66 pages • 2 hours read
Stephen KingThe Mist
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1980A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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BetaSymbols & Motifs
The Mist
The mist is one of the most pressing symbols in the novel. After the storm, David sees the strangely unnatural mist creeping slowly and inevitably across the lake. He has no way to explain the strange edge or location of the mist, nor does Brent. Neither man can explain its presence nor explain why it makes them feel so uneasy. The mist acts in a way that a natural weather pattern should not, defying the conditions and the expectations of the world it inhabits. David and the other characters have grown used to the world. They are familiar with weather phenomena, as illustrated by David’s knowledge of storms. However, the mist defies the characters’ existing knowledge and becomes a symbol of the vast and unknowable world. In a literal sense, the mist obfuscates understanding. It blocks the view of the people nearby and limits their ability to interact with the world. It dampens the human senses, making people feel isolated and alone in places they once felt were familiar. The mist becomes a symbol of the creeping horror of the unknown, preventing people from seeing and interacting with the world around them.
At the same time, David cannot shift his suspicion that the mist is a product of human interference. When discussing the military base near the town, many locals speculate about the kind of research taking place in Project Arrowhead. People speculate about atomic research and other cutting-edge technologies. To the non-scientists in the town, this research is almost magic. They lack the understanding and the language to explain what is happening on the base, so they are reduced to almost-magical explanations such as the idea that the scientists are “shooting atoms into the air and all that” (19). David is anxious about Project Arrowhead and, because the mist makes him feel similarly anxious, he makes a connection in his mind. The two anxiety-inducing concepts are joined together, and the mist becomes a symbol of humanity’s tendency to interfere with forces it does not understand. Like the townspeople, the scientists are meddling with concepts they do not fully comprehend. The mist results from this meddling, representing the depth of misunderstanding required to cause such a catastrophe.
As David spends more time surrounded by the mist, the mist comes to symbolize a loss of hope. David leads a small party in a bid to escape the supermarket. They reach his car and drive south, hoping that they can find the end of the mist. Even after hours on the freeway, they are still shrouded in the endless mist. The more they drive, the more mist they find. The more mist they find, the more David becomes anxious that they might never escape. The unending nature of the mist is a constant reminder of the danger they face. The longer they travel and remain in the mist, the more they are forced to confront the fact that the world as they knew it is gone. The endlessness of the mist as David drives south becomes an environmental symbol of the fleeting hope that he can return to normal. The mist stops David from seeing the road ahead and, in a symbolic sense, prevents him from looking into a bright and optimistic future.
Alcohol
With the conditions worsening in the supermarket, several characters quickly turn to alcohol. They raid the beer supplies and spend their confinement drinking heavily. Beer, wine, and anything alcoholic are sought after in the store as customers seek ways to suppress their fears. They use alcohol as a form of medication, numbing their minds to the reality of what is happening to them. After the incident with the generator, the men immediately leave the storeroom and grab another beer. This instinctive reaction illustrates how alcohol is used by the men, allowing them to block out the difficult thoughts that would otherwise terrify them. The speed and regularity with which the men embrace alcohol symbolize their urgent desire to suppress their fear.
As the situation in the supermarket becomes worse, the characters continue to drink. The choice of beverage becomes a subtle symbol of the difference between the locals and the out-of-towners: the local men pride themselves on guzzling beer, and David cannot help but make a snide reference to the out-of-towners’ tendency to head straight for the wine. This minor choice in beverage illustrates how alcohol can symbolize class differences, while the storewide desire to drink alcohol symbolizes unity across all the groups. Whether a local or an out-of-towner, many people want to medicate themselves and engage in a common social activity. Drinking is a familiar activity, so they turn to the beverage they know best and find the most comforting. Alcohol is a symbolic coping mechanism, allowing the characters to perform familiar and comforting rituals at a time of immense stress. They replicate everyday social activity hoping that this replication will bring familiar comfort and joy. By drinking as though they were out having fun, the characters can trick themselves into believing that they are not scared. Alcohol symbolizes how fear transcends class boundaries and how people slip into familiar behavior patterns when faced with a terrifying reality.
The social dimension of drinking alcohol also hints at the symbolic need for solidarity among the characters. They do not just drink together; they also offer one another drinks and encourage each other to drink. Drinking alcohol becomes a way to strengthen social bonds at a moment when strangers are forced together in difficult circumstances. At the same time, the rejection of alcohol becomes a way to strengthen social bonds and form new partnerships and social groups. While many characters immediately begin to drink, Mrs. Carmody slowly convinces more people to reject the temptation of alcohol. Characters who abandon alcohol and join Mrs. Carmody’s band of religious followers illustrate how both the consumption and the rejection of alcohol can be used to symbolize social integration. In a stressful situation, every gesture has meaning. Characters who reject alcohol show their symbolic desire to embrace Mrs. Carmody’s explanation of events rather than using alcohol to numb their minds to their most pressing questions.
The Radio
At numerous times throughout The Mist, characters try to use the radio. Steff complains that her favorite radio station is not broadcasting in the wake of the storm. When David drives to Bridgton, he notices that the local radio stations are not picked up by his car radio. The absence of music from the radio becomes a symbol of the fragility of the technological world. Even before the arrival of the mist, the size and the force of the storm are enough to remove one of the minor comforts of modern existence. When David cannot listen to the radio, the silence reminds him of the fragile nature of modern life. The loss of electricity removes music from his life and forces him to work in silence. Like the air-conditioning in the store, the loss of the radio is a small issue, but many of these small issues quickly add up to harm David’s quality of life. These minor annoyances build the tension and illustrate the difficulties that lay ahead for the characters who will be forced to confront the real dangers of the mist.
The loss of the radio is also a symbol of the characters’ separation from the outside world. Whether at home beside the lake, driving to Bridgton, or locked inside the supermarket, David feels isolated and alienated from life in a small town. Without a radio, he cannot be sure that life continues outside of his immediate existence. Just as he cannot see through the dense mist, he cannot hear the comforting sounds of life in the rest of the world. The silent radio symbolizes the intense isolation of the moment, reminding the characters that they are alone in a world that cannot communicate with them and cannot help them.
At the end of the novel, David returns to the radio. In a final act of desperation, he searches through the radio static until he hears the word Hartford. David is convinced that he heard the word rather than mistakenly misinterpreting a burst of radio static. This word on the radio is not necessarily a symbol of hope. Instead, it functions as a symbol of David’s urgent need to hope. He convinces himself that he hears the word because he cannot continue without the possibility that other people are still alive, and he does not want to face the prospect of shooting his loved ones. David clings to the possibility that he heard someone broadcast the name of a town because he is desperately clinging to the slimmest possibility that he and the others might survive. This final radio broadcast becomes a symbol of David’s desperate, urgent desire for hope, allowing him to convince himself that there is hope for the future because the alternative is too terrible to comprehend.
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