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I was able to do most stuff like that—in fact, I’d been like the Invisible Boy that whole summer.
In this quotation, Gordie explains that he knows he’ll be able to go on the expedition for Ray Brower’s body without worrying his parents because of the lack of attention they pay him. At this point in his life, Gordie is in a vulnerable place because his parents don’t offer him any guidance. As Chris will later observe, Gordie is at risk of wasting his potential as a writer because his parents are willing to allow it. However, Gordie also has the freedom to have experiences like the adventure in this story, learning lessons and growing independently.
But it was the first time I had ever really used the place I knew and the things I felt in a piece of fiction, and there was a kind of dreadful exhilaration in seeing things that had troubled me for years come out in a new form, a form over which I had imposed control.
Gordie here describes why he’s so fond of his story “Stud City,” even though he can now see the ways in which it’s an immature piece of writing. This quotation demonstrates the kind of man Gordie becomes as an adult, one who uses fiction to help him work through his emotional baggage. Most of the men Gordie grows up seeing in Castle Rock use threats and violence to create a semblance of control in their world. Although Gordie doesn’t completely reject dominant, tough masculinity, his version uses his creativity in a positive way to cope with dark emotions instead of resorting to violence.
His desire to get away from Castle Rock and out of the mill’s shadow seemed to me to be my best part, and I could not just leave him to sink or swim on his own. If he had drowned, that part of me would have drowned with him, I think.
Here, Gordie muses over the importance of his friendship with Chris. Chris acts as a masculine role model in ways Gordie’s own father refuses to do. While being undeniably tough, Chris nevertheless works on bettering himself through education, trying to get out of Castle Rock. Chris thus shows Gordie a different way to become a man, one who is both smart and strong. This quotation also shows how Gordie’s deeply loyal nature changes over the course of “The Body.” Gordie is still a loyal and steadfast friend, however, he focuses his loyalty on Chris, someone who brings out the best in him, instead of Vern and Teddy who would encourage his worst.
