1922-FDNS

[Angie, Constant Reader]

Discuss story here!




(view spoiler)[1922 is a first-person account by Wilfred James, the story's unreliable narrator. He writes a lengthy confession for the murder of his wife, Arlette, in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, in 1922.

Wilfred owns eighty acres of farmland that have been in his family for generations. His wife owns an adjoining one-hundred acres willed to her by her father. Wilfred scorns the thought of living in a city, but Arlette is discontented with farm life and wants to move to Omaha. She seeks to sell her land to a livestock company for use as a pig farm and slaughterhouse. Wilfred, who strongly opposes Arlette's plans, resorts to manipulating his teenaged son, Henry, into helping him murder his own mother.

As part of their plot, Wilfred and Henry get Arlette drunk. Arlette proceeds to make crude remarks about Henry's girlfriend, Shannon Cotterie, which angers the boy enough to commit to Wilfred's plot. After taking Arlette to bed, Wilfred brutally slashes her throat with a butcher knife. Wilfred and Henry then dump the body in a well behind the barn. Later, as Wilfred dumps his blood-soaked mattress into the well with Arlette, he notices that her body has become infested with rats.

Wilfred decides to fill in the well to hide the body, but knows that doing so will arouse suspicion. He purposefully has one of his aged cows fall in the well to provide a cover story for filling it in. Right afterwards, the local sheriff—acting on behalf of the livestock company—searches the farmhouse to look for Arlette, finding nothing. Wilfred and Henry fill the well, but a rat crawls out of the soil. Henry kills it, believing that Arlette is now haunting them. Wilfred later encounters a rat when it attacks one of his other cows, severing one of her teats.

A few months later, Henry—who has become emotionally troubled since the murder—impregnates Shannon. The pregnancy sours the friendship between Wilfred and Shannon's father, Harlan, a neighboring farmer. Shannon is sent to a Catholic school for pregnant girls in Omaha, but Henry helps her escape. They begin a highly-publicized career as a pair of Bonnie and Clyde-style bank robbers, becoming wanted in several states.

Wilfred becomes emotionally destitute in Henry's absence. He again encounters the rat from the barn, which bites Wilfred's hand and causes it to become severely infected, necessitating its amputation. Soon after, Wilfred claims that Arlette's living corpse—accompanied by a large group of rats—leaves the confines of the well and enters the farmhouse, confronting him. Arlette gives him a detailed premonition of the violent demise of Henry and the still-pregnant Shannon in Nevada. Soon afterwards, the roof of Wilfred's house caves in during a storm.

When Arlette's prophecy comes true, Wilfred tries to sell the land parcel he killed her for. However, Harlan and the townspeople, all disgusted with Wilfred, refuse to help him. He is forced to leave Hemingford Home as a pariah after selling the land to the livestock company for a pittance. He moves to Omaha and spends the first two years visiting the scenes of Henry's crimes and drinking away the money he received from selling the land. He finds two jobs—as a garment factory worker and a librarian. He quits both, he claims, when the rats begin to stalk him again.

Wilfred sits in a hotel room in Omaha, writing down his story and claiming that Arlette, Henry, and Shannon—along with the rats—are present. Wilfred plans to commit suicide before the rats consume him, but apparently misplaces his gun. The story ends with a newspaper clipping about Wilfred's death, stating that he was found with bite marks that appeared to be self-inflicted; this leaves the reader to speculate about whether Wilfred's account was true or delusional. Wilfred's papers are found to be illegible, having been chewed to pieces. (hide spoiler)]

[Jessica]

I loved this story, it feels very 'Lovecraft'. It's definitely the best one in the whole book :)

[Phil]

Ho hum with such an in depth spoiler I could skip the first story and start with Big Driver. Sorry guys for sounding so negative but that was not what I was expecting from a group read.

[Char]

Why would you click on a spoiler link if you didn't want to view the spoiler?

