61 pages 2 hours read

Stephen King

Gerald's Game

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992

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Essay Topics

1.

Gerald’s frustration with Jessie in the opening chapter is supposedly rooted in the fact that Jessie had previously claimed that handcuffs could be fun. Why is this a flawed reason for his frustration in this moment?

2.

The novel includes several flashbacks and memory sequences. What is the effect of presenting past events? Is there a connection between the remembered events of Jessie’s childhood and her experiences as an adult, particularly the experiences she undergoes while handcuffed to the bed for part of the story?

3.

At the bare minimum, Prince stands as an expression of the survival instinct. How might Prince also be used to represent male sexual desire, and how can that representation be reconciled with the idea of the survival instinct? Analyze at least three separate instances in which Prince represents intangible concepts beyond his literal actions in the novel.