Tom Cullen and the Special Needs Community

[hkay1]

Hey there,

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I am about 30% into Wizards and Glass now, having a ball with it. I absolutely LOVED the chapter where Susan meets "Will" on her way home from Rhea Coos. Such a lovely section of the book. Now the 3 boys are settling in and about to go to Thorin's for the first time. Anyway, I digress! I wanted to talk about The Stand.

I wish I had been on the board when I was reading The Stand, but now that I am I have a question for y'all. In my work I work with children with special needs. I absolutely loved Mr. King's portrayal of Tom Cullen and think he is one of the best characters I have ever read who is cognitively disabled. (Others I love would be Forrest Gump and Lenny from of Mice and Men).

I am wondering if Mr. King got any feedback on the character from the special needs community at the time the book was published or later.

I also wanted to know if Mr. King had any particular diagnosis in mind for Tom Cullen, or if he was just designed to be "simple" like Forrest Gump. I didn't get the idea that Tom has Down Syndrome because of the lack of physical description that would have led the reader to that conclusion.

Thanks in Advance!

[bobledrew]

Hey hkay1:

I don't know if SK got that kind of feedback, but I did want to point out that he has created quite a number of characters who would be considered "special needs" or "intellectually challenged".

TrashCan Man always struck me as being on the borderline; Donny Keegan in The Talisman; Duddits Cavell and Josie Rinkenhauer in Dreamcatcher; Clayton Blaisdell in Blaze; Sheemie Ruiz; Bryan Smith, Baj, Sej, and Patrick Danville in DT7; and if you add autism into the mix, you've got people like Seth Garin in The Regulators; and stretching to the absolute limit might be the genius Robert "Bow Wow" Fornoy in "The End of the Whole Mess." You could even argue that Edgar Freemantle in Duma Key fits, given the traumatic brain injury he's suffered.

I believe SK sees those with mental disabilities as somehow more open or receptive to other realms and other powers, and almost uniformly (except for Seth) to good powers. In fact, I did an early Kingcast episode about that, episode 4. Maybe you'll find that of interest.

[GNTLGNT]

Can't speak to the feedback, but with Tom-I always felt that he was King's gentle way of saying "look beyond the surface-take no-one at face value"...and M-O-O-N that spells "cool"....

[CCAL]

hi hkay! glad to see your post. I was trying to recall the background on Tom Cullen. Seems there was mention of Toms thought processes and how it just required him to literally stop & give his brain a moment to jumpstart at times...have you read that part yet? its central to the story-they cant survive without him and his special ability...!oopps have I said too much?? I dont know if youve already read the Stand or not. So I'll hush for now.

[Moderator]

My recollection is that his mother had worked at a facility for developmentally challenged individuals.

[hkay1]

!oopps have I said too much?? I dont know if youve already read the Stand or not. So I'll hush for now.

No Worries! I finished the book back in December!

[hkay1]

Very cool! Yeah I love how Tom is more receptive to other realms/powers. I definitely believe that what God taketh away in some areas he gives back in others, so it makes perfect sense to me (and I am a firm believer) in the idea that people like Tom would have better perception of other worlds/realms/levels of consciousness....

I obviously need to read some more of Mr. Kings lesser known works. I haven't read any Bachmann yet so I can't speak about those characters, and I am only on DT4 as we speak.

TrashCan Man definitely strikes me as on the borderline but he wasn't especially likeable for me (not a pyro myself) so I didn't think of him in that way.

Thanks for the post and for adding more SK reads to my list!!!! I may never get to any other authors at this rate!

[hkay1]

'his' = Mr. Kings or Tom Cullens? Sorry, a little on the slow side myself today, ma'am.

[CCAL]

sorry had to reread your post there.So you read The Stand already--then you will recall how it was revealed for Tom to be able to hide his mission from himself was thru hypnosise.sp. Also, he was childlike in the purity of his thoughts. Something apparently happened to him as a child/baby-it was not downs. I dont recall exactly what it was, just that he was treated as retarded and pretty much ignored by the community.(this was before Cap.Tripps) No one insisted on testing him and diagnosing him. Do you remember it was alluded that he looked much much older. He was gifted but no one knew it before the flu, and most didnt after the flu. What a great story!

[CCAL]

Yes I think SK's mother's previous job had a positive impact thru Stephens story. If not for his mothers influence would that have happened?? I wonder. theres another topic of Q right there...any ideas??