Stephen King is obviously best known for his work in the horror genre, but the popular author has written several novels and short stories that do not follow this stylechanging things completely. One of these books is The positiona post-apocalyptic adventure that follows a group of survivors who band together into factions after a weaponized flu destroys the rest of human civilization. It’s one of King’s best non-horror stories, although it does include some scary scenes to keep tensions high.
The position is widely considered one of Stephen King’s best books, although it is not the typical type of story the author is known for. It doesn’t include supernatural hauntings, demonic creatures or the looming atmosphere of your usual horrors, but that’s undoubtedly why it works so well: everything has a different tone and this keeps the reader on edge from start to finish. However, Stephen King is often criticized for not allowing the endings of his books to match the stakes that he creates in the middle – and The position is no different.
Tent Ending Is Underwhelming After Stephen King Setup
It sets up the ending so well, but fails to fully deliver
The main problem with The positionThe ending is quite abrupt and does not resolve all the tension that has been gradually building up since the first page. King always does a great job of asking fascinating questions and leaving the audience curious about his well-written mysteries, but he doesn’t always manage to tie all the threads together in the final pages. The position suffers from the same problem, as it asks numerous questions throughout the story that are either never answered or simply dismissed as something the reader literally could never have discovered.
The position is famously connected to King’s Dark Tower series, and many fans have managed to explain certain aspects of the first one’s ending (like the blue lightning and Flagg’s possible resurrection) using evidence from that series – but that’s not how a standalone novel should be resolved. Additionally, the whole ending of the book is a deus ex machina – that is, a literary device that seemingly appears out of nowhere, without explanation, and fixes everything. It’s an unsatisfying way to end such a complex novel.
Stephen King should have swapped the stand ending for a sequential story
There was plenty of room for this great story to continue
However, if Stephen King was struggling to bring The position for a satisfying ending, the author could have easily continued the story in a sequel. The reason why The positionthe ending seems so rushed and empty it’s just that there’s so much material left over that just never gets resolved – that should have been a clear sign that there’s still room for this story to expand and breathe, rather than forcing it to an undeserved end.
The author is usually great at keeping concepts open-ended so he can return to them in the future, but he clearly had no intention of doing so here.
There was no need for Stephen King to do The positionIt’s ending so final and definitive. The author is usually great at keeping concepts open-ended so he can return to them in the future, but he clearly had no intention of doing so here. Perhaps he had already traced Randal Flagg’s journey in The Dark Tower and wanted to shift his focus there, but even without Flagg, there’s still a whole post-apocalyptic world that could have been explored in a sequel.
Why a Stand Sequel Would Work So Well
It’s one of Stephen King’s biggest missed opportunities
The reason why a sequence of The position It would have been such a smart idea because of how thematically rich and socially relevant the original is. There’s so much going on, from King’s astute observations about the nature of humanity, the inherent battle between good and evil, and the order of natural selection, that It seems like a waste to confine it to a single story.
The Stand 2 could have included a considerable time jump to avoid any narrative repercussions at the end of the original, moving forward into the future and exploring how this dystopian society has evolved and changed from the one under Flagg’s control. Stephen King is famous for having difficulty with endings, and the reason is that he is so ambitious as a writer. It’s both its greatest strength and its greatest flaw: it allows you to create incredible stories full of ideas, just like The positionbut its unadulterated creativity makes it difficult to bring all these fascinating concepts together in the end.