The Man In The Black Suit

“The Man in the Black Suit”

• Genre: Short story; horror
• Originally Published: 1994
• Reading Level/Interest: Adult; grades 9-12
• Structure/Length: Approx. 25 pages
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Gary, an infirm 90-year-old man, writes a diary entry about an experience in his youth in a small Maine town. After falling asleep on a river bank where he was fishing, 9-year-old Gary wakes to find a tall, eerie man in a black suit with burning orange eyes standing behind him. The man tells him that his mother has died of a bee sting and then threatens to eat his innards.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Threatening images; talk of disembowelment and death; mention of child molestation and violence against children

Stephen King, Author

• Bio: Born in 1947 in Portland, Maine; attended University of Maine; prolific novelist of horror and suspense; earned a teaching degree but worked initially in an industrial laundry; sold short stories early in his career; worked as an English teacher in a public high school; left teaching with the success of his first published novel, Carrie, in 1973; has earned great fame with over 65 published novels and novellas, many short stories, movies from his works, and several nonfiction works
• Other Works: The Shining (1977); Christine (1983); IT (1986); Needful Things (1991); Under the Dome (2009)
• Awards: World Fantasy Award (1995); O. Henry Prize for Best Short Story (1995)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Coincidence, Accidents, and Fate
• The Inevitability of Death and the Loss of Faith
• World War I and the Loss of Innocence

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the archetypes of coming-of-age tales and understand how these are informed by generation-specific pressures.
• Analyze paired texts to make connections via the text’s themes of The Loss of Faith and Coincidences, Accidents, and Fate.
• Assemble evidence, analyze the text, construct claims, and create counterarguments to support their team’s thesis in a debate.
• Analyze and evaluate the author’s purpose and literary devices to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding nature, narration, the loss of faith, and other topics.