56 pages 1 hour read

Stephen King

Joyland

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Important Quotes

Quotation Mark Icon

“God help me, I was being gallant. I have wondered often since what would have changed (for good or for ill) had I not been. What I know now is that gallant young men rarely get pussy.”


(Page 14)

The cynicism with which Devin questions the virtue of chivalry is a hallmark of the hard-boiled detective. Chivalry, however, is also a trait of the hard-boiled detective whose world-weary exterior shields a heart of gold. The vernacular is also typical of the hard-boiled detective story. King tends to be colorful in his language, which makes the hard-boiled detective a good fit.

Quotation Mark Icon

“Out in front stood a tightly muscled guy in faded jeans, balding suede boots splotched with grease, and a strap-style T-shirt. He wore a Derby hat tilted on his coal-black hair. A filterless cigarette was parked behind one year. He looked like a cartoon carnival barker from an old-time newspaper strip. […] The guy was bopping to the beat, hands in his back pockets, hips moving side to side. I had a thought, absurd but perfectly clear: when I grow up, I want to look just like this guy.”


(Page 18)

Devin’s thought—“when I grow up”—underscores the idea that Devin has yet to come of age. Ironically, the description of Lane Hardy couldn’t be further from either Devin’s ambition (famous author) or what he actually becomes (commercial magazine editor). Lane’s description here is reminiscent of the bad boy, Candlewick (or Lampwick), from Pinocchio’s Toyland. In Disney’s version, Lampwick is depicted with a cigar and a Derby hat. Even more ironically, this person that Devin is so strongly drawn to turns out to be a serial killer.

Quotation Mark Icon

“‘Who knows, this place might be your future.’

‘Maybe,’ I said, although I already knew what my future was going to be: writing novels and the kind of short stories they publish in The New Yorker. I had it all planned out. Of course, I also had marriage to Wendy Keegan all planned out, and how we’d wait until we were in our thirties to have a couple of kids. When you’re twenty-one, life is a roadmap. It’s only when you get to be twenty-five or so that you begin to suspect you’ve been looking at the map upside down, and not until you’re forty are you entirely sure. By the time you’re sixty, take it from me, you’re fucking lost.’”


(Page 26)

Devin will never become the kind of writer he dreams of being. He is slated for a comfortable life writing for commercial magazines. The observation that life never turns out the way you plan is typical of the cynicism of the hard-boiled

Related Titles

By Stephen King

Plot Summary

logo

Bag of Bones

Stephen King

Bag of Bones

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Billy Summers

Stephen King

Billy Summers

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Children of the Corn

Stephen King

Children of the Corn

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Different Seasons

Stephen King

Different Seasons

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Doctor Sleep

Stephen King

Doctor Sleep

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Dolores Claiborne

Stephen King

Dolores Claiborne

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Elevation

Stephen King

Elevation: A Novel

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

End of Watch

Stephen King

End of Watch

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Fairy Tale

Stephen King

Fairy Tale

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Finders Keepers

Stephen King

Finders Keepers

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Firestarter

Stephen King

Firestarter

Stephen King

Plot Summary

logo

From a Buick 8

Stephen King

From a Buick 8

Stephen King

Plot Summary

logo

Full Dark, No Stars

Stephen King

Full Dark, No Stars

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Gerald's Game

Stephen King

Gerald's Game

Stephen King

Study Guide

logo

Gwendy's Button Box

Stephen King, Richard Chizmar

Gwendy's Button Box

Stephen King, Richard Chizmar