What Does The Last Rung On The Ladder Mean

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“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything”, Michael J. Fox. Stephen King agrees with this quote, his short story “The Last Rung on the Ladder portrays this idea. In his story, Larry and Kitty were very close when they were younger. Kitty knew that Larry would be there for her no matter what. As the grew up, Larry gets caught up with work. Kitty tried to get Larry to come visit her, but Larry was always so busy with his work. After Kitty committed suicide, Larry felt guilty for her death. King uses imagery, foreshadowing, and conflict to reveal that when individuals neglect their family for career, they deal with guilt for the rest of their lives.
King uses imagery to show that Larry was always there for Kitty when she needed him. When Kitty was stuck on the broken
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In the letters, Kitty tells him that “She got divorced and wrote me a long letter, ten pages or more telling me how it might have been, how messy it had been, how it might have been better if she could have a child. She asked me if i could come. But losing a week in law school is like losing a term in liberal-arts graduate.” (King, 41). This shows foreshadowing because this quote tells us that Kitty is going through a lot. She was very stressed and under a lot of pressure. A normal person would commit suicide if they’re stressed. Kitty wrote a ten page long letter to tell Larry how bad life was. This quote hinted that Kitty was not doing well and not happy. Kitty went through two divorces, and she found out that she can not have children. She asked for Larry to come visit her but he was too busy with work to visit her. Even after Larry found out about the two divorces and everything she had gone through, he did not let go of work to check up on his sister that he once loved so much and was willing to do anything for her. After Kitty dies, Larry feels responsible for Kitty’s