The Body tells about a group of boys that find a body while they are adventuring. They are unsure what to do and thus the story is about them figuring what to do. The plot takes the boys all across the county. The plot gets the reader to sympathize with the boys because of the fact that they travel across the county. "The tracks now bent southwest and ran through tangles of second-growth fir." They do many things throughout the story. They enter a pie eating contest, they cross the Royal River, and they find a body.
The Body is written in third person omniscient. The story is written as a writer who is writing this as a book. "I was twelve going on thirteen when I saw a dead human being. It happened in 1960, a long time ago... although sometimes it doesn't seem that long to me." The narrator knows all that happens throughout the story. The narrator can explain everything for the plot of the story.
The author shows how the characters change through direct characterization. "...Triple money on six-card-under, although Teddy was the only guy crazy enough to go for that." "Teddy Duchamp was only about half-bright, but Vern Tessio would never be spending any of his spare time on College Bowl either. Still his brother Billy was even dumber..." The author also uses indirect characterization. "Thinks they will ruin her pret-ty face." The women is then perceived to be self-centered.
It is set in the 1960's. This means they don't have all the technology that we have. They don't have cell phones, Internet, or even Ipods. They were kids that went adventuring just to see what was out in the world. It is set in a small town. This means they don't have access to huge malls or skyscrapers. They just loved gettin down and dirty.
The theme of this short story is to get children to go exploring. Children will never know what the world contains until they look. They might find the body of a child who was killed. They may find one hundred dollars. They should always report things they find.
