From Maine, With Love - 10 Relationships in the King-Verse
When you think of Stephen King, your mind probably jumps to the monsters, maniacs, and scares. Who doesn’t? For the past two years, I’ve been attempting to read a Stephen King book a month. I grew up with the films, clinging closely to the rabid dog and undead feline at the ripe age of nine. However, as I grew older, I started to take notice of the interesting dynamics in the relationships in these books and their on-screen adaptations. Some are to be admired or what the cool, hip kids refer to as “couple’s goals” and some are just down right toxic struggles of power and obsession. Since some of these relationships take different twists and turns, consider a spoiler warning in effect for this list.
10. Dolores Claiborne & Joe St. George - Dolores Claiborne.
A lesser known King book/movie, but one of my personal favorites. Joe St. George is a pretty deplorable human being. However, I find him unfortunately necessary in Dolores’ character growth throughout the story. This is what we call a loveless marriage, but Dolores manages to hold it together for her daughter, Selena. The film version of this shows a much more broken relationship between the mother and daughter, thus making it even harder to watch the drunken tyrant, Joe St. George, cause such a divisive rift in this family.
9. Wendy & Jack Torrance - The Shining.
Something consistent in most of King’s works is a mother’s love. The strong mothers written in his books are a cut above the rest. We know the strained relationship depicted in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation, but I highly encourage fans of the movie to dive into the book. While you’re at it, check out Doctor Sleep too! Wendy is put in a difficult position of forgiving her alcoholic, abusive husband, Jack who broke her son, Danny’s, arm in a drunken stupor. The novel sheds some light on her underlying distrust of Jack and his influence on their son. Wendy is seen several times making an attempt to support Jack in his writing and his fast decreasing mental stability, but when it comes down to it, she is ready to sacrifice everything for Danny.
8. Carrie & Margaret White - Carrie.
If a boy’s best friend is his mother, a girl’s best friend is anything but. At least in the case of Carrie and Margaret White. Carrie has enough struggle battling normal teenage girl problems like bullying, menstruation, boys, a less-than-stable zealot of a mother, and to top it all off, telekinesis. From each portrayal of Carrie that’s been brought to the screen, we see an equally polarizing depiction in Margaret White, Carrie’s god-loving, hail-marrying, mother. Their relationship is anything but healthy, but it had to be mentioned in this list for Carrie’s constant endeavor of pleasing her mother. It’s also fair to say that Margaret has quite the loving relationship with her lord and savior, Jesus Christ . . . right?
7. Jessie & Gerald Burlingame - Gerald’s Game.
Jessie and Gerald have been together for a while. Their flame has certainly begun to flicker and the love they once had has started to grow stale. Something to commend the couple on is their attempt to spice up their sex life to keep the love alive. However, in the film and novel’s pivotal moments, we see that there is more than either one of them is letting on to. When first reading/watching this, I assumed Gerald would be nothing more than a gory set piece like Tobin Bell in the first Saw movie, but the film lets us quickly become acquainted with a devil-on-your-shoulder type ghost who will unearth some of Jessie’s deepest fears and suspicions. Regardless of how sinister this embodiment of Gerald is, we can’t help but applaud her using their relationship, even in death, to help her escape a pretty intense situation.
6. Annie Wilkes & Paul Sheldon - Misery.
Annie Wilkes loves Misery Chastain and Paul Sheldon resents them both. There aren’t many loves out there like Annie and Paul (at least I hope not), but Misery is sure to present an interesting portrayal of fandom. Annie has dreamed of meeting her favorite author for so long that when the chance to save him from a car crash, kidnap him, get him addicted to Novril, burn his new manuscript before his very eyes, and force him to write a new ending for Misery introduces itself, she more than leaps at the opportunity. The levels of love are all over the place in this one, with Annie addicted to the Misery novels and Paul addicted to booze and drugs. King himself has said that he wrote Annie as the embodiment of cocaine; she can offer the chance to soothe the pain, but also be the key contributor in causing it. You definitely have to give it up to Annie for her fantastic dinners though.
