Surviving the Apocalypse: The Hero’s Revolt Against Involuntary Conformity and Hive Mind in Stephen King’s Cell
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Abstract
This paper is an attempt to highlight the rebellion against involuntary conformity and the hive mind in Stephen King’s apocalyptic horror novel Cell. A mysterious Pulse is broadcast over the global cell phone network and those who use the phones become vicious zombie-like beings, killing each other and destroying everything in their field of view. The “phoners” or “phone-crazies” involuntarily conform to the new norms and mimic the behaviour of birds. They flock together establishing telepathic communication among themselves. They possess a group mind or a hive mind which wipes out individuality and autonomy and they function as complementary units of a single brain. The hero Clayton Riddell and his team of survivors brave the odds and destroy a flock of phoners. This automatically makes them outcasts and they are targeted by the phoners to be executed. Clay teams up with other flock-killers and daringly uses the very same cell phone which led them to trouble, to eliminate the trouble, breaking the telepathic connection, thereby, uncaging humanity.