Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
"Hearts in Atlantis" is a novel by Stephen King that weaves together multiple stories set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, exploring its profound effects on the generation that experienced it. The collection begins with "Low Men in Yellow Coats," where young Bobby Garfield befriends an enigmatic tenant named Ted Brautigan, who reveals dark truths about life and the world, marking Bobby's transition from innocence to experience. As the narrative progresses, it delves into the lives of characters like Pete Riley and Carol, whose involvement in the antiwar movement is influenced by personal and societal upheaval during the 1960s.
The stories also address the haunting memories of Vietnam veterans, such as Willie Shearman, who grapples with guilt over his past actions and the horrors of war. Themes of loss, nostalgia, and the search for redemption resonate throughout the tales, culminating in the later stories that reflect on the enduring impacts of war into the 1990s. King's storytelling captures the complexities and ironies of a generation's coming of age in a tumultuous era, blending elements of fantasy with stark realities and offering insight into how personal histories intertwine with broader societal narratives. The book stands as a poignant exploration of the loss of innocence and the lasting scars left by conflict.
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1999
Type of work: Short stories
The Work
The stories of Hearts in Atlantis revolve around the Vietnam War and its impact on Stephen King’s generation, covering a wide range of that generation’s experiences.
“Low Men in Yellow Coats” sets the tone for all that follows. With his friends Sully-John and Carol, Bobby Garfield enjoys the summer of 1960. He befriends the new tenant in the third floor of his building, Ted Brautigan, who hires Bobby to keep an eye out for mysterious strangers. Bobby at first does not believe Ted about these “low men,” but that summer his innocence is taken away on many levels: He rescues Carol after she is beaten and her shoulder dislocated, discovers the truth about his mother and the hatred that she long harbored, and finds Ted is indeed on the run from a fantastic other world, tying intimately into King’s fantasy series the Dark Tower.
In “Hearts in Atlantis,” Pete Riley becomes involved with Carol at the University of Maine in Orono in 1966; the story of her beating influences his later decision to become active in the antiwar movement, symbolized by growing awareness of the peace symbol. The title not only is a metaphor for the romance that briefly blossoms but also refers to a manic ongoing card game tournament that threatens to overwhelm Pete and his dormmates during that time. Readers also discover that Carol later became involved with radicals and was involved in a bombing of a chemical laboratory that killed several people; Carol is thought dead from a shooting during the ensuing manhunt.
“Blind Willie,” set in 1983, focuses on Willie Shearman, the boy who befriended Carol but held her down while she was beaten in 1960. Shearman had fought in Vietnam and remains haunted by both his actions toward Carol and what he witnessed during the war. He does penance for both by begging as a blind Vietnam veteran in New York City, an act that is both oddly accurate (he grows blind in the afternoon) and enormously lucrative.
The year 1999 is setting for the last two stories, “Why We’re in Vietnam” and “Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling.” In the former, Sully-John, who fought in Vietnam with Shearman, attends the funeral of another veteran and dies after one last meeting with a Vietnamese woman who has haunted him since the war. “Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling” takes place on the day of Sully-John’s funeral, as Bobby and Carol reunite and reminisce about their past.
King manages to write about the impact of the Vietnam War on his generation in a heartfelt and resonant manner yet at the same time cast a cold eye on the ironies that occur when a nation loses its alleged innocence and also provide his trademark thrills in an unexpected manner. This approach is in keeping with King’s view of the 1960’s and the boomer generation: He contends that the reality of that time was weirder and more strange than anyone who has not lived through it can imagine.
Sources for Further Study
Booklist 95 (July, 1999): 1893.
Library Journal 124 (August, 1999): 140.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, September 12, 1999, p. 10.
The New York Times Book Review 104 (September 12, 1999): 10.
Newsweek 134 (August 30, 1999): 58.
Publishers Weekly 246 (July 26, 1999): 58.