The Body Themes

As adult Gordie notes late in The Body, the adventure he and his friends Chris, Teddy, and Vern had at the end of the summer of 1960 was the rite of passage by which they moved from childhood into the adult world. The book explores the process by which they leave the last traces of their childhood innocence behind and face difficult facts, especially that life is dangerous and unfair and that…

Gordie’s sense that his life has been shaped by fate and chance permeates The Body. It’s even evident in his last name, Lechance, which means “luck” in French. Both Gordie and his older brother Denny are miracle babies, born despite their mom’s clear fertility issues. Gordie becomes a best-selling author and a millionaire at an improbably young age. But not all luck is good. The unwanted miracle, Gordie grew up neglected by…

The quest of Gordie Lechance, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio to find Ray Brower’s body dramatizes both the importance and the limitations of friendships. At first, Gordie is totally committed to his gang, whose nexus of friendships helps all of the boys survive in a world where adults are more often enemies than protectors. They look out for each other, they pool their resources, take turns on night watch…

By the time he writes down what happened to him in the summer of 1960, Gordie Lechance is a successful novelist. As a writer, Gordie laces his story with excerpts from his published works and with musings on what the storyteller’s craft can—and cannot—do. He repeatedly worries that “the most important things are the hardest to say.” He frets that expressing experiences (like his encounter with the deer) with words cheapens them in some…