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In ‘Premium Harmony,’ Stephen King manages to create a rather morbid and disturbing tone throughout his short story. King’s novel describes the lives of Mary and Ray Burkett, a couple in their late thirties, with no desire to be married anymore. King displays the two as a couple who are not passionate about anything anymore, especially their marriage and health. The couple’s unhealthy dietary practices for themselves and their dog are a subtle jab at American society and how we tend to live our lives. King’s description of the two displays them as miserable psychological and physical states in the plot. The couple’s obesity and unhealthy dietary practices for their dog are a metaphor for America’s unhealthy trends, which have increased their presence in our generation’s identity in recent years. Ray Burkett seems to be relieved, and a weight seems to be taken off of his chest once his spouse dies in the convenience store. He is now able to live in an even unhealthier manner without her nagging presence; this is disturbing to most sane readers. His alarming reaction to her death is one of King’s subtle underlying themes that raise awareness about the recent increasing tendency of marriages to fail. Stephen King is considered to be one of, if not the greatest writers to live, and he is responsible for acknowledging the platform he rests on by writing ‘Premium Harmony’ (Landais 2). He seizes this opportunity. He adds these subtle metaphors to awaken American society, to prompt readers to think about what makes us American, and how normal it has become to have unhealthy lifestyles and failed relationships in today’s society.
King starts the story with Mary and Ray Burkett arguing about their dying lawn. They are going to Wal-Mart in order to purchase grass feed so Ray can fix their lawn, to his utter disgust. Not only is Mary complaining to him about their hideous lawn, but she also scolds him for his smoking habits. Ray counters her argument about his health and retorts with how her obesity is unhealthy. Mary remembers her nieces’ birthday, and she decides to stop by a convenience store to pick up a last-minute gift. Ray stays in the car with his dog, Biznezz, while Mary goes into a convenience store to purchase a ball for their niece. Ray is in an aggravated mood due to the multiple things in his life that all point to him being a failure: an unhappy relationship, a fat wife, and the fact that he lives in an ugly house. He is brought back to reality when an employee from the convenience store knocks on his car window. The store employee informs Ray that his wife, Mary, has suffered a heart attack and died. He enters the store and waits for the doctors to pronounce her dead as she lay lifeless on the floor. She dies. Ray then meanders around with the store clerks and bystanders. Some of which linger around the scene of her death in complete shock. Ray is engulfed in the idea that maybe one of the people who witnessed the tragedy will fornicate with him out of mercy. After about two hours of strolling around the store aimlessly, Ray seems to remember his wife has died. Ray is secretly excited deep inside because he can now smoke freely as his heart desires. To cap off a series of disturbing events, King ends the story with Ray returning to his car to find his dog dead with the remnants of a snow cone in his whiskers.
There are many alarming facets of this story that can be further analyzed, but it is appropriate to first start with the general storyline itself. Ray and Mary Burkett suffer from unhappy relationships just as a shocking percentage of couples in America do. According to a recent study, this trend of unhappy marriages is shockingly high. The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago constructed a study two years ago to gauge the percentage of unhappily married couples. They reported that a shocking 65% of couples complained about not being happy in their relationship. This statistic is a disturbing fact for readers; it makes them think about their relationships. If readers are not married, it encourages them to have second thoughts about getting married, can anyone blame them? Why would one want to engage in a marriage where the majority of the married population states that they are not happy in their marriage? For the readers that are married, it makes them reflect on their marriage and maybe second-guess it. Divorce leads to broken families, which have proven to be a hardship during a child’s developmental stage. All of which lead to chaos in society. Stephen King is one of today’s most successful writers because of his ability to intertwine current problems, like unhappiness in marriages, with his far-out story plots.
