During a time when money was scarce, there was often chaos that complemented this scarcity. In The Music Room by Stephen King, the readers are taken on a journey through time to the Great Depression, where we meet a couple trying to make a living during these trying times. However, rather than going about making money by working tax-paying jobs, the readers are introduced to a couple who find money by kidnapping people and slowly draining their bank accounts. Once their bank account is completely drained, they starve their victims to death. However, during this story, the couple is met with a conflict; the victim will not die and the wife is starting to grow weary of the screaming. The husband and wife argue about whether they are murderers or not and at some point, the readers also contemplate whether or not they’re murderers and whether they are doing these things for fun or to stay afloat. The woman in the couple seems to have guilt or sympathy towards the victim, but is it truly sympathy? On page 123 we find that the more the victims struggle, the more excited the woman is about their money; In the book, King writes, “She looked at him in that same steady way, hands clasped. “And yet?” “Part of you enjoys it, I think. Not this part, but the actual moment when we take them, as a hunter takes an animal in the woods.” In a sense, she treats the money like a reward for her actions.
The Music Room- How to Get Money During the Great Depression
Feb 23rd, 2023 by rjbillings
Interesting observation about the wife feeling some level of sympathy. I read it more like she was put off by the gratuitousness of the situation, rather than any actual emotional connection to the victims. It seemed she was more concerned with whether she could be considered a “murderer” than with the fact that she was causing people’s deaths. And, yes, the money certainly makes up for any misgivings she may have had.