Good and Evil

While the reader of Song of Susannah might sometimes wonder whether the characters that King presents as heroes are entirely good, there is little doubt that King's evil characters are purely and entirely malevolent. In stanza 10, Susannah describes her enemies as eating the brains of children. When Mia rips the fake flesh from the followers of the Crimson King in the Dixie Pig, she discovers they are actually monstrous rats disguised as humans. The name Dixie Pig itself might reflect the historical malevolence of the Southern whites against African Americans. The greeting Mia receives upon entering the Dixie Pig, "Hile Mia," echoes the Nazi salute, "Heil."

The presence of purely evil figures in Song of Susannah means that anyone acting against those figures is good almost by definition. This includes Roland, Eddie, Jake, Callahan, and Susannah, as well as those who help them, like John Cullum...