1. Plot
This story is about four young boys who go on the hunt for a dead body. It is told at a quick, action-packed pace with interruptions for the narrator's reminiscences. These interruptions take a look at the boys' adventure through a older, much more mature eye. These analyses of the narrator's younger days help the reader to realize that this is a rite of passage story. "There's a high ritual to all fundamental events, the rites of passage, the magic corridor where the change happens", and the narrator only realizes this after the events have long been past. As the young boy Gordie, he only sees it as a trip that he and his buddies are going to make during the last stretch of their summer. This plot of finding a dead body seems to symbolize the boy's finding themselves, and at the same time finding the "dead innocence" within themselves. Over the course of two days, they engross themselves in deep conversation and childlike rough-housing all at the same time. The plot is an element of this story which is hardest to explain, because it is complex, just as the feelings that Gordie was experiencing were.
2. Point of View
"The Body" is told in first person point of view. This is important to the emotion of the story. If someone who had not experienced all that Gordie had, they would not be able to display it with such conviction as to make the reader feel it themselves. Also, Gordie is older, and tells the story of his younger days, which are twenty years past. This gives him a new perspective on what happened during the two days he went on a trip to find a dead body. This point of view reveals less about the inner workings of Chris, Vern, and Teddy as would an omnicient point of view, but it also gives it the feel of being told a story by someone real. Obviously, Stephen King is not Gordie, but the story feels like something that really could have happened. It is impossible to look back on memories, as the narrator does, and not see how you've changed. And so the reader is discovering all of these long lost memories and new angles on them at the same time as the author.
3. Characterization
Most of the characters are revealed through Gordie's understanding of them. Gordie himself seems like a pretty typical boy, although the reader knows that he has a very interesting mind by the way he is able to make up intricate stories. Gordie describes Chris as the tough guy of the group, but his true character is also revealed through his interactions with other characters. He is the first to comfort Teddy, he tried to return the lunch money he had stolen, and he doesn't want to hold Gordie down with their friendship. These elements of his character show him to be sensitive. Teddy reacts poorly to Milo Pressman when he calls his father crazy, he defends his father and is proud of his service on the beaches at Normandy, and he always dreams of joining the armed forces. This shows that he is not spiteful of his father, even though he burned him badly, and feels that others should be as appreciative as he is. Vern is an odd character, and there doesn't seem to be a deepness about him as there is with Chris and Teddy. He is an odd kid, always digging for pennies, and he is a scaredy-cat, always running from danger when they are faced with it. All of the characterization is done through either Gordie's opinions of his friends, or his viewing of how they react to others and how others reacts to them.
4. Setting
The setting of this story is Labor Day weekend of 1960. It is summer time, and the weather is on an incredibly long hot streak. The story is set in small town Maine, where not everything is developed and stretches of raw nature can still be found. All of these elements are important to the story. The fact that it is Labor Day means that the school year is coming soon. These characters do not have much time left to make adventures such as this one, and so they want to get it done while they can. 1960 was also a much calmer time. Neigborhoods were less scary and parents where more likely to not worry when they didn't see their children for two days, as long as they "knew" where they were. The hot weather makes the journey that much more difficult, showing the boys yearning to see the dead body of Ray Brower. And the fact that they are venturing into barely explored territory means that they will be completely on their own. All of these elements mean that these boys are leaving behind all comfort, all certainty that they will be safe, in an attempt to mature themselves and enjoy some time together to grow up.
5. Theme
The theme of this short story is that death is always something in the future, and so you must live while you can. The boys go to discover this body, thinking that it will be a cool adventure and something that they will be able to say they've experienced. But when they actually see the body of Ray Brower, they are silent and reverant. Seeing someone your own age who is dead is a rude awakening. It made the characters, especially Gordie, realize that they are not immortal and it could have just as easily been them. Gordie sums it up best when he says that "the kid was can't, don't, won't, never, shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't." All of those things which we as human beings plan on experiencing but put off for another time might not come to be. Gordie realized the sorry truth about death- that it means not getting to live. It sounds like a simple and obvious thing, but by live I mean experience all of the things there are to experience in life. Make a way for yourself, fall in love, get in trouble, all of those things. And so the theme of this novel is important to it's overall meaning because it gives the reader the idea to hold on to while they read about the adventure.
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