[Jane]

I liked this one although it didn't really scare me, (view spoiler)[ I was with Arlette, I'd haunt my husband with rats if he killed me! (hide spoiler)]

[Jessica]

Phil wrote: "Ho hum with such an in depth spoiler I could skip the first story and start with Big Driver. Sorry guys for sounding so negative but that was not what I was expecting from a group read."

Yeah don't click on 'view spoiler' if you don't want the story to be spoilt. You should also have stopped reading it, it was pretty long and was clearly going to give the plot away.

[Becky]

What did everyone think of the story then? Let's get back on topic please. :)

I personally loved this one, and I think it's one of the best short stories I've read in a long time. The whole tone of the story was just perfect. It was bleak, but it was fantastic. :D

Discussion topic for those who have finished the story - Please mark spoilers in your responses: (view spoiler)[ Do you think the rats and the haunting were real, or do you think that this was a kind of "Tell-Tale heart" situation where the knowledge and the guilt of his crime ate away at Wilfred? (hide spoiler)]

[Jessica]

I love this one as well, it's my favourite novella in the whole book. I kinda think they gradually get worse as each story goes by. (view spoiler)[ I don't think the rats were real, I think he was going nuts with the guilt. The fact that the rats were seemingly coming from nowhere etc suggests they weren't real, but I think it could easily be interpreted either way. I prefer the insanity thing though, madness is scary. (hide spoiler)]

[Bondama]

This is, by far, the best novella in "FDNS" - Neil Gaiman wrote that it "was as good as anything King has ever written.... and that's very good indeed."

I love the use of the first person in the story... it adds an immediacy that might otherwise be missing.

[Staci]

I'm still reading so I didn't read the above posts - I wanted to comment on the writing style of this story.
This style makes me feel like a participant instead of an observer - it's really creeping me out.
I should finish it today then read above posts.

[Staci]

Becky wrote: "What did everyone think of the story then? Let's get back on topic please. :)

I personally loved this one, and I think it's one of the best short stories I've read in a long time. The whole tone ..."

Becky wrote: "What did everyone think of the story then? Let's get back on topic please. :)

I personally loved this one, and I think it's one of the best short stories I've read in a long time. The whole tone ..."

Becky wrote: "What did everyone think of the story then? Let's get back on topic please. :)

I personally loved this one, and I think it's one of the best short stories I've read in a long time. The whole tone ..."

Finished story - this story definitely validates the title of the book. (view spoiler)[ The actual murder act and the two of them trying to live immediately afterward took me to a very dark place; it was like I was living their nightmare of how it might feel after doing something so horrific. As the story of events continued I finally felt separated from the characters; they were living out their guilt and I was finally only a reader, an observer.
Whew - King really outdid himself with this one - his talents pulled me in far more than I wished to go.
FYI - I interpreted the rats as his mental torture. The dead wife can be interpreted differently. The writing was so real especially when the dead wife talks in his ear; maybe the 'soul' of the dead wife was keeping him apprised of his son's travels and eventual demise. Interesting to note that she did not recount the girlfriend's part. (hide spoiler)]

[Bondama]

Why Becky, I've never seen you as repetitious! :)

[Megan]

I liked this story. Hank the son creeped me out for some reason, I would not want to go walking hand in hand with him down *any* farm path. The rats however just made me smile. That's what you get for grwing up with Disney. Rats and mice are cute, I always invision them having secret meetings about what little child to rescue from poachers or a well filled with treasure.

[Stefan]

I finished this one last night. I really enjoyed this story; (view spoiler)[the dark feel of it, the growth of Hank's character's psyche (or lack there-of) and Wilf's descent into madness were spot-on classic King! Even though the main story was excellent, I got into the it even more when he was telling the tale of Hank's misadventures. (hide spoiler)]

All in all a good start to the collection, I only hope that other reviewers are wrong when they say it's downhill from here. Of course, if it's only a gentle downhill slope, then I guess that won't matter too much!

