The dark tower door Stephen King

The following four books form a series, named 'The Dark Tower'. I wrote this report in november 2000.
Title :The Gunslinger,
The Drawing of the Three,
The Wastelands,
Wizard and Glass
Author :Stephen King
Number of pages : 206+463+590+699 = 1958 Points :?

I. What is the setting?

time : This is hard to tell, King describes it in the books as; ‘Time is a face on the water,’
a few parts are set in our world, in New York, one is set in 1980, one in
1960, one in 1970. The other parts take place in Roland’s past in a place
called Mid-World and the present which is also Mid-World.
place :New York (our world) Texas (another world similair to ours) and in a
world called Mid-World

II. Explain the title :

The Gunslinger In this book you wil meet Roland, the World’s last gunslinger
The Drawing of the Three In this book Roland is supposed to draw three people from our world
The Wastelands In this book the search for the Dark Tower continues through the wastelands
Wizard and Glass In this book Roland tells his companions about his first love, Susan Delgado, he witnesses her death by looking through a pink glass ball, a wizard’s glass.

III. What is the theme of the novel ?

Having a goal in life and persuing that goal but to what cost? Roland of Gilead seeks a tower, The Dark Tower, his world as well as the other worlds is falling apart, it’s stucture slowly deteriorating. In the Old Times the Tower was White ‘and all was well in the world’. But now the Tower is dark and evil and it’s evil is growing and spreading, Roland must find this tower and ‘put right what is wrong’.
He describes it as a ‘bolt’ that holds different worlds together.

IV. Did you like the book ? Why or why not ? (at least 20 words)

The book(s) was/were great, I intend to read the following book, as soon as King finishes it.
I liked the story, the way of writing and the strong characters with whom I could identify very easily.
Some people dislike the storie because it’s sometimes a bit blurry, but I’m okay with that. I think it makes the storie a lot more interesting.

V. What question about the book would you like to ask the author ?

I couldn’t help noticing the resemblences to Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and his ‘Lord of the Rings’ series,
I guess Tolkien inspired you a lot in your work. Is Tolkien’s world another dimension, and would that mean the palantír are mixed up between worlds or do they excist in every world?

VI. Which character in the book do you admire / detest ? Please explain :

I admired a lot of the characters in the book but my favorite was Roland. I the way he thinks, the way he doesn’t guide his emotions or tries to understand himself but just ‘does’ because he feels it is the right thing to do.

Roland’s quest for the Dark Tower is as much as his goal in life as his personal addiction, as Eddie Dean’s (a man he draws from our world in the second book) addiction for heroin.
Roland sees it as his damnation as wel as his (or his world’s) salvation. He has a way of, as he himself says, getting everyone I love killed. That’s why he doesn’t make friends real easy I guess

VII. Describe the outward appearance of one of the characters :

name :Roland Deschain or Roland of Gilead
appearance :He is a man of strong wil and body, he lost his right thumb,indexfinger and his
right big toe from a ‘lobstrisity’, a lobster-like creature that attacked him in the
second book. He has incredible reflexes and has received a gunslinger’s
training, similar to a military/police training but more than as a way of
living than just a job.

VIII. Explain how the book ends (at least 70 words):

After Roland tells his companions about an important time in his life, the time he and his friends fought against enemies that endangered his homeland, they follow their way along the path of the beam leading towards the Dark Tower. The group finds a emerald green palace, similar to the palace of Oz, here they meet Marten Broadcloak, who calles himself Flagg now (the same name the man in The Stand has, he that represents evil), Marten offers them a ‘fine, fruitful life if they renounce the Tower, they do not. Roland almost kills Marten but luck is on Marten’s side and he escapes. The group finds the Wizard’s Glass, a pink ball that shows things that happen or can happen. The Wizard’s glass shows the group what happenend in Roland’s youth, his lost love, his adventure in the west of Regis and the moment he is deceived by the Wizard’s Glass and kills his mother with his father’s guns. After this they find themselves outside of the palace and again on their way to the Tower.

IX. Photocopy one page from a favourite passage . Explain your selection :

The Dark Tower, the place where all Beams, all lines of force, converge. In its spiraling windows he sees fitful electric blue fire and hears the cries of all those pent within; he senses both the strength of the place and the wrongness of it; he can feel how it is spooling error across everything, softening the divisions between worlds, how its potential for mischief is growing stronger even as disease weakens its truth and coherence, like a body afflicted with cancer; this jutting arm of dark gray stone is the world's great mystery and last aweful riddle.

-The Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass: Come, Reap

Roland dreams about the Dark Tower and makes it his goal in life to find this tower. Even beforen he loses Susan he decides to seek this tower. He is prepared to leave her to find it. After he loses her, his father, mother and his homeland, nothing holds him back. This passage gives a little bit of information on The Dark Tower and it’s purpose.