I'm in a fairly bad place right now, but rather than talk about that I'd like to talk about something that hasn't come up for a while: Stephen King's epic serial novel, The Dark Tower and some new revelations I've had into reading it. I've come to rethink my entire take on the series based on the one immutable fact that Roland Deschain is actually the greatest evil of all in the series, and doesn't realize it. That Roland is an agent of chaos attempting to destroy the natural order in things. I apologize to any readers who are unfamiliar with the series, as I spoil plenty and otherwise won't make much sense to you. Now readers of the Tower, ask yourselves a few questions, realize a few things:
If the beams are meant to be eternal, why are their keepers all frail and mortal things? There isn't a set of rules in place to create new caretakers of the varied beams, and all of the caretakers still extant in the series are near death in one form or another. The answer, of course, is that the beams aren't meant to be eternal. The great wheel turns, the world moves on. For everyone except Roland.
Benjamin Franklin defines insanity as "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." By the end of the series we discover that Roland has done this all before. The insinuation is made that Roland has done this before many, many times. All to the same result.
The natural order of the universe is to tend towards death, decay and then rebirth. Roland is an enemy of nature as his ultimate goal is to stop the world from moving on, which is ultimately a crime against nature. The Tower actually tries to teach Roland this lesson early in the series by killing Jake in book one and rebirthing him in book two. Roland's too busy vowing to do right by Jake this time (which he ultimately doesn't do anyway) than realizing that Jake is a message: stop fighting the universe and let the natural order of things progress the way they are meant.
Jake isn't enough of a lesson to Roland, however. The Tower also tries to clue Roland in on the evils inherent in his actions via the other partnerships it sends him: an addict, mule and dealer of hard drugs; a woman with a fractured personality whose every personality is a psychopath; a fallen and faithless priest. All of them have a nugget of purity in them, true, and what better lesson is there for Roland than a realization that even those who might think they have the right motives in mind can still be wholly wrong and doing the wrong thing? The Tower surrounds him with bad people so that he can realize his mission is, in fact, flawed and wrong.
Forgive if I'm too blunt in reiterating this: in retrospect, our hero Roland Deschain is actually the bad guy. And if you think about it, most of the world's biggest bads have all fancied themselves good guys, saviors, benevolent, etc.: Hitler, Bush, Christian Crusaders, Catholic Inquisitors, Doctor Doom. . .
For a time this realization that Roland is the bad guy, that his entire quest is flawed and abhorrent to the natural progression of the universe, that Jake dies (twice) in the service of helping the bad guys. . .troubled me. Why does King have us follow this for seven increasingly large novels? And the only answer that rises to the top for me is this--that the Dark Tower is in fact a morality play for the rest of us to stop trying to control the universe, to stop trying to fight nature, and to let the world be what it needs to be and just live in it.
Just live in it, people. And live in it well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
It's interesting that you decided to write about the Dark Tower, because I've been thinking about it a lot too as of late. Not in the same vein, but more in a "while the whole ending still bugs the shit out of me" there are things about it that I do like.
First and foremost is that with the Tower series, and especially the last three books in the series, he addresses his great fear of corporatism, and the heavy toll/destruction/price they extract on the world around them. Of course this can be seen in some of his other works like Talisman (the name of the head villain escapes me right now, but he was all about the corporate greed and bringing to newer and greener pastures--namely the Otherworld. Also, I enjoyed that in order to fight the North Central Positronics corporation and their subsidiaries. A little ironic, but maybe also a nod to the power of the little guy.
To answer your post more directly, and I split my comments in two so as not to have one huge comment...
We must remember that ka is not only a wheel, but it is destiny and fate. There is no escaping it, and no changing it (though that is up for grabs at the end of this cycle in Roland's life because he has the horn as he chases the Man in Black across the desert. Something that had not happened before) no matter how hard one tries. Just because Roland is following his ka does not make him a villain. Nor does it make him a hero. It just, in fact, makes him an agent of the universe (the Tower even) trying to fulfill his duty.
It is interesting to note that the Great Bear Shardik was created by North Central Positronics. Since they are the ones who are attempting to destroy the beams, it is interesting to think that they would make something to protect them. Maybe there never were any real guardians of the beam, and it was all a story NCP made up (and created the new, mechanical guardians to go along with their story) so that they could exert more control on the world, while at the same time keeping their real agenda hidden...
...Sorry, it turns out I had a lot more to say than I thought...And while I would agree that Roland is not a nice guy (to use King's description of one of his other characters)--he did let Jake die, he aborted what he saw as a devil child with the barrel of his pistol, he's a kidnapper, liar and a murderer--I cannot call him a villain. A fanatic, sure, no doubt, I agree 100%. He is not trying to destroy the Tower, though maybe it needs to be destroyed to fulfill its own destiny (as you say all things move toward entropy--the world moves on whether or not we want it to), but then why would it call to Roland to save it from other forces that would destroy it.
Roland is fighting destiny--fighting death--always a losing proposition. And maybe he just needs to learn that his fanatical faith in the White and in the Tower are burdening him with this everlasting quest and that they ultimately mean nothing. That ending would have been just as good (if not better) than the one King actually wrote. At least in my opinion.
Post a Comment