53 pages • 1 hour read
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
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Themes
The Middle Ground between Good and Evil
Considering the protagonist, Roland the gunslinger, is most accurately described as an anti-hero, whose sense of morality is never clearly defined, the novel never really becomes about good versus evil. Instead, it navigates the middle ground between good and evil, asking the reader to question what’s right and wrong. Roland’s youth is a good demonstration of this idea. Even though he comes from Gilead, a medieval land similar to the times of King Arthur, there is no sense of chivalry. Instead, gunslingers, Gilead’s version of knights, are ruthlessly trained through beating and patronizing language. Then, after that training, the only way for the boy to officially become a gunslinger is for the boy to beat his teacher to a bloody pulp. Furthermore, it’s implied that the gunslinger ends up killing his mother, given the brief reference to him being a matricide, but it’s never fully explained. This intense violence early on in the gunslinger’s life, along with his lack of emotional reaction to the violence,establishes him as a morally-ambiguous character; that is, even though for much of the novel the gunslinger is chasing the Man in Black, a presumably evil character, the gunslinger can never himself be called good, making the reader question who is really good and who is really evil by the end, if such binaries exist in the world of the novel.
Much like his youth, the gunslinger’s adult life is consumed by violence and moral ambiguity. The first instance of this happens in Tull, when the gunslinger ends up shooting his lover, Alice, in the head. Although Alice, like the rest of Tull’s citizens, comes after the gunslinger with a weapon, it’s made very clear that she isn’t in her right mind. Not only did Alice say nineteen to Nort, thus learning a secret that drove her insane, she is also being enchanted by Sheb, who uses her as a shield of sorts, while approaching the gunslinger. So, although Alice begs the gunslinger to kill her, when he does, it’s a morally-ambiguous action. Some might argue that the gunslinger’s decision to kill Alice was ‘good’ because it spared her the pain that she was obviously in. However, one can’t help but to wonder whether the spell she was under could have been broken. The idea that Alice’s death is the only answer isn’t clearly defined, thus furthering the idea that the gunslinger’s actions effectively negate the figurative poles of good and evil.
This theme is most clearly revealed in the gunslinger’s actions towards Jake. During their travels, the gunslinger and Jake become close friends. The gunslinger even admits on multiple occasions that he loves Jake. However, the oracle reveals that the gunslinger will inevitably have to sacrifice Jake if the gunslinger wants to find the Tower. On the other hand, the oracle also makes it very clear that the gunslinger can save Jake’s life if he turns around and quits his quest for the Tower. The fact that the gunslinger ends up letting Jake die, thus fulfilling the oracle’s prophecy, is perhaps the most morally-ambiguous action of the novel. The question of whether or not the death of an innocent boy is justified by whatever the gunslinger might find at the Tower is never answered, and furthers the notion that it isn’t really about good versus evil, but rather it explores this middle ground between the two.
Christianity and Genre-Bending
The novel relies heavily on biblical allusions and the bending of various genres to create a world that is like a recognizable Earth but not. A mix of western, medieval, fantasy, science fiction, and horror, The Gunslingerattempts to create a new genre by borrowing from many. In the same way, it utilizes Christian language to evoke the familiar ideas of good and evil, but it distorts that familiarity to create a new mythology. While this idea can be seen throughout the novel, it’s best illustrated by the characterization of the gunslinger.
The gunslinger comes from a medieval land that is reminiscent of the tales surrounding King Arthur and his court, yet his homeland has a “Biblical name—New Canaan, it was called. The land of milk and honey” (158). In his homeland, the gunslinger has the duties of a knight, in that gunslingers are supposed to guard the city and presumably protect the people, but while wandering the desert in search of the Man in Black, he more closely resembles a gun-toting cowboy from a western film. Then, towards the end of the novel, while he’s in the mountains, it’s revealed that the gunslinger is nearly immortal, and with unknown powers. In this way, his character seems to be a mixture of various genre tropes, making him familiar yet strange.
This is also true concerning the Christian elements that exist throughout the novel. There are numerous references to “man Jesus,” although it’s never understood if this is the same Jesus Christians in our world worship, or some parallel personality. The gunslinger makes multiple references to “God’s will” ultimately being done, and he makes it clear that he knows bits and pieces of the Bible, but the reader never learns what dogma the gunslinger follows. In the same way the genre mashing allows readers to find something familiar within the strange new world that the gunslinger inhabits, the heavy-handed Christian elements that are present in the novel lay a foundation that represents a moral code we are familiar with while simultaneously creating fodder for the mysterious.
The Distorted Other
Throughout the novel, the gunslinger encounters people who are like humans but not. This sense of distorted humanity, whether seen in the zombie-like humans or mutated people, reveals the chasm that exists between the characters in The Gunslinger. While the setting is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where sane and healthy humans are few and far between, any connection that the gunslinger makes has an abject element to the relationship, revealing the overall loss of humanity that the remaining humans face. In this way, each human becomes an “other,” and each interaction is a form of isolation.
This idea is demonstrated constantly throughout the novel, but first appears when the gunslinger is thinking about his journey. He says that the people he has encountered have either been diseased or insane, very unlike the gunslinger himself. In this way, each human he encounters causes him to more desperately want to be alone. This is perhaps most dramatic once he arrives in Tull, a town whose people are described as ghostlike, incestual, or drug addicts. In fact, immediately upon arriving in Tull, the gunslinger sees the townspeople as very different than himself, but he is also aware of his own otherness; everyone stares at him as if judging him, and most people keep their distance. Because of this, he never really connects with anyone while in Tull, except for a woman he makes his lover. However, even she ends up being an ‘other’ by the time he leaves the town, when the gunslinger ultimately murders her and everyone else in Tull. While he does this in self-defense, it demonstrates the lack of lasting connections for the gunslinger.
The feeling of lost humanity being found in the other is best illustrated through the Slow Mutants, the creatures that the gunslinger encounters in the mountain. Described as once being human, the Slow Mutants’ motivations aren’t made entirely clear while they’re chasing after the gunslinger and Jake. While it might be presumed that they want to eat them, the gunslinger also wonders if perhaps the mutants are just looking for a Jesusfigure to save them. This thought reveals that, although the mutants have seemingly lost their humanity and no longer resemble humans, there is still that desire within to reach out and connect. However, similar to the situation in Tull, the gunslinger kills the Slow Mutants and fails to connect. In this way, his brief encounter further reveals the gunslinger, and everyone else’s, ultimate isolation from one another.
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