The Stand: Pride

I'll just come out and say right away that again, I see Nixon reflected in the theme of pride.  For pride truly did come before that fall.

Pride is a major topic in The Stand, one that is made explicit as the book goes on.  One of the most crucial events that takes place in Boulder occurs when Mother Abigail suddenly leaves the community, purportedly because she has sinned because of pride.  She goes to the wilderness to find her way again.  Although Mother Abigail may not seem to be particularly prideful, this incident brings the reader's attention to this theme and its prevalence throughout the novel.  After all, Captain Trips itself originated in a military lab as an experiment in biological warfare.  Those who designed it felt that they had created a facility that could hold the disease without considering the consequences.  In other words, the entire book hinges on this idea of pride and what happens after the fall.

As a reversal of pride as a sin, the character of Harold Lauter feels that pride is commendable, as he writes in his diary (Harold is yet another writer in the Stephen King universe, although in this book, he is not the only one since Franny also keeps a diary).  His pride blinds him to the opportunities around him since he continues to harbor resentment from his life before the superflu.  Furthermore, he does not take pride when he should: he does help the community in Boulder, but doesn't see the value in what he is doing.  Instead, his fall comes through Nadine Cross, who convinces him that a more fulfilling life lies with Flagg and that Harold should join her in traveling west.  Before they go, though, Harold rigs a homemade bomb that kills several key figures in Boulder, ostensibly because of how they treated him in the past.  His pride is not only a sin, it is dangerous.  Flagg seems to sense the power that Harold could have, killing him before he reaches Las Vegas.

Nadine is also too prideful and has been her entire life because she senses that she is destined for a greater life with a man in power.  Flagg has communicated with her in the past and she has long viewed herself as his intended one.  She does not consider any others who could be involved and she is the only one whose first meeting with Mother Abigail is fractious.  Nadine is punished for her pride since she is rendered catatonic after her first encounter with Flagg and commits suicide soon afterward.

Of course, Flagg has the most pride of all and this belief in his unassailable power brings his downfall.  He feels that he can tame anyone, even Trashcan Man, who has long been a pyromaniac--one who becomes even more dangerous after bringing a nuclear weapon to Vegas as a gift for his master.  It is Flagg's 'Hand of God,' a sort of lightning bolt aimed at members of the Boulder Free Zone, that detonates the weapon and annihilates the civilization that he created.

What I found interesting about these depictions of pride and the harm that it caused was that even Flagg was granted this very human attribute.  Unlike Sauron in Lord of the Rings--who is a distant, malevolent force--Flagg turns out to be as susceptible to human failings as the characters who follow him.  It seems strange that this character of ultimate evil shares such a quality, or does this make him Satan?  After all, Lucifer's sin was pride, pride that he was more powerful than God, and for this he was cast down from heaven.  The Stand could be read as a modern-day religious parable, especially since there are such clear factions that are drawn.  Perhaps King is hearkening back to this story with Flagg and his penchant for pride.