[Becky]

Bondama wrote: "Why Becky, I've never seen you as repetitious! :)"

It's a curse. Sometimes I get stuck on repeat. Sometimes I get stuck on repeat. Sometimes I... :P

[Gatorman]

I though this story was vastly overrated. Started out really good on a character level and then devolved into a silly supernatural tale. The supernatural element was totally unnecessary and only acted as a cheat to show the reader what happened to his son. It would have been better left to the reader's imagination. I thought the rest of the stories were much better.

[Jamie]

I JUST finished this and totally enjoyed it. It was so creepy and awful that I was on the edge of my seat. I got through half of it last night and found myself telling my husband all about it in detail because I just couldn't get some of the scenes out of my head. (I had to share because I felt like the awfulness of it was just too much to keep to myself). It was so totally vivid and descriptive, I actually really regretted the fact that I was eating during one part. Awesome story.

[Veronica]

Ok. I have to agree with Jamie. I am on page 30 and I am deeply disturbed by the "incident". All I keep seeing is Johnny Depp playing this role and freaking out throughout the story. Am I the only one who think something is wrong with this character? LOL

[Steve]

It is kind of like the dark halfbrother to My Pretty Pony. It was indeed one of my faves in the collection, but King certainly should stop writing stories that have newspaper report epilogues...kind of a cop out.

[Luis]

I loved this one, and now that I've finished all four of the novellas I say that 1922 is the best one. The slow descent into madness, for both the father and the son, is very well told. I also agree with a previous post, in that the son, Hank, was a pretty creepy kid.

[Jaime]

Great story. Loved that it was in first person, King writes some of his best in this style. You really get to know the characters and feel that you are in the middle of the action. Hank was a creepy guy. I agree that the rats were all in Wilf's mind, showing his slow descent into madness. Does that mean he bit himself? Great writing, great imagery. My 2nd favorite in the collection...

[Veronica]

I find this story sad. Its a perfect example of one creating their own problem/misery. What Wilf did was wrong. But I couldn't help be feel sad for him and his son.

[Antony]

Gatorman wrote: "I though this story was vastly overrated. Started out really good on a character level and then devolved into a silly supernatural tale. The supernatural element was totally unnecessary and only ..."

I've just finished this tale and, although I enjoyed it, I agree with Gatorman that the supernatural element was the weakest part the story ... it was only there to preserve the first person narrative, and without it the whole thing could have been more powerful. Even so, it's a story that will stay in my mind for a while, I think.

[Veronica]

I don't think this was a supernatural story at all. Its more of a psychological thriller. One has to decide whether the ending was in his head or real. I don't think anyone is wrong.

[Bondama]

Veronica, I completely agree with you. If there is a "supernatural" part, it's something the reader brings to the story, rather than something King wrote.

[Gatorman]

It isn't just the end that has a problematic supernatural aspect to it. The whole part of (view spoiler)[ the wife coming back from the dead and allowing the husband the opportunity to see what happened to his son (hide spoiler)] is definitely a supernatural element and cannot be explained away by saying it was only in his head.

[Stefan]

I agree with Gatorman. (view spoiler)[Without the supernatural element, King didn't give the narrator anyway to have the knowledge that he had of Hank's activities. As such, I didn't feel that he had done anything to himself at the end and that it WAS the supernatural rats sent by his wife's maligned spirit that did him in. (hide spoiler)]

[Angie, Constant Reader]

I felt like a post above from Gaterman MAY be a spoiler so I deleted it and will repost here:

(view spoiler)[ If the rats were all in his head, how did he get bite marks in areas he couldn't possibly have bit himself? (hide spoiler)]

[Angie, Constant Reader]

Yeesh... I am so glad that story is over. It was not my favorite. Long and drawn out. But I can't wait to discuss!! So here goes:


(view spoiler)[ I like Becky's question above... were the rats real? I don't think they were... well especially at the end when we discover that Wilf has chewed himself. I think there was a real haunting though. I don't think he was going crazy because of the prophesies the ghost made.

