died are meticulously reshaped by her absence. Lindsey, the sister, outgrows her timidity and develops a brave, fearless demeanor, while at the same time she glows with independence. Abigail, the mother, frees herself from the barbed wire that protected her loved ones yet caused her great pain, as well as learns that withdrawing oneself from their role in society may be the most favorable choice. Ruth, the remote friend from school, determines her career that will last a lifetime. and escapes from the dark place that she was drowning in before. Thus, next time one is overcome with grief, they must remember that constructive change is guaranteed to
In Of MIce and Men Lennie often wants to pet nice things his favorite being a piece of velvet his aunt gave him. All throughout the story as Lennie pets the things he find soft he kills them because he doesn't realise he's petting a little too hard. “ I like to pet nice things.” (John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, 1937) “Lennie went back and looked at the dead girl. The puppy lay close to her.” When Lennie looks back at the dead girl or Curley's wife he realizes he has done a bad thing like before with the puppy. Through the death of the puppy and the mice John Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to show how Curley’s wife will die. Lennie always kills the things he pets by
“Miss Brill was glad that she had decided on her “fur” for that Sunday afternoon in the park. Her little friend she wore around her neck would be the perfect companion to enjoy such a beautiful day. After going to the park and sitting down, Miss Brill wishes to talk with the other people sitting about, but they never make a sound, though after this she admits to listening to their conversations. “She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn’t listen, at sitting in other people’s lives just for a minute while they talked round her.” Within moments, Miss Brill is commenting on other people: The old people who sat on the benches like statues, the little children running here and there, a beautiful woman accidentally dropping violets on the floor, and once a little boy picks them up and tries to...
In the book, Stein tells; the life story of Denny; the life and death of his wife, Eve; and the battle for his daughter, Zoe, through the eyes of Denny’s dog, Enzo. Enzo begins the book telling how he is ready to die. He believes that once a dog is finished with his life as ...
Silas is a voice of wisdom and a mentor to Bod. Bod is also taught by Miss Lupescu, a wolf-woman who teaches Bod some deeply important lessons that end up saving his life. Combined with friends like Liza Hempstock, the graveyard witch, and Scarlett Perkins, Bod’s human friend, Bod’s experiences are very much shaped by his friends and teachers. The Graveyard Book can be compared to the Harry Potter series for its supernatural elements and orphaned protagonist. Bod’s family, like Harry Potter’s, was killed by a murderer who continues to hunt down and search for the member of the family who escaped being killed. While Bod’s biological family never raised him, he has the spirits in the graveyard, a non-traditional family who also serve as his friends and teachers. However, his adventures a created from his own choices, and are hardly influenced by the guidance or suggestion of his parents. Themes of community, friendship, and family abound in this story of growing up and boyhood. The Graveyard Book upturns the traditional idea of home and
to the Pet cemetary. Louis answers her honestly and later Rachel and him have an
Furthermore, is a summarization of the main points in “The Black Cat.” “The Black Cat” is about a man who always loved animals since he was little, but as he aged he started drinking. He then tortured his favorite pet cat, Pluto after he was getting annoyed with his presence. He goes as far as gouging out its eye before he hangs it in an old tree. Later on, his house burnt down and the outline of the cat was left on the only standing wall left by the fire. After he and his wife get a new home, they soon found a new cat that looked just like the old one except it had white around its neck. The narrator starts to believe that the cat is mocking him, so one day he tries to kill the cat but his wife interferes, and he ki...
Marie’s grandparent’s had an old farm house, which was one of many homes in which she lived, that she remembers most. The house was huge, she learned to walk, climb stairs, and find hiding places in it. The house had a wide wrap around porch with several wide sets of stairs both in front and in back. She remembers sitting on the steps and playing with one of the cats, with which there was a lot of cats living on the farm...
...om her mother and transported to a pet store where she was locked in a cage until she was purchased by my friend Hailey. I want you to think about her excitement to have a home and Hailey’s excitement to have a new pet to love. Now I want you to think about Hailey receiving the devastating news that her puppy had to be euthanized and Daisy’s fear as she was taken from her owner’s hands and put to death.
... son, Louis, Jr. The cat becomes her surrogate child as the blue-eyed Fisher child became the surrogate child to Pauline Breedlove. The cat will die physically as Pecola will die mentally.
In Pet Sematary, there is a man named Louis, and him and his family had moved into a new village. While they were there their cat died, which led Louis’s new neighbor Jud Crandall takes Louis to this place called the Pet Semetary. Louis buries his cat in the cemetery, as he is about to inform the family that the cat is dead, the cat is back from the grave but lifeless and hostile. Jud explains to Louis that if a pet is buried in the cemetery, they are reanimated and the will return home. Louis was wondering if there had been any
The presence of the two cats in the tale allows the narrator to see himself for who he truly is. In the beginning the narrator explains that his “tenderness of heart made him the jest of his companions”. (251) He also speaks of his love for animals that has remained with him from childhood into manhood. However, Poe contradicts this description of the narrator when he seems to become annoyed with the cat that he claims to love so much. While under the influence of alcohol the narrator is “fancied that the cat avoided his presence”(250) and as a result decides to brutally attack the cat. This black cat symbolizes the cruelty received by slaves from whites. The narrator not only “deliberately cuts one of the cats eyes from the sockets” (250) but he also goes on to hang the cat. Once the narrator successfully hangs the cat the tale begins to take a very dark and gothic-like turn. The racism and guilt of the narrator continues to haunt him once he has killed the black cat. Th...
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
Addie Bundren, the wife of Anse Bundren and the matriarch of a poor southern family, is very ill, and is expected to die soon. Her oldest son, Cash, puts all of his carpentry skills into preparing her coffin, which he builds right in front of Addie’s bedroom window. Although Addie’s health is failing rapidly, two of her other sons, Darl and Jewel, leave town to make a delivery for the Bundrens’ neighbor, Vernon Tull, whose wife and two daughters have been tending to Addie. Shortly after Darl and Jewel leave, Addie dies. The youngest Bundren child, Vardaman, associates his mother’s death with that of a fish he caught and cleaned earlier that day. With some help, Cash completes the coffin just before dawn. Vardaman is troubled by the fact that his mother is nailed shut inside a box, and while the others sleep, he bores holes in the lid, two of which go through his mother’s face. Addie and Anse’s daughter, Dewey Dell, whose recent sexual liaisons with a local farmhand named Lafe have left her pregnant, is so overwhelmed by anxiety over her condition that she barely mourns her mother’s death. A funeral service is held on the following day, where the women sing songs inside the Bundren house while the men stand outside on the porch talking to each other.