In "The Little Sisters of Eluria", Roland comes upon a starving dog with a white cross shape on its chest.
The so-called Jesus Dog is enjoying a snack ... the remains of a young man named James Norman. More specifically (and more disgustingly), the cur is trying to chew through the guy's cowboy boot and ... well, you know. Yuck, right? "Loved of family, loved of GOD" he might have been, but James Norman wound up stewing slowly but surely in an Elurian watering trough just the same.
I'm reading "Black House" (King and Peter Straub) at the moment, and even a longtime King reader like me can still be surprised. The description of another slat-sided canine (twinner to the Jesus-dog, perhaps?) gnawing away on a human foot still encased in its shoe--this time a child's size five sneaker--is eerily reminiscent.
Are these sorts of similarities unconscious on King's part, or is the mirror depiction of the feet of poor James Norman and little Irma Freneau purely coincidental?
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I can't remember for sure, but my mind is trying to tell me that something similar was included in It as well? It's been a while and my mind could just be combining instances for books together. I feel I should reread and check, but that one is a time investment.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, it's not a dog gnawing on a shoe in IT. Instead it's the haunting image of a tennis shoe with drops of little Georgie Densbrough's blood on it. I could be wrong, but for some reason, that image comes very lucidly to my mind
ReplyDeleteIf you read insomnia and then The final Dark tower book you will notice that they have the same characters. Also, in another book of Kings Eddie And Roland are mentioned in a Chapter. I think King likes to like link all the books up somehow. also if you watch the movie, "the mist" based on the King book in the beginning a man i painting a picture of a man , a rose and a tower... one can guess that its Roland
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