Quitters, INC.
By: Stephen King
Major Conflict
This story starts with a man named Dick Morrison meets an old friend named Jimmy McCann. Jimmy proceeds to tell Morrison about how he quit smoking. This then makes Morrison think about his smoking habits. Jimmy gives Morrison the card for Quitters, INC., and he puts it away and doesn't notice it till it falls out of his card one day a year later. Morrison decides to go to to Quitters, INC. This is the start of Morrison's internal struggle to quit smoking. When he finds out what the company will do if any of their secret scouts finds out that he smoked another cigarette. This means he needs to suppress the habit and try to fight his inner self to prevent him from quitting.
Characters
Richard (Dick) Morrison
Dick Morrison is this story's Protagonist and is married to Cindy Morrison. He knows what he wants and doesn't like to share with others. " 'And which school is it?' 'That' Morrison said grimly, 'I'm not going to tell you.' " (5). This is an example that shows how is embarrassed by his son's disability. Morrison doesn't like to talk about this because he feels that he doesn't really have a son. Earlier he said that he felt he only had half of one. This short story is told only through Dick's actions.
Vic Donatti
Vic Donatti is a very important character in this story. Although not much is told about his past, a lot of information is found out during the story. Vic, according to the story, is most likely the president of the compony. He has a lot of power and he is not afraid of using it. He doesn't like to fool around and he doesn't "give mercy". Vic is cold and doesn't mind when people suffer.
Lucinda (Cindy) Morrison
Cindy Morrison is a forgiving character who is married to Dick Morrison. She is very helpful and like to make other feel better so when Dick tells her that he is quitting she seems almost skeptical at first but when she finds out why she understands and is willing to help. She destroys all of his cigarettes, which helps him, but since she forgot a couple and they become a temptation for Dick. Cindy is a very kind person and helps Richard a lot through out the entire story.
Plot Line
- Exposition: The story begins with Dick meeting an old friend, Jimmy, in an airport. Jimmy proceeds to tell him about how he quit smoking and gives Dick the card to the place that helped him, Quitters INC.. Dick later goes to the place and meets the owner Vic Donatti.
- Rising action: Dick starts the be told about the company and is asked a few personal questions about his wife and child. After finding out the deal with having him quit smoking and knowing he can't get out of it, he tells his wife about how he is going to quit. Later stuck in traffic he finds a pack of cigarettes and then he smokes one.
- Climax: He calls he wife to make sure that she is safe, because of Vic and his deal, and finds out that she is not home. Dick rushes to Quitters INC. to find his wife in the "rabbit room" i.e. the room with the electrical shocking floor and watches his wife get electrocuted for an entire minute.
- Falling action: His wife forgives him for the electrocution and he is then told by Vic about the weight deal. Afraid for his wife he manages to keep off the weight and doesn't cause his wife's finger to get chopped off. Dick has gone a while without smoking.
- Resolution: He recommends Quitters INC. to someone because it worked so well for him and he was satisfied with the work they did. A year later Dick finally gets the bill for the services of Quitters INC. and is outraged because they charged him for the electricity used to electrocute his wife. Lastly, almost two years later Dick and his wife run into Jimmy and his wife. When Dick shakes Jimmy's wife's hand he notices that she was missing a little finger.
Imagery
In this story, there is a lot of imagery. This imagery helps a lot to bring the reader closer to the situation and feel the pain and temptations of main characters. An example of this imagery is when Richard's wife was about to get electrocuted. At this moment, Dick is feeling a lot of empathy and sadness for his wife and all he wants to do is get he out of the "rabbit room".
Theme
I think that the theme of this story is that for every bad action there is a consequence and we need to learn to accept the consequences and move on. This theme is shown widely in this story. There are two big examples that support this, the first one is when he started smoking in the first place. In this case, the bad action is when he started to smoke and the consequence is that he has to quit. Even though him starting to smoke is not directly in the story you can assume that he wasn't thinking about how this would affect him in the future. Quitting smoking is not easy as this story tells and he needs to push through it but when he has he feels better and more confident than he was before, Dick had accepted that he had quit for good. The second example that is even clearer than the first is when his wife got electrocuted. The action that cause her to get electrocuted was him smoking again. He took the chance, made a bad decision and that meant he had to suffer the consequences, in this case, it meant watching his wife getting electrocuted. But after he learned from his wife that you need to move on and accept that it happened. These are just two great examples that help explain this theme.
Good, or not?
This story is overall great. It teaches an important lesson that is relatable to people in situations similar to this. The way the story is written is easy to understand and the imagery in it makes you feel like you part of the action. The most compelling aspect of this story is probly the fact that it is told through a fairly common experience and it is told in the present day. It really will make you want to read more of is and you will feel that you are right next to the main character. This story makes you think about how easily lives can be affected by small decisions.