The Body’s subtitle is “fall from innocence”. Chris, Gordie, Vern and Teddy went through this while searching for the body of Ray Brower’s. The journey had changed their minds a lot at least to Gordie and Chris. For me, I am still going through this process, I think. As I mentioned before, I already saw a dead body but I was too young to notice and realize. But now, although I am not looking for a dead body, many incidents happened and they had affected me a lot.
Before I came to KMLA, I was just one of the “good” students who obey to what adults say and study hard. But recently, the thoughts and moral codes are starting break inside me. Before, adults were superior to me. The perception I had in my mind was that they were wise and make always right decisions. My father was one of the most perfect examples. I was so proud of my father at first. He was the role model. But these days, I am still proud of my father but I do not want to be same with him. The realization that he is just another person who is imperfect but has some flaws and scars in his life came to me without any signs. Andy’s fight with the shop keeper and Chris’s milk money incident portrays the truth of the adults. They are just other interest groups who are willing to exploit children who have not fallen from innocence, yet.
Also the dormitory life allowed me a new experience toward the inner self of other individuals. Unlike normal schools, I can see how all the kids talk, behave, and counteract with others. In other words, it is possible for me to see how they live. And sometimes, their inner self sometimes come out through their words and actions. Sometimes, they are disgusting. First it came to me as almost like a betrayal. Those made me to close myself toward them. Seeing the other face of the person was very unpleasant. When Chris and Gordie were facing the older gang, Vern and Teddy ran away and disappeared from the scene in order to not get involved in the fight. Of course, they would be afraid but they valued their safety compared to the bonds between them. I was feeling the same notion which Chris and Gordie might have felt at that time.
To get back up, remedies are needed. Although Chris and Gordie got beaten up by Ace and his gang, it does not really matter because they had much more valuable things that Ace did not have: true friendship. Chris and Gordie were able to overcome those incidents because they had bonds to prevent them from falling down. Fortunately, I was able to meet friends who could be the friends. They helped me a lot and kept me up to face the reality. Personally I really enjoyed the quote, ““I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?” but also thought that it would be fine to change the number into seventeen.
