Dreamcatcher

Short Summary of the Plot

Jonesy, Henry, Pete, and Beaver are four not so normal boys growing up together in Derry, Maine. Although they shared a normal childhood, they meet up with a down-syndrome child they take a liking to. They affectionately call him Duddits, and while they do not know it, Dudley Cavell will help shape their future and the future of the whole world. As they pass from childhood into adult hood, they all go their separate ways, occasionally calling or hanging out.

An old tradition started by Beavers dad, Lamar Clarendon, they still went for their annual hunting trip in a part of Maine called Jefferson Tract. The only thing wrong was that this trip would be different than anyone could imagine. Good times rolled as they stayed in the cabin they knew as "Hole in the Wall". When Henry and Pete make a trip to the local store, Gosselins, the trouble starts. As they are speeding back to Hole in the Wall in the snow storm, they suddenly see a woman sitting right in the middle of the road. While swerving to avoid her, they flip the Scout, Henrys vehicle used specifically for this trip. They escape the wreck with only a few gashes although Pete hurts his knee pretty bad. Upon further examination, they find the woman to be in a state of shock. She slowly looks up at Henry and sees the moving lights in the sky. Screaming "they're back!!" over and over, the woman gets hysterical and won't calm down. They decide Pete will stay with the woman in a small shelter just up the road while Henry will jog back to Hole in the Wall. He does not suspect that trouble is brewing there too.

Beaver and Jonesy are in deep trouble already. A mysterious stranger, Rick McCarthy has just stumbled in from the woods. According to him, he has been lost for a few days and doesn't remember anything. Rick is not the trouble though. It's his little present still incubating inside him. When it comes out, it will kill his host, Rick and then Beaver.

Jonesy has bigger trouble though. Jonesy, as it happens, is immune to the Byrus. The entity known only as Mr. Grey has taken over Jonesys' body leaving the real Jonesy locked in a memory. Mr. Grey has only one objective. The aliens, or the Greyboys, as the military calls them, have brought a deadly fungus looking substance called Byrus. It also brings a wave of telepathy to all those in the surrounding area.

Once the four friends figure out what these aliens are, and what they want, they soon figure out how to stop them. Seeing as the Byrus and the aliens both cannot stand up to the cold winter weather, Mr. Grey is planning on depositing some of the Byrus into the water system that feeds Boston and the surrounding area. While Henry and his new friend, Owen Underhill, a former member of the secret party assembled to deal with the aliens, chase Mr. Grey, Abe Kurtz is after Owen and anyone who stands in his way. Kurtz is after Owen because Owen crossed his line. Nobody crosses the Kurtz line. Kurtz just happens to be the leader of Owens' former military party, and has known him for a good number of years. Owens and Henry stop in Derry to pick up the very sick Duddits. They need him because he sees the line better than anyone else. Mr. Grey finally reaches the reservoir, and by then the body he has commandeered is screaming in agony. He barely makes it to the well and then can't lift the grate off. Inside his head, the real Jonesy, with a little help from Duddits and Henry, kills the entity holding him hostage. Jonesy is back and now they only have to worry about Kurtz, the madman on their tail. Kurtz gets Owen soon after, but Kurtz's most trusted soldier turns his gun on Kurtz. With Pete, Beaver, Duddits and now Owen dead in the process of eliminating the alien threat, the survivors, Henry and Jonesy, managed to finish what their deceased friends could not.

Significance of the Title

In the Indian legends, a Dreamcatcher is supposed to catch bad dreams and let the good ones slip through the hole in the center. The title Dreamcatcher is relevant to the story because the Dreamcatcher interlinks all four of the friends and Duddits is in the center of it. One Christmas, Beaver sent Duddits his own Dreamcatcher, a miniature version of the one in the cabin. When Jonesy was trapped in his mind, the one from the cabin was there, allowing him to have contact with Duddits and Henry. Towards the end of the book, Jonesy had his own hanging in his front door almost like a religious symbol.

Duddits was holding them all together. They are the Dreamcatcher, and it all started with Duddits. Ever since their school days, the first hunting trip, the Dreamcatcher was their future. When Richie Grenadeau died, it was them and Duddits even though they didn't mean it. It was fear, and the Dreamcatcher caught everything. In the end it caught something too big for it to handle alone.

Setting and Genre

Dreamcatcher was set in our current time period, although the story sometimes reflected on the characters childhoods, back in the late 1970's. Most of the story takes place around 2001 in southern Maine deep in the Jefferson tract. The time of year is approximately January, the harshest part of the winter. There are lots of snow storms and blizzards occur in the book, causing more difficulty for the characters. The genre of this book is considered horror or thriller. It's by Stephen King, so what else can be expected? It is more of an adult book, as I had a little trouble understanding some of the references and content. A good bit of the story happens within a 50 mile area though the last chase takes them out a lot farther. The whole story is set up by the four buddies' annual hunting trip. Huge snow storm, military brutality, and aliens make for a great story.

Ideas About the Four Friends

Beaver, or The Beav, is quite a character. He is by far my favorite and I was very disappointed when he died. His sense of humor was very; well, funny, if that makes any sense. He always was joking about someone or something. His favorite sayings, like doodlyfuck, ssdd which means same shit different day, and many other colorful phrases. I think The Beav is worthy of praise instead of criticism because in the face of everything he came out with a smile or a laugh. After a bit of thought, nothing bad comes to mind about Beaver. He was just a cheery jokester.

Henry was about the opposite of The Beav, he was a therapist and himself struggling with thoughts of suicide. He was the most logical one and all his actions were reasonable despite of his situation. He was the most levelheaded