Pet Sematary

Louis Creed is the protagonist of the novel and likely in his mid-thirties. Very little is known about Louis’s past except for that his father died when Louis was 3. Louis’s relationship with his mother seems estranged; the only two mentions of her are when Louis remembers back to when she lied about him regarding sex and his mother’s grief over Louis’s cousin’s death. As such, Louis’s life seems to be marked by death, although he himself does not seem traumatized by it. Rather, he takes a hyper-rational approach to death, possibly as a means to distance himself from it. Louis’s family moves from Chicago to Ludlow, Maine, at the beginning of the novel so that Louis can pursue his career as the Head of University Medical Services. Louis’s attitude towards his job, as well as the rest of his life, is fairly matter-of-fact. In regards to his new position, “Louis had been hired to take charge[…] [and] he was going to do it” (64). Louis is most comfortable in roles of authority; he seems to be a man of action who is not content to wait and have the world pass him by. This emphasis on action allows Louis to be sucked into the evil of the MicMac burial ground, as Louis believes he is doing something in order to protect his family from trauma.