story by Stephen King first published as a booklet included with Gallery in
November 1982, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. The Raft.
Stephen King 1947 -
- born September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine - parents separated when he was a small child
- graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970 - began teaching High School English in 1971 and sold short stories to men’s magazines to keep himself and his young family afloat - In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co. accepted the novel Carrie for publication
King has been described as…
… an image of the death of the Literature Reader (Harold Bloom) …a master of post-literate prose … (Times)
… an immensely inadequate writer…
(Harold Bloom)
Recipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (2003) Stephen King’s writing is securely rooted in the great American tradition that glorifies spirit-of-place and the abiding power of narrative. He crafts stylish, mind-bending page-turners that contain profound moral truths–some beautiful, some harrowing–about our inner lives. This Award commemorates Mr. King’s well-earned place of distinction in the wide world of readers and book lovers of all ages.
“The Raft” is a horror short story by Stephen King first published as a booklet included with Gallery in November 1982, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. The story was possibly published as early as 1969 in Adam magazine in different form, under the title "The Float".
The Raft 1982
Tony Magistrale, The Moral Voyages of Stephen King, p. iii
"The Raft" was adapted to film as a segment of the 1987 horror anthology movie Creepshow 2, directed by Michael Gornick with a screenplay by George A. Romero.
Slasher Movie Principle:
The main plot structure of the slasher genre: Young people transgress and are punished. Transgressions can be: geographical (in the end of the Romero film we see a “No swimming” sign), moral (sex, drugs…), etc.
Usually there are five stock characters in the slasher film: The Jock (Deke), The Brain (Randy), The Promiscuous/Sexualised Girl (LaVerne), The Sensible Girl (Helen), The Fool (-).
Carol J. Clover in Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (1992) - postcoital death, above all when the circumstances are illicit, is a staple of the genre. (33)
- The practiced viewer distinguishes [the Final Girl] from her friends minutes into the film. […] She is the Girl Scout, the bookworm, the mechanic. […] Unlike her girlfriends she is not sexually active. […] The Final Girl is also watchful to the point of paranoia; small signs of danger that her friends ignore, she registers. (39) compare to Randy - Traditional masculinity, as we have seen, does not fare well in the slasher film… (64) - If Rambo were to wander out of the action genre into the slasher film, he would end up dead. (99)
Sexuality and violence in “The Raft”
- Deke’s virility and alpha male status is inverted/mocked in the way he dies “Talk about vitality!” (307) - Deke and Randy both have violent, aggressive, as well as sexual feelings toward LaVerne (“He hit her, Randy thought. I was going to do that, remember?” 299) - “It went for the girls” (294) - Relationship between Deke and Randy vs. non-existent relationship between LaVerne and Helen - “… was some part of Deke enjoying this? (300) - Deke loses his fear-cherry. (303) - They are not allowed to lie down on the raft.
Further Reading: - Carol J. Clover, Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1992). - Stephen King, Danse Macabre (London: Futura, Macdonald & Co, 1981). - John Sears, Stephen King’s Gothic (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011). - Tony Magistrale, Stephen King – America’s Storyteller (Oxford: Praeger, 2010). - Douglas E. Winter, The Art of Darkness (London: New English Library, Hodder and Stoughton, 1989).
