The Talisman

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1984

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2, Chapters 6-10

Part 2, Chapters 11-15

Part 2, Chapters 16-19

Part 3, Chapters 20-24

Part 3, Chapters 25-29

Part 3, Chapter 30-Interlude 3

Part 4, Chapters 34-38

Part 4, Chapters 39-43

Part 4, Chapters 44-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Coming of Age and the Loss of Innocence

There are many ways in which Jack loses his innocence over the course of The Talisman. Some are natural, and some are forced upon him by circumstances he cannot control. The most obvious way is the end of childhood as his journey forces him into a deeper level of maturity. Late in the novel, people notice that Jack has changed. He notices it as well. He is harder, more confident, and less fearful about confrontations, even lethal ones. Jack eventually realizes that if his mother’s life requires his death, he is willing to sacrifice himself for her. The early death of his father forces an immediate awareness on Jack that everyone will eventually die, which heightens his need to save his mother.

Early, Jack is possessed of the “childish credulity and innocence” (20) that is the “flip side” of a “queer fatalism” (20). A loss of innocence accompanies the growth of knowledge and the accumulation of truths—often unpleasant truths. When Jack sees the gull pecking at the clam, he experiences a horrifying moment of clarity in which he understands that, at their base, all creatures are mere flesh, destined for death. His awareness of his innocence dropping away is apparent when he watches the flying men in the Territories and realizes that “his time of innocence was fast approaching its end” (227).

The clearest example of Jack’s insights about innocence, is when he realizes that he cannot protect Richard from these inevitable changes: “The moment in which he might have preserved Richard’s innocence was far behind him, if it had ever really existed” (617). Richard must learn that his father is an evil man, and he must accept that they may have to kill his father to save Jack’s mother and complete their mission. Richard’s innocence is analogous to the benign ignorance that characterizes much of childhood.

Wolf is an innocent creature as well. He is massive but has an innocent mind. Even though the Territories can be an awful, dangerous place, Wolf’s innocence crumbles instantly when he flips into Jack’s world. He is overcome with a new set of horrors that he never could have imagined in the Territories.

By the time Jack saves his mother, he knows that he is no longer the child who set out on the quest. However, he is still hopeful that he can resume a normal life, and with it, experience some of the remaining innocence of childhood.

Duality and Instability

Most of the characters in The Talisman have an alter ego—known as a Twinner—in the Territories. When someone flips into the Territories, their consciousness moves into their double and they share the body. For instance, when Orris flips into Morgan Sloat’s world, he inhabits Sloat’s consciousness, but simultaneously with Sloat, not as the only driver of his body.

A character’s Twinner mirrors the traits of the other. In some cases, however, an evil person in Jack’s realm has a Twinner who is even worse in the Territories. Sloat, for example, is an unscrupulous businessman in his realm. He is willing to murder, lie, and steal to further his ambitions. However, he is bound by the laws of his country, and must act surreptitiously to evade detection. In the Territories, Orris has far greater reach and influence. He can indulge his appetites for murder, wealth, and sadism, knowing that his victims have little to no opportunity for recourse. Osmond is a useful example as well. Sunlight Gardener is arrested after police search the Sunlight Home, but his Twinner, Osmond, can whip and kill people in public without fear of justice or retribution. Speedy Parker is a force for good in his realm, but he has greater power in the Territories as Parkus, who describes himself as the “Judge General and Lord High Executioner all rolled into one” (740).

The Twinners embody a literal duality of person. Internally, however, every person experiences a level of duality, often portrayed by the image of having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, each vying for attention. The angel encourages good works; the devil encourages selfishness, evil, and the indulging of all appetites. A Jungian or Freudian reading of The Talisman focuses heavily on the unstable nature of consciousness, and the many facets that comprise a person’s identity and personality. There are dark and light aspects to everyone.

It is also relevant that The Talisman has two authors: Stephen King and Peter Straub. They write in the same genre and have held each other in high regard throughout their careers. During their rise to fame, they were often compared to each other as masters of modern horror. While Stephen King and Peter Straub are not literal Twinners, The Talisman is the product of a shared creative consciousness.

The Dangers of Unexpected Consequences

One of the most intriguing parts of the relationship between the Territories and Jack’s world—and all other worlds, for that matter—is that the actions in one realm can wreak havoc on the other. Sometimes the danger is overt. For instance, Sloat arms the Wolfs and dreams of bringing weaponry to the Territories to bring the entire world under the control of his power. The introduction of technology in the Territories could have devastating, tumultuous effects. The more interesting consequences are the unknown, and the unknowable. One can never know exactly how one’s actions will influence the remainder of their lives, or the lives of others. But it is a less complicated question when dealing with only one reality. In The Talisman, the principal characters realize that their decisions have far greater-reaching import than they were aware of before learning about the existence of multiple worlds.

When Sloat and Phil talk about the King’s assassination in the Territories, Phil posits that it led to World War II. The King was assassinated on the same day that Germany invaded Poland. Phil says, “I believe a three-week squabble over there in some way sparked off a war here that lasted six years and killed millions of people" (197). A minor skirmish in one world became a war that defined a century in the other.

When Jack hears about the deaths at Rainbird Towers, he knows it has something to do with what he saw in the Territories. The tension of uncertainty colors the rest of his journey. Jack is committed to saving his mother at all costs, but now he realizes that the costs might be higher than he ever could have imagined.

The flipside of this realization is the knowledge that Jack also must do his duty to save his mother—and Queen Laura. The stakes are higher than the continuation of his mother’s life. Sloat’s influence is already felt in the Territories. If he were free to act however he wanted in both realms—or multiple realms—there is no telling how much suffering might ripple throughout the worlds. The detonation of a nuclear bomb is catastrophic enough without being amplified in other realities. By the end of the novel, Jack is willing to sacrifice himself if it will help his mother, but he also understands that he might also have to sacrifice others, without knowing exactly how it could happen.