The Dead Zone by Stephen King
"The Dead Zone" is a novel by Stephen King that follows the life of Johnny Smith, who experiences significant changes after a childhood accident on the ice in 1953. After being knocked unconscious during a hockey game, Johnny first realizes his parapsychic abilities years later, which come to light after he wins money at a fair but also has a premonition of disaster. A severe car crash leads to a coma that lasts four and a half years, during which much of his personal life changes, including the marriage of his girlfriend, Sarah.
Upon awakening, Johnny finds himself with newfound notoriety, as he uses his psychic abilities to solve crimes, warn others of danger, and even confront the threat posed by a political figure, Greg Stillson, whom he foresees will incite a nuclear war. The story touches on themes of power, morality, and the burden of knowledge, as Johnny grapples with the implications of his abilities and ultimately faces a tragic fate. The title "The Dead Zone" reflects the limitations of his powers and the gaps in his memories, adding a layer of mystery to his journey. The narrative explores the tension between personal sacrifice and the weight of responsibility inherent in possessing extraordinary abilities.
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The Dead Zone
First published: 1979
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—extrasensory powers
Time of work: 1953-1979
Locale: Fictional Cleaves Mills and Castle Rock, Maine, and other New England sites
The Plot
Skating on the ice of Runaround Pond in Durham, Maine, in 1953, six-year-old Johnny Smith is knocked senseless when Chuck Spier, an older, heavier, hockey player, accidentally crashes into him. As Spier tends to Johnny, semiconscious Johnny warns him to stay away from black ice. Awakening with only a headache, Johnny forgets the incident. Shortly afterward, while Chuck is jump-starting his car, his battery explodes, blinding him in one eye. Although Johnny is unaware of it for years, this was the first manifestation of his parapsychic powers, powers that provide the matrix for Stephen King’s The Dead Zone. The title derives from the limits on Johnny’s powers, the gaps in his life that he can neither see nor remember, the “faulty circuitry” that sets the scene for mystery.
Johnny’s parapsychic abilities reappear in 1970, after he and his girlfriend, Sarah Bracknell, have graduated from college and are teaching at Cleaves Mills High School. Johnny takes Sarah to a fair, plays a wheel of fortune intuitively knowing that he will win, and wins $540. He also has a premonition of disaster, however, involving black ice and burning rubber. Sarah becomes ill, and after Johnny drops her at home, he takes a cab back to Cleaves Mills. Dragsters crash head-on into his cab, killing the driver. Hospitalized, Johnny sinks into a coma that lasts four and a half years, from which he is not expected to emerge. Meanwhile, Sarah marries and has a child, Johnny’s mother dies, a strangler terrifies Castle Rock and adjacent towns with his serial murders, and the villainous Greg Stillson, a violent and sleazy former Bible salesman, becomes mayor of Castle Rock, whetting his unslakable political ambitions.
Before he is through with reconstructive surgery and therapy, Johnny, who has gained notoriety as a latter-day Rip Van Winkle and then as a psychic charlatan, gives further evidence of his powers. He intuits where Sarah may find her lost wedding rings, warns a nurse that her house is on fire, and predicts a terrible roadhouse catastrophe. Then, by absorbing images and textures at a crime scene, Johnny identifies the strangler for Castle Rock’s Sheriff Bannerman. The killer is an upstanding policeman.
Subsequently, Johnny crosses paths with Greg Stillson, who has entered the presidential race. Johnny perceives that the power-mad Stillson will start a nuclear war and determines to shoot him. The assassination goes awry, but in the process, Stillson grabs a baby to shield himself, an act of cowardice that effectively destroys his political career. Johnny flees, works with a road crew in New Hampshire, and is soon diagnosed as having a brain tumor. His last words are recorded in letters to his father and to Sarah explaining why he no longer wishes to live.
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