5. Donna & Vic Trenton - Cujo.
During my most recent read through of Cujo, I was once again struck by the dynamic of the characters in stories like this. As a child I was far more interested in the monsters with the fangs and blood thirst than I was in the ones that were people. Donna and Vic Trenton move from New York City to Castle Rock, Maine and their relationship is somewhat on the rocks. Donna finds solace in one of the scummiest King characters, Steve Kemp. Given that the novel is able to offer far more insight, we get much more of Donna’s confliction in her marriage and her growing resentment towards Vic over leaving a life she loved in New York. Her affair is revealed to Vic and becomes a key component in Donna’s inevitable caging in the Ford Pinto with their son, Tad. Their relationship is hanging on her mind, even with the rabies ridden Saint Bernard outside. Despite her surroundings, she is left to her own thoughts and devices and able to really focus on why she cheated and how she can survive to get back to Vic.
4. Louis & Rachel Creed - Pet Sematary.
Loss and grief brings people together and that is certainly the case in my favorite Stephen King novel. The two have a very tender relationship throughout most of the story, despite having stark religious differences. They’re able to talk through their issues and work together on really growing as parents to both Gage and Ellie. She is there to support him on his first day when Victor Pascow dies on his operating table and he is there for her through her chilling memory of her older sister, Zelda. In the book, we get a very sweet look at how Rachel was supportive and denied the wishes of separation from her parents while Louis went through medical school. It’s moments like these and the gift exchange on Christmas Eve that solidifies their believable marriage. Louis also shows probably the grandest gesture of love when he buries Rachel in the cemetery to bring her back to life. Sometimes dead is better, but it’s still damn sweet.
3. Alan Pangborn & the women of Castle Rock - Needful Things, The Dark Half, Castle Rock.
Alan’s stories have been soaked in tragedy since before he even inherited the title of Sheriff in Castle Country. With his predecessor, George Bannerman, getting eaten by a formerly mentioned Saint Bernard, Alan taking over was a pretty brave move on his part. He has had incessantly poor luck from his time chasing after George Stark in The Dark Half and then battling his dark past with Leeland Gaunt in Needful Things. It’s also discovered that Annie Pangborn, Alan’s wife, dies in a car crash with their son Todd by a brain tumor induced seizure. In the novel, Needful Things, you really get a close look into what the accident has done to Alan. By the time I finished Needful Things, I thought him and Polly Chalmers, a woman wrought with painful arthritis, would go down in one of the happily ever afters in Castle Rock history. Then he popped up in 2018’s Castle Rock TV series and was found with fuzzy feelings for Sissy Spacek’s character, Ruth Deaver. Though they don’t explain his separation from Polly, I can’t imagine it ends any better than it does with Ruth.
2. Richie Tozier & Eddie Kaspbrak - It: Chapter Two.
Despite this relationship only being featured on the big screen, I absolutely had to include it. For fans of the IT book and original TV miniseries, we’ve watched Eddie and Richie grow through the years with their wit and sarcastic lashings of one another. However, nothing hits quite as hard as seeing a grown, grizzled, Richer Tozier carving ‘R + E’ into the wood at the end of IT: Chapter Two. Whatever issues the film had, it’s hard to deny the hit right to the heart when his “dirty, little, secret” is revealed. The two are by far the characters outside of the child feasting clown that carry the movie and to see that a repressed love was behind Tozier’s rich wit was devastating to watch. After seeing this, I couldn’t help but look at the two in a totally different light with every re-watch.
1. Arnie Cunningham & Christine - Christine.
Of all the love and obsession we’ve witnessed in the King universe, there’s not one like the young Arnold Cunningham when he lays eyes on the 1959 rusting, red, Plymoth Fury sitting at that old man’s house. Not even the hot, new girl at school could tear him away from the purr of Christine’s engine. Say what you will about the two, but we have to give it up for Christine sticking up for Arnie against bullies, his family, and even his best friend. Like most love stories in King’s books, it ends in tragedy, but we can honestly say that no one on this list loves each other quite like these two.
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