Hank was the most interesting character. He really kinda went mad at the end. Not someone I would mess with. Though he was trying to get a life with his girl and child. I agree with Gaterman. I think for me the story got so long because we went on that whole journey with Hank and that could've been left out for me.

I liked how great the story was at painting a picture in my mind though. The whole cow scene when the nipple gets pulled off was fantastic. I felt like I was right there looking at it!

This time... I thought the newspaper article at the end was appropriate because the newspaper had been mentioned several times in the story and it was ironic that at the end Wilf becomes the story in that particular paper.

Overall I liked the story but didn't love it... onto the next one!!

I was very amused to see that Henry robbed a bank teller named Rhoda Penmark. That's the name of the evil little girl in The Bad Seed (movie).

And I couldn't help but feel bad for the animals in this story. The poor cow's nipple and then broken legs. The other animals die of starvation. SAD! (hide spoiler)]

[Chris]

Not bad for a short story. I liked it, overall.
(view spoiler)[I think the story is ambiguous on purpose in regards to whether or not the rats are real, letting the reader ultimately choose what they want to believe (either way). (hide spoiler)]

[Gatorman]

Angie, a question. (view spoiler)[ What do you mean when you say the rats weren't real? Do you think that all of the bite marks on Wilf were made by himself? If so, how do you answer my post that he had marks in areas where he could not possibly have bitten himself? (hide spoiler)] Just curious.

[Angie, Constant Reader]

Gatorman wrote: "Angie, a question. [spoilers removed] Just curious."

Hummm... let me go back and look where the bite marks were. I kind read that part fast.
OK(view spoiler)[ so it says arms, legs, ankles and toes. and then wrists. I am only "guessing" that this was a man who could reach his toes with his mouth. If it said his stomach or back I would go with you on this...but I think he did it to himself and that the rats were only in his mind. I do think it was ghosts though or something supernatural because of the way the future was told to him. But I don't think there were actual rats. Of course that doesn't explain the other incidents. Like when he reached in the closet to hide the money. Perhaps he just cut his hand on something and thought it was rats? Or that the rat that bit the cow? That one is harder to explain. Maybe that one really was a rat? Maybe he started to see rats at the beginning (when the wife was in the hole) and then his mind just started to imagine them everywhere so perhaps in a way he was haunted AND going crazy at the same time!! whoa... this story just leaves so much up to the reader to imagine!! (hide spoiler)]

[Bondama]

Angie - Very well thought out statement. I agreed with you initially, and you backed up the premise that the rats were imagined by Wilf very well.

[Gatorman]

Angie wrote: "Gatorman wrote: "Angie, a question. [spoilers removed] Just curious."

Hummm... let me go back and look where the bite marks were. I kind read that part fast.
OK so it says arms, legs, ankles an..."

Thanks for the reply. I'll disagree with you because (view spoiler)[ I don't think he could have bitten himself in those places and the other issues with the rats, as you say, are very difficult to explain if it isn't rats. The rats were most likely a supernatural creation but I don't think they were only in his head. (hide spoiler)] It does make for an interesting discussion, though! :)

[Bianca]

I believe this story really succeeds in capturing King's style: haunting, yet captivating. But as I was reading it, I kept thinking how oddly similar it was to "Dolores Claiborne".

[Becky]

Agrimorfee wrote: "It was indeed one of my faves in the collection, but King certainly should stop writing stories that have newspaper report epilogues...kind of a cop out..."

I disagree... One of my favorite things about King is that you never know where the story will go... who will make it out and who won't.

(view spoiler)[I feel like too often, 1st person narratives all but guarantee the survival of the narrator. I love that I can't rely on that with King, because he can and does switch it up.

I don't think it's a cop out to be unpredictable... If the main character/narrator needs to die (and I trust King to kill them if they do), then how else are we going to know what happens to them? Should the story just end? The news article adds that extra bit of surreal creepiness... How DID Wilf get all the bite marks? Were they his own, or was there something else going on?

If he'd written in 3rd person, then we lose something different - that intimacy that we get from being inside Wilf's head...

