Salems Lot Essay

Belief illustrates the mental acknowledgement of the truth or confidence in another or yourself. Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot the significance of belief when it comes to resolving issues considerably big and relatively small. When Ben Mears moves back to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot to compose his latest novel, he meets and falls in love with Susan Norton, whose mother cannot stand him or his writing. As he begins adjust to his new life, he hears news of new people in town and immediately faces his most haunting memory; finding the body of Hubie Marsten, who earlier hanged himself, alive at the Marsten House. The happiness of the small town gets rocked when it gets hit by a series of several kidnappings and disappearances. When people start dying, Ben recieves the blame for their murders because he is a stranger to most of the community. As Ben and his friends try to solve the chilling cases and prove his innoncence, they realize the town has been invaded by vampires. Thanks to his belief in the undead and the prior knowledge of vampires he retained in college, Ben and his friend Matt Burke successfully destoroy the leader vampires. This victory, however, comes at a personal cost as all of their friends are also murdered along the way, including Ben's girlfriend, Susan, and they are forced to lose the town they love.

Ben Mears demonstrates belief through his thoughts, appearance, and name. He often finds himself, ..trying to set his thoughts in order.., and thinking rationally because, ..as he has told Susan, things seemed to have a way of getting out of hand, if you were not open-minded about them. This manifests that his thoughts are based upon belief and doing what is right in stressful situations. His appearance consists of a gorgeous face, an ideal physique, and a warm smile that seems to be inviting and convincest others to believe in what he has found out about the vampires in 'Salem's Lot. This advantage helps him to gather a team to fight against the evil that has taken over the small town. Ben's name also relates to belief in the form of alliteration. The use of alliteration enhances auditory interest for the reader and is conveniently memorable. We see Ben as, the man who is good with both his hands and his mind.., because he has the power to induce belief in people and put his beliefs to action (Russell 35).

Key issues in the novel, including the overwhelming feeling of guilt, challenge Ben Mears' belief. Guilt represents a feeling associated with being responsible for an extensive

offense. Ben feels guilty about his wife's death, which was the result of a fatal motorcycle accident in which he was the driver. Although he begins to get over the disasterous feeling, it comes swarming back into his life when he meets and falls for Susan Norton. He hopes his actions are not going to end up turning her into a new Miranda because, ..that would be painful for him and horribly unfair to her (King 26). Ben's most overwhelming feeling of liability occurs when he recognizes the town is dead, all at once he knew it for sure and true, just has he had known for sure that Miranda was dead when he had seen her shoe lying in the road. He began to cry, because he is beginning to apprehend that all of his loved ones are dead and he was unable to save them (419). Ben's strength in his belief is put to the test because, his connection...helps him believe in vampires, but this belief also destroys him, as it causes him to lose the people who are the most influtential in his life (Russell 36). He succeeds in demolishing the vampires because he acts as if failing is not at option

Ben Mears' relationships with Susan Norton and Matt Burke provide him with confidence and reasons to strongly believe in his actions. After Miranda's death, Ben loses his faith in both himself and humanity. When he meets Susan Norton, he felt sixteen, a head-busting sixteen with everything in front of him six lanes wide and no hard traveling in sight, which gives him assurance he needs that his beliefs are worth standing up for. Due to this freshly found confidence, Ben and Susan are able to form a powerful relationship that after a while points them to love and a chance at defeating evil. Ben also forms a strong relationship with Matt Burke, a local schoolteacher who has a better understanding of how vampires work. Whatever Matt Burke's mental failings might be, Ben thought, inability to read character was not one of them (King 183). The two are able to incorporate their prior knowledge of vampires they gained from their formal eduactions and experiences and put together an unbreakable alliance that lasts until the end.

Without belief, Ben Mears' experiences with the Marten House and saving Jerusalem's Lot would have been impossible. As a young boy, Ben was pressured into entering the Marsten house, where Hubie Marsten hanged himself several years ago. Ben recalls, When he went upstairs and opened a door he saw the ghost of Hubie Marsten, who hanged himself in that room. Ben ran out of the house.., in fear for his life (Russell 28). Writing a novel based upon the Marsten house causes curiosity to rise in Ben's mind and influences him to break into the house that is the origin of his deepest and darkest fears. In doing so, he discovers the bodies of the victimes who have recently gone missing in the town. However, they are not dead. Although it is unrealistic and unbelievable, Ben's ability to believe in the unconventional allows him to figure out how to rescue his hometown from being completely destoryed by these bloodsuckers. Despite the agonizing amount of difficulty it takes him, Ben remains determined to convince his friends to aid him in saving 'Salem's Lot and eventually succeeds. If he had not kept a concentrated position on his belief and fortitude, he would not have been able to accumulate a team of allies. Once this exhausting task is accomplished, the crew concieves a masterplan to murder the vampires and redeem Jerusalem's Lot. After the killings of both the vampires and some of Ben's friends, he reflects on the feeling of recognizing the town is now dead, No one pronounced Jerusalem's Lot dead on the morning of October 6; no one knew it was. Like the bodies of previous days, it retained every semblance of life (King 291). Ben's involvement with the Marsten house and saving 'Salem's Lot would not have been a possibility if it had been deprived of his strong awareness of belief because it contributes to the confidence he is required to have in order to accept the surreal relaity he is surrounded by and therefore the strength to take action.

In Ben Mears accepts and takes a firm grasp on the situation with complete and total confidence.