children in 'salem's lot vs pet sematary ***spoilers for new readers***

[cat in a bag]

I'm rereading 'Salem's Lot right now, and a question occured to me last night. I've read here that a lot of people have a hard time with Pet Sematary because of Gage's death. But I don't think I've ever read that same opinion about 'Salem's Lot...and both Danny and Ralphie Glick meet early deaths.

Is it because what happens to Danny and Ralphie is more "fictional" in our heads? The monster gets them, as opposed to what happens to Gage is a very real, possible terror? Roads are dangerous places all over for children. (Of course, this is ass-u-ming vampires are not real! )

Thoughts?

[J.T. Adams]

Is it because what happens to Danny and Ralphie is more "fictional" in our heads? The monster gets them, as opposed to what happens to Gage is a very real, possible terror?

Aye, Cat, maybe.

[fushingfeef]

I think it's because Pet Sematary is told through the eyes of Gage's father, so we have a bit more distance from the Glick boys in Salem's Lot.

[Haunted]

I'm rereading 'Salem's Lot right now, and a question occured to me last night. I've read here that a lot of people have a hard time with Pet Sematary because of Gage's death. But I don't think I've ever read that same opinion about 'Salem's Lot...and both Danny and Ralphie Glick meet early deaths.

Is it because what happens to Danny and Ralphie is more "fictional" in our heads? The monster gets them, as opposed to what happens to Gage is a very real, possible terror? Roads are dangerous places all over for children. (Of course, this is ass-u-ming vampires are not real! )

Thoughts?

as opposed to what happens to Gage is a very real, possible terror? Roads are dangerous places all over for children. (Of course, this is ass-u-ming vampires are not real! )

That is my thinking. Gage's death was a real life incident and very possibly could happen to any one of our loved ones. Danny and Ralphie met up with a monster made from imaginative words; and their story can be put away.

[Becks19]

Is it because what happens to Danny and Ralphie is more "fictional" in our heads? The monster gets them, as opposed to what happens to Gage is a very real, possible terror? Roads are dangerous places all over for children. (Of course, this is ass-u-ming vampires are not real! )

Thoughts?

I think that very well may be it. I know after having my own children, reading Cujo, Pet Semetary, Salem's Lot and It hit me on a much more personal level. It's all too easy to imagine "what if" these things happened to your own children? ( as parent's we fear the what if, way before we ever cracked any of these books open....they just bring it home again)

[BorderCollieMum]

That is my thinking. Gage's death was a real life incident and very possibly could happen to any one of our loved ones. Danny and Ralphie met up with a monster made from imaginative words; and their story can be put away.

Exactly what I think , but put far better than I ever could have done

[GNTLGNT]

...Gage's death is a lurking shadow and micrcosm of any parent's fear....it is distilled to the ultimate drop in Sematary, a "true" fear, rather than an "iconic" one....

[Chuggs]

I think that you are all correct, and I also think that perhaps it has something to do with Gage being so much younger than the Lot boys. Both books are great and both books are scary.

[not_nadine]

Now I felt bad for the baby in Salems Lot I can't remember the name - but the pudding going plop out of baby's mouth. ooh

[King fan from trinidad]

It didnt hit me as hard in this book as it did in pet sematary! It really wasnt as emotional as in pet sematary.