Compare Stephen King's The Stand and H1N1

How are Swine Flu and Captain Trips the Same?

Oct 30, 2009

In Stephen King's apocalyptic novel, humanity is almost wiped out by a flu epidemic. Is the current flu virus life imitating art?

All of Stephen King’s books are horrifying in their own way. No one could ever confuse King’s creatures with Walt Disney’s characters, but The Stand is different. It doesn’t frighten with vampires as in Salem’s Lot, murderous clowns like the monster in It or vengeful teenagers ala Carrie.

This classic tale of good v evil shocks King’s constant readers with a superflu virus that far surpasses H1N1 and avian or bird flu. Known as Captain Trips and Tube Neck this fast moving disease, (the book estimates that it will wipe out earth’s population in around 15 days),makes the flu epidemic of 1918 look like a walk in the proverbial park. What parallels can be drawn between the H1N1 pandemic and King’s superflu?

Captain Trips and H1N1 are Both Passed Through Human Contact

In King’s book as well as the Stephen King movie version of The Stand, and the recently released graphic novel,Captain Trips is passed from person to person through contact much like any flu virus. In King’s novel for example, when Charles Campion loses control of his car and plows into Bill Hapscomb’s Texaco station, everyone, except Stu Redman, who comes in contact with him comes down with the superflu and consequently dies as do all the people they come in contact with and so on. While the spread of H1N1 is no where near as rapid, the fact remains that it is contagious and is transmitted through human contact.

While washing ones hands, wearing a protective mask or avoiding those who are infected wouldn’t have helped the hapless victims of Tube Neck, they are good precautions to take against all types of flu.

Swine Flu and Captain Trips Both Spread Around the World

In The Stand, the superflu is transmitted to other countries by infected people who traveled abroad while in the early stages of the disease. The same is true of H1N1 which was spread around the world through airplane travel. While the man made flu virus in King’s novel caused what could have been a world ending epidemic, the spread of H1N1 prompted the World Health Organization, (WHO), to declare a pandemic in June of 2009.

Superflu and H1N1 Have the Same Symptoms

In The Stand, the early symptoms of Captain Trips mimic those of most other flu viruses. According to James Steckelberg, MD, infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic, they are:

Stephen King has been called a modern day Edgar Allan Poe and The Stand is just one chilling example why the comparison is apt.

More similarities between King’s plague and swine flu can be found all over the web but King’s official website is a good place to begin.

The copyright of the article Compare Stephen King's The Stand and H1N1 in Literary Culture is owned by Jan Czech. Permission to republish Compare Stephen King's The Stand and H1N1 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.