43 pages • 1 hour read
Stephen KingA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The first sentence of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon reads, “The world had teeth and it could bite you with them any time it wanted” (1). With this bleak pronouncement, King sets up one of the novel’s central themes: Life is unfair. Just as there is love and kindness in the world, there is also senseless darkness and cruelty, and the key to navigating the darkness is not losing hope. Trisha’s ordeal in the woods opens her eyes to the ways the world can be cruel to the innocent. She survives by accepting her unjust circumstances and forging ahead anyway.
As children of divorce, Trisha and Pete struggle to accept that their lives are negatively impacted by a decision that was entirely out of their control. The divorce is a major point of contention between Pete and Quilla; the last sentence Trisha hears her brother shout before she gets lost is “[I] don’t know why we have to pay for what you guys did wrong” (21). In the woods, Trisha quickly realizes that there are worse things in life than divorced parents. Despite her bravery and resourcefulness, the world bares its teeth again and again, taking Trisha to the cusp of death.
By Stephen King
11.22.63
Stephen King
1408
Stephen King
Bag of Bones
Stephen King
Billy Summers
Stephen King
Carrie
Stephen King
Children of the Corn
Stephen King
Cujo
Stephen King
Different Seasons
Stephen King
Doctor Sleep
Stephen King
Dolores Claiborne
Stephen King
Duma Key
Stephen King
Elevation: A Novel
Stephen King
End of Watch
Stephen King
Fairy Tale
Stephen King
Finders Keepers
Stephen King
Firestarter
Stephen King
From a Buick 8
Stephen King
Full Dark, No Stars
Stephen King
Gerald's Game
Stephen King
Gwendy's Button Box
Stephen King, Richard Chizmar