I think the newspaper ending was a win/win. I get all of that closeness to the story that I want, and King doesn't disappoint with the end of the story... It's a mystery that we have to solve for ourselves, but it IS an ending... we're not left wondering whether he lived or died. THAT would have been a cop out in my opinion. (hide spoiler)]

[Veronica]

Angie wrote: "Gatorman wrote: "Angie, a question. [spoilers removed] Just curious."

Hummm... let me go back and look where the bite marks were. I kind read that part fast.
OK so it says arms, legs, ankles an..."

I agree. This is why I said from prior the story was more psychological than supernatural.(view spoiler)[ He was rattled by the guilt of killing his wife and dragging his son into it. His mind snapped when his son left the home to go after his pregnant girlfriend. He started to see the ghost of his wife and the rats at that point. Even after he lost the farm, he could not hold a steady job because he was haunted by the rats. To me, this story demonstrates the frailty of the human mind (hide spoiler)]

[Veronica]

This story is reminiscent to the Secret Window.

[Kathryn]

It has taken me a bit to read this story because I was reading The Stand when March came up.

Okay...I just finished it, and the end really kind of left it up to the reader to decide what was real and what wasn't. (view spoiler)[ I, for the longest time, really thought the rats were real. Only until he starts going on to work at the clothing factory and the library did I think they were his imagination. I just thought maybe his house really was so dilapidated, the rats had found a way to get in. However, at the end...I think King kind of left it up to the reader to decide whether or not they were real. The only thing for me was, and I think it was Becky who said this, but I really do think with all the drama with his wife and the land, then killing her, then, all of the stuff with his son, was just way too much for Wilf in one year to deal with. I think it made him crazy. I think each event (1922 was very eventful for Wilf, indeed), just added to his mania. I think at the end, not necessarily he had a hard time separating reality from delusion, but almost something like that.

I think 1922 also kind of gives a good glimpse into life back then: how precious it was to own land, how serious getting pregnant while not married and 15 was for some people, and just the general nature of how different life was and is now.

The only thing I kind of wish King would have addressed, and maybe I missed this, but did anyone ever find the REAL body of Arlette? I mean, I would think after the slaughtering company bought the land, they would have dug up the well, or maybe not, and would have found it...Or was that also left up to our imagination? I enjoyed this story though...some of the descriptions were really kind of disturbing...haha. Can't wait to read the rest. (hide spoiler)]

[Veronica]

@ Kathryn: Without saying too much, I agree with you. I saw the story exactly the way you did.

[Kathryn]

Veronica wrote: "@ Kathryn: Without saying too much, I agree with you. I saw the story exactly the way you did."

I thought I might be the only one! (view spoiler)[ Now I am questioning what really happened to his hand... (hide spoiler)]

[Kathryn]

Angie wrote: "Gatorman wrote: "Angie, a question. [spoilers removed] Just curious."

Hummm... let me go back and look where the bite marks were. I kind read that part fast.
OK so it says arms, legs, ankles an..."

I agree with you! I think so much of this is how we want to perceive it.

[Gatorman]

I have to jump into this discussion again because the explanations I'm reading for the ending don't seem to make sense, and it's too easy for me to say that the ending can be whatever we want it to. (view spoiler)[ If the rats were not real (and by "real" I mean existing either naturally or through supernatural means) and were not the cause of the bite marks, why would Wilf bite himself like he was a rat? It can't be because he went crazy because, if anything, he would have done something extreme to get away from the rats, not emulated them and caused himself bite marks. Remember, he was already contemplating suicide to get away from them. And what about the other rats that crawled out of the dirt where Arlette was buried, bit Wilf's cow and bit his hand? How do you explain those away? And I still say that, unless Wilf was a master yoga practitioner, he could not have physically bitten himself on the legs and ankles. Ever try it? (hide spoiler)] More thoughts are welcome!

