The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Response

From the opening line of Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, I immediately noticed that the novel began with a tone of determinism. As King writes, “The world had teeth and it could bite you with them whenever it wanted,” (King 9).  When considering that line in the context of little Patricia MacFarland being lost in the Maine/New Hampshire woods and at the mercy of nature, I agree with the idea that this novel is a classic example of literary naturalism. Furthermore, I also believe that this novel serves as a good example of compatibilism, due to Patricia being faced with multiple choices that altered her journey, but God ultimately “showing up in the ninth inning” to guide her on the path to home.

As soon as Patricia veers off the main trail and into the uncharted territory of the woods, she leaves behind the world of signposts, trail markers, and civilization. Upon doing this, she effectively threw herself into a world that did not play by the same rules as she did. This novel is chock full of symbolism, and several of the symbols conveyed the lack of control that Patricia had over her surroundings. Firstly, the swarm of bugs that continuously surrounds her and eats her alive could represent the overwhelming fear of never finding her way out of the woods alive. Secondly, her feeling of being constantly stalked and watched by a “thing” in the woods represents her sense of powerlessness to the unseen danger of the woods. Lastly, the stream water that makes her violently ill seems to confirm the fact that Patricia would not be able to survive on the food and water of the woods, even if she knew what was and was not edible. Overall, King’s use of symbolism lends to the genre of literary naturalism by depicting the unrivaled power of the elements of nature over human life.

In addition, this novel could also be seen under the scope of comptabilism due to Patricia making constant decisions throughout each day that affects the probability of her being rescued or finding her way out of the woods, but God being ever present to ensure that she meets her pre-determined fate for escaping those woods. For example, King states in one part of the novel that if Patricia had kept north and continued through swampy land, she would have reached a lake where tourists visited on the weekend. Instead, she turned toward the Canadian border and crossed into the New Hampshire woods. Patricia had the conscious choice in which direction she walked, but once she made her choice, her path literally and figuratively changed. Another example of her exercising free will is in her final stand off with the “thing” of the woods. When Patricia is faced nose-to-nose with a black bear, she decides to “wind up and throw the curve on strike two” and faces her fear square in the face, rather than continuing to run. This scene not only perfectly depicts the presence of free will, but also the existence of compatibilism, because God “showed up in the ninth inning” to send the hunter who ultimately saves Patricia’s life.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, and how well I was able to connect the course concepts to it. However, I am left with one question from the reading. I was interested by the concept of the “subaudible” and am wondering if I understand the term correctly by describing it as the intangible feeling that God is present at all times, but also believing that God does not interfere in our lives directly? If this were so, then the idea of the subaudible and the idea that God always shows up in the ninth inning would contradict each other.