Elevation: A Novel

When Scott makes his wager with Deirdre, he articulates an irony commonly observed in discrimination studies: the expectation that people subjected to stereotyping based on marginalized identities would be against such judgmental behavior and would not engage in it themselves. Deirdre’s anger at being a target of discrimination based on her sexual orientation does not preclude her from forming her own biases. She correctly sees those who shun her as closed-minded, but Deirdre has been closed-minded too. When she calls Scott too old and “overweight” to play Sir Galahad, she is engaging in assumptions based on ageism and sexism that stem from her elite athlete background and typically discriminated-against gender. Deirdre would be outraged if a man said a woman was too old and overweight to play Guinevere, but she feels justified in saying this to a man. Deirdre’s hypocrisy increases tension and escalates the conflict. However, Scott’s response demonstrates the importance of Overcoming Rifts Caused by Prejudice. Playing on the irony of the situation, Scott pointedly retorts with some of Deirdre’s own phrases, hoping to get her to see that her use of stereotype conflicts with her condemnation of Castle Rock’s bigots. At one point, Scott tells her that doesn’t expect them to be “bosom buddies” because “it’s very hard to change a closed mind” (79)—a slightly jokey way to deflate some of the tension between them. At another time, Scott ends an argument by saying, “Good discussion” (79)—a phrase Deirdre has used several times to have the last word.

Perhaps the most defining feature of King’s style in Elevation, his authentic, natural sounding dialogue becomes even more apparent in Chapters 2 and 3. King achieves this, in part, by using regional idioms, dialect, and slang. Scott and Bob’s server at Holy Frijole refers to New Hampshire as “the dark side” (51), giving readers a privileged view of how locals’ view their world through their colloquialisms. Myra’s use of the idiom “I swan” (72) similarly adds authenticity to the book’s dialogue. The reader doesn’t need to be familiar with every expression the characters use; context makes their meaning clear enough. Their use adds color and history to the characters and setting without requiring lengthy backstory.

Intertextuality is another noteworthy aspect of King’s narrative style in Elevation. Many of King’s works are set in the town of Castle Rock, which is a lightly fictionalized version of Durham, Maine, the small town where King grew up. In this novel, he includes allusions to other works that share the setting. Chapter 3 mentions that the local garage band, Big Top, changed their name to “Pennywise and the Clowns” (64) for the high school’s annual Halloween dance, a reference to King’s 1986 horror novel It, which features the terrifying entity called Pennywise. The narrator also reveals that Scott’s neighborhood doesn’t get many trick-or-treaters recently: “there had been more before the collapse of the Suicide Stairs a few years earlier” (64). The Suicide Stairs is a location in Gwendy’s Button Box, a 2017 horror novella written by King and Richard Chizmar. Such references connect King’s works, intertwining them as part of what his fans call the Stephen King Multiverse.

Scott’s conversation with Doctor Bob in Holy Frijole continues to develop the metaphoric meaning of his weight loss. Scott now feels his unburdening as a slackening of his tether to the Earth: “The power gravity has over me has definitely lessened” (54). By describing gravity as something that has power over him, he equates it to the many other burdens—physical, emotional, and spiritual—that are outside people’s control and that figuratively weigh them down. Such sources of human pain do seem to have a reduced effect on Scott. Deirdre’s insults don’t anger him or move him to respond in kind. The threat of a fight with Bull Neck doesn’t instill fear. Scott doesn’t feel the pain and discomfort typical of an aging body. As gravity diminishes its power over him, so do the many sources of human suffering. This echoes some of the tenets of the philosophy of Buddhism, which associates suffering with clinging to earthly, material desires.

Bob and Myra demonstrate how prejudice and discrimination persist in otherwise “good” people. Myra’s understanding of non-heteronormative sexual orientation has been shaped by her upbringing: “when it comes to sexual politics…let’s just say she was raised a certain way” (48). Because she has lived in an insular community, she has never felt the need to challenge or question the cultural influences that have been passed from generation to generation. However, Myra isn’t solely defined by her biases—she is also clearly a loving wife and dedicated to service. Scott turns points out the fact that all people are multifaceted in this way when he invites Bob to eat at Holy Frijole. At first, Bob refers to it as the restaurant Scott’s lesbian neighbors run. Scott’s response, “there might be a little more to them than their sexual orientation” (46), calls attention to the myopia of reducing others to a single characteristic, although such cognitive short-cuts have evolutionary roots and are commonplace. Having a sympathetic character demonstrate this tendency undermines the notion that only clear-cut bigots are guilty of reinforcing stereotypes. When such errors arise from ignorance or cognitive bias errors, rather than hate, there is greater opportunity for growth and for Overcoming Rifts Caused by Prejudice, as Bob and Myra’s character arcs will demonstrate.