Elevation: A Novel

Elevation examines the harmful effects of prejudice and discrimination in a small town through the example of Deirdre and Missy, a married couple. King portrays a spectrum of attitudes. There’s the overt, vitriolic bias of Bull Neck’s offensive comments in the diner. There are views that inadvertently reinforce prejudice, held by well-intentioned allies like Mike Badalamente. There are those who, like Scott initially, harbor no prejudice but ignore the problem altogether. Through his symbolic tribulations with gravity and weight loss, Scott learns to rise above the differences that tear people apart. His story demonstrates that prejudice is a potent cause of human suffering, but that friendship and solidarity are powerful tools in overcoming differences and effecting social change.

The first half of the book focuses on Scott’s observations of prejudice and stereotypes at work. These observations, along with Scott’s contemplation of them, elucidate the factors that bolster intolerance. Deirdre’s early characterization, for example, shows how someone’s behavior can make them unsympathetic. Her hostility and unsupported accusations of prejudice toward Scott cast doubt on the credibility of any reports of anti-gay bias. Deirdre’s hypocrisy also exposes a common source of frustration when it comes to discourse on bigotry. It may seem logical to assume that people who experience discrimination, and especially those who vocally denounce it, would not discriminate against others. Yet Deirdre tells Scott he’s too old and overweight to play Sir Galahad, though she would be furious if a man said a woman was too old and overweight to play Guinevere. Such hypocrisy detracts from the perceived validity of her complaints.

The political climate of a conservative small town is also a factor. Mike’s explanation that most residents of Castle Rock would be okay with Missy and Deirdre’s marriage if Deirdre and Missy just kept it to themselves shows a subtler form of prejudice: After all, Mike is not demanding that, for example, Bob and Myra keep their marriage hush-hush. By referencing the local voting record—“The county went for Trump three-to-one in ’16” (47)—Mike ties the town’s views on sexual orientation not to morality, but to politics. King suggests here that the polarization in American politics is responsible for exacerbating prejudice. At a more personal level, Scott’s conversation with his trick-or-treaters shows how parents teach prejudice to children too young to question it. A young girl’s mother says Deirdre and Missy “aren’t nice” (67): The girl doesn’t care about sexual orientation, but is deeply interested in “niceness.” The girl’s brother pronounces lesbians as “lesbeans” (67), indicating he doesn’t know what it means, yet he’s ready to reject Deirdre and Missy because his parents told him to.

Elevation also explores how prejudice can be opposed and how the rifts it causes can be bridged. First, unlike his friends, Scott must decide to act, rather than to continue accepting the status quo. Bob and Mike, two kind and intelligent men, are examples of how prejudice can be accepted and even reinforced by those who intend to oppose it. Bob says his wife is “open-minded on most subjects,” but adds, “when it comes to sexual politics…let’s just say she was raised a certain way” (48). He accepts and excuses Myra’s prejudice in order to maintain peace in his marriage. Similarly, Mike says that when Deirdre and Missy came to Castle Rock, “they were either ignorant about the political climate here or plain stupid” (43). His statement is a form of victim blaming, a subconscious acceptance of systemic discrimination and an expectation that victims of such discrimination should just learn to avoid it. Scott considers adopting such an attitude; he remembers Nora saying, “life is what we make it and acceptance is the key to all our affairs” (23). However, he instead concludes that “we also change the things we can, don’t we?” (23). His decision not to accept what he may be able to change catalyzes his transformation. When Deirdre asks why overcoming their differences is so important to him, he realizes that he wants to change at least one thing for the better before his time on earth is up.

Scott begins to effect change by acknowledging the problem and bringing it to people’s attention. He points out that Bob’s comment about Holy Frijole reduces Deirdre and Missy to their sexual orientation instead of treating them with dignity as complex individuals. Scott also confronts Bull Neck and his friends in the diner. Though Deirdre doesn’t appreciate it, the knowledge that by-standers are willing to intervene may make a difference in how Bull Neck chooses to express his views in the future—after all, quiet acquiescence is often taken as approval. Principles of influence indicate people conform to what they perceive as the societal norm. The more Castle Rock’s residents are exposed to attitudes that oppose anti-gay bias, the more open they’ll be to adopting such attitudes themselves. However, Scott’s approach shifts to one that proves even more effective. His overtures of friendship, captured in the Press-Herald’s photograph, have a powerful effect on the townspeople’s hearts and minds, as evidenced by their subsequent patronage of Holy Frijole. Finding common ground between himself and Deirdre also proves effective. When he shares his reasons for keeping his medical condition a secret—not wanting to be “a public curiosity” (113)—Deirdre realizes he’s able to understand her own fears and experiences of injustice better than she’d thought. The challenge of Deirdre and Missy being accepted in Castle Rock seems daunting. By merely offering kindness and friendship, however, Scott teaches many in town to rethink their biases.