Needful Things

As his manipulations sow chaos throughout the town, Mr. Gaunt’s activities unravel romantic relationships, poison family dynamics, and destroy long-standing alliances and friendships. In these chapters, the chaos reaches a new level of frenzy, and the antagonist no longer hides beneath a veneer of normalcy; instead, as he prepares to execute his endgame, his inhuman glee over the town’s havoc emphasizes his supernatural origins. Yet despite his efforts to destroy the entire town, Polly emerges as one of the strongest protagonists of the text as she battles Mr. Gaunt’s influence. Unlike many of her peers, Polly was not driven by greed to purchase her amulet; instead, she merely hopes that this possession will provide some respite from her constant physical pain. Even so, Polly’s amulet becomes a symbol of her own personal struggle with The Battle Between Good and Evil, for it allows Mr. Gaunt a modicum of control over her, and his efforts to isolate her and morally compromise her are at least partially successful. However, even as she does his bidding, she finds herself questioning her actions. She also grows embarrassed by her faith in the amulet’s efficacy as a remedy to arthritis, and she is very aware of Alan’s skeptical attitude.

Alan also represents a force of good as he struggles to maintain order amidst the town’s escalating chaos. His suspicion of Mr. Gaunt and his recognition of the shop’s ominous influence suggest that he senses the underlying malevolence threatening Castle Rock. Likewise, his concern for Polly and his attempts to protect Brian from psychological distress highlight his role as a stabilizing influence. As an emotionally intelligent father and a competent authority figure, Alan recognizes Brian’s fears and interrogates him as thoughtfully as he can. His astute outlook allows him to realize that his attempt to use legerdemain as an ice-breaker has instead triggered Brian’s fear of anything remotely supernatural. Alan therefore abandons his usual method for ingratiating himself to children and recognizes that in Brian, “there is something badly sprained, maybe even broken here” (631). His skills of observation in this moment lead him onto the investigative path that will allow him to more directly counter Mr. Gaunt’s influence on the town.

It is also important to note Alan’s astute nature has compelled Mr. Gaunt to mark him as a particular threat. The demon therefore works to drive a wedge between Polly and Alan by forging communications between Alan and the San Francisco Department of Child Services, thereby using Small-Town Dynamics and Hidden Tensions to poison the pair’s relationship. Polly discovers the letter and assumes that Alan has been secretly investigating her. Her emotional reaction to this setup reveals the level of control that Mr. Gaunt wields over her despite her essential moral goodness. Caught the throes of Mr. Gaunt’s manipulations, she immediately despises Alan for what she sees as a hideous breach in trust, and she does not stop to consider how out of character such an action would be for him. Her distress joins other examples of escalating strife in these chapters—from Frank Jewett’s destruction of George T. Nelson’s home to Lester’s deadly attack on John LaPointe—and all of these incidents collectively illustrate the idea that evil spreads like a contagion. Thus, King suggests that in every person exists the inherent capacity to commit violence. Within this conceptual framework, Buster becomes the ultimate example of a spiraling descent into utter depravity. As he becomes progressively less rational and less human (succumbing to paranoia, resisting arrest, and ultimately murdering his own wife), the nature of Buster’s downfall indicates that Mr. Gaunt is merely a catalyst for existing dysfunction. While Mr. Gaunt embodies a supernatural, malevolent force, his power lies in the weaknesses of those he manipulates. Buster and Lester already possessed a penchant for violence that waited like a ticking time bomb. Mr. Gaunt needed only to light a metaphorical match.