1/2 way through Duma Key by Stephen King

"I was thinking of how I'd started my time on Duma Key with one assumption-- that I had chosen the place-- and since come to believe that it had chosen me..."(248) In my book, Duma Key by Stephen King, Edgar Freemantel was injured in an accident that resulted in the loss of his right arm, as well as his marriage. He then moved to Duma Key, and is slowly finding out that there is more to the island than what meets the eye. I notice that the characters refer to their life before coming to Duma Key as their 'other life'. I  think is shows how separate the two ways are (the organized, vivid but painful life prior to the island, verses the flowing majestic, healing ways of Duma Key.) I think it's interesting how the characters are adapting to their  new surroundings. 

Edgar Freemantel's change took place slowly. When he first came to Duma Key he was not much different than how he is now. He  had already come to terms with his divorce, and was continuing his life. But i do notice that he is more accepting of the power of the island. He knows that he has to listen to the itch, (the phantom itch that he feels in his missing arm) He knows that what comes from his paintings are powerful, and that he needs to nurture his gift;  "The itch in my missing arm deepened. By now it felt almost like a friend." (253) Edgar also understands much more than he used to, "I thought of painting in Little Pink while The Bone pumped out hardcore rock and roll in thick chunks. I thought of the Great Beach Walks. I even thought of the Baumgarten kid yelling Yo Mr. Freedmantel, nice chuck! when I spun the frisbee back to him. Then I thought of waking up in the hospital bed, how dreadfully hot I had been, how scattered my thoughts had been, how sometimes I couldn't remember my own name. The anger. The dawning realization (it came during the Jerry Springer Show), that a part of my body was AWOL. I has started crying and had been unable to stop. 'I wouldn't change it back' I said, 'in a heartbeat.'" (293)  Edgar hadn't changed in many ways, but he new that he belonged on Duma Key. 

Wireman is Edgars friend, and had also undergone a trauma to the brain. Wireman shot himself in the head after his wife and only child died in separate accidents on the same day. But now, Wireman, once dismally depressed from the tragedy, now recognizes that all he can do is live the rest of his life to the fullest; "'That man was so hurt and lost he really wasn't responsible. This is my other life, and I try to look at my problems in it as...well...birth defects.'"(233) Wireman slowly recovered from his 'birth defects' 

I think Duma Key changes a character in many ways. In most Stephen King books there is an overlying power that is dominant over the characters. In Duma Key, It's the island, and the change in characters are foreshadowed and show in Edgar's painting. I wonder what changes will occur later on in the story, and I wonder how those changes will effect the plot and climax.