The Man In The Black Suit

“A man in his nineties should be well past the terrors of childhood, but as my infirmities slowly creep up on me, like waves licking closer and closer to some indifferently built castle of sand, that terrible face grows clearer and clearer in my mind’s eye.”

King sets up Gary’s fear in his old age to align with the fears of his youth. It is a narrative technique that justifies Gary’s fear that the Devil will return, and it creates narrative symmetry by bringing the plot full circle.

“In those days before the Great War, most of Motton was woods and bog, dark long places full of moose and mosquitoes, snakes and secrets. In those days there were ghosts everywhere.”

Ghosts represent memory. Often, they symbolize events from the past that remain unreconciled. No ghosts appear in “The Man in the Black Suit,” but the ghost of Dan’s death hangs over the narrative, catalyzing events as the plot unfolds.

“I called him but he wouldn’t come. He yapped a time or two, as if telling me to come back, but that was all.”

Another subtle warning for Gary not to go on his fishing trip is Candy Bill’s refusal to go with him. Gary notes that Candy Bill always went fishing with him, and King even italicizes the world “always” to emphasize the strangeness of Candy Bill’s actions. The reader may not take this warning very seriously, but it is another instance of King setting up an ominous tone in the story.