Another crucial part of the plot is obesity and unhealthiness. Many characters and habits in King’s short story promote and showcase unhealthy living. To begin with, Mary Burkett is obese, which is known because Ray gives her a hard time being fat. Ironically, she happens to suffer from a heart attack, which is usually the cause of death for morbidly obese people. King gives the reader clues to his hidden agenda by writing in Mary Burkett as an obese person who dies of a heart attack shortly after her husband, Ray, gives her a hard time for being overweight. King adds this aspect to the plot because it is addressing the problem of obesity in the United States. With the help of poverty and easy, affordable access to fast foods, America has grown more and more obese as a whole. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases states, ‘Two-thirds of today’s adult population is obese, and if these obesity rates continue, by 2030 over fifty percent of the adult population in the United States of America will be obese.’ This statistic should not only be alarming because obesity is not attractive but from a health standpoint, we should be disturbed by this because obesity can easily lead to death (like Mary Burkett in the story).
Not only is obesity a theme in ‘Premium Harmony’ that calls the reader to realize the unhealthy lifestyle that is common in the United States, but smoking cigarettes and tobacco addiction is other unhealthy habit that King adds. Ray is addicted to smoking cigarettes because it is causing problems in his marriage, and one of the first things that he thinks about after his wife’s death is that he will be able to smoke cigarettes freely now. That itself should set off an uneasiness in the reader’s consciousness; Ray can look past his wife’s death because the opportunity to feed his nicotine addiction without interruption is more important than the life of his wife. Again, King uses his characters and their addictions to bring the United States unhealthy trends to the reader’s attention. The American Lung Association attests that ‘Every year in the United States, over four hundred eighty thousand people die from cigarette-related causes.’ Ray’s addiction to cigarettes is essential in the plot of this story because it shows how normal it is for people to smoke cigarettes and is just another trend of unhealthiness that King is addressing along with the prevalence of obesity. Stephen King is poking fun at the United States, and its ignorance society possesses towards unhealthy trends; the tragic events that happen in ‘Premium Harmony’ are a warning issued by Stephen King to his readers and, more specifically, the United States.
Stephen Edwin King is a 68-year-old American writer who admits to having suffered from addiction and often writes about death and the idea of the afterlife. Many who are fortunate to live this long find themselves in a reflective state rather than explorative like they were when they were younger. As one grows old, they become more mature, and taking risks is less appealing and advantageous. King’s relatively good fortune and prosperous life make him feel responsible for warning his vast audience of the dangers they face when living recklessly and irresponsibly. He is encouraging readers to be mindful of the decisions they are making and the consequences that come when one decides to engage in a marital relationship. Ray grows older, and he realizes life is too short to be unhappy, and that is why his short stories often feature a failed marriage or a failing marriage. King demonstrates other themes in the short story and they are both based around the same thought. King fixates on grabbing the attention of his readers, more specifically the United States as a nation, and revealing how unhealthy they may or may not realize their lifestyles are growing to be.
King writes this short story as a wake-up call, his stories are notoriously brutal, but there are underlying messages behind his plots. Unhappy marriages, obesity, and cigarettes are all themes in ‘Premium Harmony’ that is a wake-up call for readers. King addresses the problem of obesity and shares its dangers by creating an obese character who coincidentally dies because of her unhealthy life choices. King utilizes Ray Burkett as a vehicle to depict the dangers and seriousness of addiction. Ray can look past the tragic death of his wife because he is so engrossed in his nicotine addiction, and he sees it as an opportunity to feed his addiction without being bothered by his wife. Also, this can symbolize the severity of the danger Americans face. Ray is proving to be a victim of the United States’ growing, unhealthy, and immoral culture. The culture of unhealthiness has numbed Ray’s emotions towards his spouse, who vows to love for eternity. Instead of experiencing agony and sorrow for the death of Mary, he shows signs of relief because she stood in the way of his addiction. Stephen King writes this short story because he feels obligated, as a survivor, to warn his readers. Not only is he giving a warning, but he is also making a foresight. ‘Premium Harmony’ is a foreshadowing of what the United States needs to be aware of going forward, he is showing how glum the future could look if the unhealthy lifestyles, like Ray and Mary’s, become as healthy as they seem in ‘Premium Harmony.’
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