[Kathryn]

I kind of want to say that is what's neat about this story. (view spoiler)[ I can see why some would say it was real and I can see why others would say it was his imagination. Maybe the rats are supernatural to where only he can see them and no one else. I wondered the same thing about the cow teat and Wilf's hand, though. Those seemed more like reality. At the end, I almost wondered, and maybe I'm being a total odd-ball here, but if the ghosts of Henry/Hank, Shannon, and Arlette caused them. It was just a thought which crossed my mind. Maybe like a way to get back at him. He said, "I filled the well, but SHE also found her way out. And this time I don't think she's alone. I think I hear two sets of shuffling feet, not just one. Or-Three? Is it three? Is the girl who would have been my daughter-in-law in a better world with them as well?..Three corpses shuffling up the hall, their faces (what remains of them) disfigured by rat-bites." Then, they open the door. It says in the newspaper article there were bite marks on him, like he had bit himself...What if the ghosts did it? I maybe totally off-base, but it was something which crossed my mind. (hide spoiler)]

[Gatorman]

That's an interesting take on the ending, Kathryn. Not sure if I buy into the idea that (view spoiler)[ the ghosts were doing the biting, but at least it's another explanation away from him biting himself, which I just don't think is possible (hide spoiler)]. Will have to think on that one.

[Becky]

(view spoiler)[Going from memory completely on this, but the more I think about it, the more I think it was all in Wilf's head and that everything was his doing.

I think the stress of living with his shrew of a wife, and the guilt of killing her broke his mind, and I think he manifested everything that happened. Not truly or physically maybe, but enough to convince himself that he was being persecuted by rats. I think HE bit the cow's teat, and he injured his hand somehow, and he bit himself to death... all the while thinking the rats did it all.

It doesn't take a contortionist or a yoga master to reach head to legs or feet. All it would take was a small amount of flexibility. I am pretty out of shape, and I can reach. And, if I'm remembering right, these were lean years for Wilf already. So I envision a thin man, and I have no problem picturing him sitting on a chair, or on the floor, biting himself on the feet or ankles or legs or arms.

And (without spoiling any other stories), King has used "mental blackouts" before, where characters do horrible things that they wouldn't otherwise do, and never remember it later, and even go so far as to create other memories to cover the lost time. Multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, whatever you want to call it, it's not impossible in King's universe. (hide spoiler)]

[Kathryn]

Becky wrote: "Going from memory completely on this, but the more I think about it, the more I think it was all in Wilf's head and that everything was his doing.

I think the stress of living with his shrew of a..."

I think you put it into better terms that I originally did, Becky. And yes, you are correct about your memory (view spoiler)[ where he was a lean man (hide spoiler)]. I agree with everything you said.

[Kathryn]

Gatorman wrote: "That's an interesting take on the ending, Kathryn. Not sure if I buy into the idea that [spoilers removed]. Will have to think on that one."

Thanks, Gatorman. It was just another idea I had. I could be wrong, though. :)

[Angie, Constant Reader]

This discussion is great!!

(view spoiler)[ Ok so I am going to just respond to everything since the last time I posted. I forgot about the clothing factory and the library. No one else saw the rats. And I admit during this part of the story I started to feel bad for Wilf since he was trying to get on with life but couldn't (even though I knew I should'nt feel bad for him). But then I started thinking about the story Wilf was writing and that it all looked like rats chewed it up. There was no way Wilf could make rat teeth marks on papers.

I guess for some there is a natural ending Wilf chews himself and the supernatural the rats chew him up. When I think of Wilf chewing himself up what I picture is that he is so crazy by then that he can even break his own bones to get to his feet if needed.

I am so confused!!!! :) (hide spoiler)]

[Becky]

Angie: (view spoiler)[ I admit that I've never seen what it looks like for rats to chew up paper... but in my mind, it just looks... chewed. The paper ragged on the edges and torn and messed up. Would there be identifiable teeth marks in paper? Or would it just shred? I don't know. Maybe.

Who wants to chew on some paper to test? :P (hide spoiler)]