The ABC’s Of Stephen King : Susan Norton

The tragic love affair of Salem’s Lot. When I read the relationship between Susan and her mother, it was hard to not see echoes of the same dynamic between Carrie White and her mother. King seems to excel at writing the shrew mother, incapable of trusting or putting faith in those she doesn’t know. It is a character that seems to pop up often throughout his work. Certainly I saw shades of this in Wizard & Glass with Cordelia Delgado.

Susan is immediately drawn to Ben Mears in the book, likely because of his celebrity as an author but also because she probably sees in him an escape from the small town in which she feels stuck. Not that she intends to use him as a means to get free, but rather that she sees that such an accomplishment is indeed possible.

Susan is drawn into the events of the book, thanks to her association with Mears, and she probably never really has a chance. But as is so often the case with King’s work, as the spectator, we are forced to stand by and watch the train wreck that we are powerless to stop. I think that of all the characters in this book, she is the one I end up being more sympathetic towards. She was likely driven into the orbit of this older man by those around her in her life who didn’t really understand her artistic drive. I can imagine the locals of Jeruselam’s Lot being perplexed that she would want anything out of life except for falling in line with the same old, like everyone else.

Susan’s character also serves to provide one of the most heart-breaking moments of the book and puts Ben to the choice of having to act and do what is right, even though it means losing something that he cares deeply for. It is the moment in the book that we really realize how brutal the story is and what we are really in for. So many books we can read, secure in the belief that certain characters will be safe from harm simply because what role they play in the story. King demonstrated early on with Salem’s Lot that you should never have that expectation whenever the pen is in his hand.

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