The Theme of Good and Evil in The Gunslinger

The Gunslinger is a story that has Roland as the main character and plays a controversial role which makes the reader of the book wonder if he is good or evil. The life of the main character is full of challenges and obstacles creating curiosity to the reader concerning how far Roland is willing to go to solve them. Therefore, in most cases, Roland is expected to choose between the good or evil (Furth, p.3). This story has been used to produce a movie known as the dark tower. The author has used a lot of fictions and technology to complete the story and shape the character of random and man in black. This essay will demonstrate the theme of good and evil as demonstrated in the story as well as how it relates to the context in the book. Other scholarly resources will be used to support the arguments made in the essay.

As Roland travels across the desert in search of the man in black he reaches a village and comes across a man who gives him a place to reside. He passes his night there as he had a flashback of a village town called Tull where he had passed through on his way. Walter, the man in black, had also spent time in the same town and revived a dead man and left him as a trap for Roland. In his time there he visited the local church leader who informs him that the man in black had impregnated her with a demon. In a short while, the woman turns all the people in the town against Roland living him without any option but to kill them all (Kent, p.7). This action of murder is very controversial because he committed it to protect his life. Some readers ought to think that he could have escaped or dealt with the evil woman fast instead of killing innocent people who were acting under the influence of evil powers. Thus, despite the high urgency of finding the man in black who perpetuated this evil deeds, some leniency was being expected, but Random compromised mercilessly. On the other hand, some people have the notion that in every war there are casualties. Therefore, the massacre of the whole village is treated neutrally and taken as a compliment to Roland which indicates that he is willing to compromise in whichever way until he gets to Walter and destroy him.

As the story progresses, Roland woke up the day that followed and found that his mule died and hence he had to continue the journey on foot. He somehow managed to reach a disserted way station and came across a young boy by the name Jake Chambers. Due to loss of excess water during the journey and the heat from the sun in the desert, Roland fell and collapsed due to dehydration (Furth p.7). The boy was good-hearted, and he fetched him some water to quench his body. Since the boy was full of wonders about him, he hypnotized him making him think he died in a different world as he was heading to a learning institution. This is not a good action because it denies someone the right to freedom of mind and hence some readers of the book considers it as evil. On the contrary, some of the audiences consider the action as a calculated move of not exposing his identity. This is because, with the boy and other people knowing about him, Walter can know about his whereabouts and make strategies to run away or fighting back. Thus the action was not in bad faith. He was only trying to hide his identity. To prove this point, as Roland and the boy were searching for something to eat, they encountered a demon, he mastered and killed it to save self and Jake (McMurray p.4). If he had evil intentions, he could have left him to perish at the hands of this demon. Additionally, after they have found their way out of the desert, he saved Jake for the second time after the boy came across the succubus. Roland advised the boy to tightly hold the jawbone as a charm for protection. Roland attacks the oracle and holds it to try and determine its history, his fate as well as the path to the dark tower which was his main mission.

In the Roland flashback, the readers of the book are made aware of Martens (he was Stevens wizard) who lured Roland to declaring his manhood prematurely as well as sleeping with his mother and cuckolded his father (McMurray p.6). This is very evil because it makes a man feel humiliated once he learns his mother or wife is having an affair secretly with another man. It is a sign of disrespect, and nothing good can come out of it. Such action surge for violence in search of vengeance or punishment. Also, influencing a child negatively is very unethical because he or she can end up making wrong choices and live to regret them. Thus, Martens is regarded as an evil man. 

Roland and Jake eventually saw the man in black who informs them that he will only meet one of them on the other side. This information makes Jake have a lot of fear because he knew that Roland would either murder him or abandon him. Roland is not deterred by the utterance of the man in black because he understands his mission and thus he was determined to accomplish it. As they progressed with their journey, they were attacked by slow mutants while in their track. They managed to get past them, and at the end of the tunnel, their truck began to break as they traveled. Roland optimized to let the boy go into an abyss so that he can continue his journey (Kent p.13). At this point, most readers are not happy with his action because they do not understand why Roland had to drag the boy this far only to let him perish. Also, some thought the idea of abandoning the boy and let him live to his fate could have been a better option than killing him. This is because if he was determined to destroy the man in black, all the evils could have ended and if the boy could have survived by then, he could have lived happily. On the other hand, some audience thinks that it was better for Jake to remain with Roland. This is because he offered protection. Also, Jake himself was determined to save the boy, but because of unavoidable circumstances, the boy had to be sacrificed as he went to finish his work of destroying the tower.

Roland eventually meets Walter; he tries all manner of things to manipulate Roland and show him how powerless he is to get him renounce his quest. Roland does not accept the temptation, and hence he is made to travel west and made to sleep. This is an act of being good because he remains true to his course. He is determined to destroy the man in black and the tower to save all the creatures living in the world. He is even willing to leave the wife and unborn child to perish as he seeks the man in black and the tower.

Conclusion

Roland actions make him a good person in the sense that he was aiming to preserve the world and all the things that existed in it. He also wanted to be honorable to his calling, and hence he ended up making a lot of compromises in the way. Also, he helps all the individuals he comes across to the point where he couldn’t offer any aid. His ambition of attaining the greater good makes him appear evil, but in a real sense, he is a morally upright person because after finding the boy in the alternate world he saves him. He has made a lot of sacrifices to remain good, some of which can only be accomplished by a person with twisted minds. Other characters also have the trait of being good and evil. A perfect example is the church leader who was serving the humanity but then allowed the demon to be implanted in her body because she was yearning for the pregnancy. 

References

Kent, Sharmin. And Just as Far as Ever from the End: A Textual Analysis of The Gunslinger by Stephen King. Diss. 2010.

McMurray, Rachel Elizabeth. “BECAUSE SOME STORIES DO LIVE FOREVER”: STEPHEN KING’S THE DARK TOWER SERIES AS MODERN ROMANCE. Diss. University of Kansas, 2012.

Furth, Robin. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance: Revised and Updated. Hachette UK, 2012.