The Body

The Body is a 1982 novella by Stephen King. It originally appeared in the collection Different Seasons and was adapted into the popular film Stand By Me in 1986. Set in the summer of 1960, The Body tells the story of four young boys who walk 20 miles to see a dead boy’s body near a river. This novella is different in tone from King's typical writing; he is a well-known modern icon of the horror genre, writing such classics as Carrie (1974), Firestarter (1980), Misery (1987), The Outsider (2018), and The Running Man (1982)..

Plot Summary

Gordon Lachance—who goes by Gordie as a child—narrates the story from an undetermined point in the future. A wealthy author, he uses stories to make sense of his past. He writes The Body to grapple with the events surrounding the death of Ray Brower, who was hit by a train.

As the story begins, Gordie’s friend Vern Tessio asks his him and two other friends, Teddy DuChamp and Chris Chambers, if they want to see a dead body near another town. Vern tells them that while he was hiding under his porch he overheard his older brother talking about the body’s location. Gordie, Teddy, and Chris think it sounds like an adventure, so they create a cover story of camping in a field by Vern’s house before setting out from their hometown, the mill town of Castle Rock, to see the body.

As he describes their long walk to the body’s location, Gordon reveals that each of his friends comes from a family that is either abusive or dysfunctional. His own trauma stems from the loss of his older brother, Dennis, who died in a car accident in the Army. His grieving parents ignore him in the aftermath.

Finding the body is like completing a rite of passage because it forces them to confront death and mortality. While they stand next to the corpse, local hooligan Ace Merrill arrives with several of his hoodlum friends. The older boys want to report the body and take credit for the find. Chris makes them leave by pointing his father’s pistol at them. After Ace and his friends leave, the boys return to Castle Rock. No one knows they were missing, and the story never gets out. However, during the weeks that follow, Ace and his friends hurt each of them badly.

Gordie concludes the story by revealing that each of his friends dies young. Vern dies in a fire. Teddy is killed in a car crash. Chris is stabbed and killed while trying to separate two arguing men in an Oregon restaurant. Gordie writes The Body to process his feelings about the weekend when they searched for Ray’s body. As the story concludes, he questions the purpose of his own work and whether it makes sense for a person to grow wealthy by writing fiction.