Cujo

Cujo, the title character, is the novel’s antagonist. A sweet dog, he contracts rabies early in the novel and completely transforms. He stands in the way of the story’s protagonist, Donna, completing her goals of survival and claiming control of her own life. When Donna encounters Cujo, he becomes the controlling factor in her character arc. She’s forced to react to his action. King affords Cujo his own passages devoted to his point of view, allowing perspective into his mind and his devolution from innocent dog to murderous monster. The story traces the transformation of Cujo’s thoughts and goals. While he’s aimless in the first part of the story, once he encounters Donna, Cujo’s drive becomes clear. His illness has taken hold to the point that he believes Donna caused it and thus resolves to kill her by any means necessary. “It was THE WOMAN most of all […] The ways she looked at him, as if to say, Yes, Yes I did it, I made you sick, I made you hurt […] Oh kill her, kill her!” (220) Upon meeting, Cujo and Donna become linked, as if fated. Only one will emerge victorious at the end of their struggle. Tragically for Cujo, it’s he who perishes.

Multiple characters throughout the novel describe Cujo as an ideal dog. Joe Camber received the dog as payment for car service in 1975, and Cujo has been the Camber family’s beloved dog ever since. After contracting rabies, Cujo becomes increasingly consumed by his illness until he loses control altogether. This is another way that Cujo and Donna are connected: Cujo’s utter and complete loss of agency represent Donna’s worst fears. Cujo’s arc reaches its climax when he faces off against Donna and attempts to kill her one last time but is killed himself when the splintered baseball bat enters his skull. Despite Cujo’s murderous rampage, King ends the dog’s story arc with a sense of kindness. “It would perhaps not be amiss to point out that he had always tried to be a good dog. He had tried to do all the things his MAN and WOMAN, and most of all his BOY, had asked or expected of him” (303). The novel’s final impression of Cujo is that he was a good soul who was simply a victim of circumstance, which positions the antagonist as one of the novel’s most tragic figures.

Vic Trenton is Donna’s husband. At his core, Vic is an optimistic character who believes that he can fight his way out of any corner. Throughout the novel, this belief meets multiple challenges. At the beginning of the story, Vic has a major work crisis. He recently partnered with his colleague Roger to begin a new advertising business of their own called Ad Worx. Their biggest client, Sharp Cereals, sent out a faulty batch of cereal that Vic’s “Cereal Professor” advertisements defended. The controversy threatens the survival of Ad Worx and consumes much of Vic’s time and attention. Shortly before a work trip to deal with the Sharp account, he learns that Donna has cheated on him with Steve Kemp. Having to confront both professional and domestic dramas throws Vic off kilter, and he feels broken. He leaves on his work trip hoping to find solutions to both issues.

Another one of Vic’s core beliefs is that he can protect Tad and, to a larger extent, childhood innocence as a whole (as evident in his Cereal Professor ads comforting children that all is okay). The novel challenges this core tenet through the loss of his son, Tad. Vic confronts the difficult truth that his absence during his work trip may have contributed to his son’s death. While the Sharp Cereals controversy and Tad’s death shatter Vic’s preconceived notions that he can wholeheartedly protect innocence, Vic remains steadfast in his optimistic belief system. He rallies to create a new line of ads for Sharp Cereals that guarantees Ad Worx another multiple-year contract with the client. In addition, he helps Donna through her own grief and guilt. Vic insists on staying with Donna so that the two of them can build a new future together, which reflects his devotion to optimism.

Tad Trenton is Vic and Donna’s four-year-old son. While he’s close to both parents, he virtually worships his father. Tad grows anxious when he learns that Vic will be leaving on a work trip, because he’s convinced that only his father can protect him from monsters at night. To comfort Tad, Vic gives him a copy of the Monster Words, which he wrote to quell Tad’s fear of scary beasts. Tad clings to his father’s Monster Words throughout the novel, utterly convinced that his father’s promise is true and that the words will keep him safe.

Tad’s character arc meets a tragic end at the Camber yard. Tad confronts many obstacles that would be challenging for an adult: He’s locked in a hot car during a New England summer, and a rabid dog lies just outside waiting to spring on him. He misses his father but clings to his copy of the Monster Words and rereads them constantly in the locked car, believing that his father’s words will save him and his mother. Tad and Cujo met previously a year earlier and got along well; Tad even rode on Cujo’s back as if the dog were a pony. Now that Cujo is rabid, however, the dog is the harbinger of death for Tad. Despite his mother’s actions, Tad perishes from dehydration and heat stroke inside the car at the Camber yard.

Charity is Joe Camber’s wife, Brett’s mother, and one of Cujo’s owners. She endures physical and verbal abuse from Joe and, before the events of the novel, survives by being meek and passive. However, as the novel opens, she has won the lottery and sees hope for a better future. She uses her money and the chainfall she gifts to Joe to convince him to let her and Brett travel to Connecticut to see her sister, Holly. Charity uses the trip to weighs the pros and cons of divorcing Joe.

Her driving goal throughout Cujo is to ensure that her son doesn’t fall prey to her husband’s judgmental, cruel ideas. She views this goal as a battle for Brett’s survival, and it informs her decision not to divorce Joe, as she believes she can keep a closer eye on the relationship between Joe and Brett that way. Charity resolves to “continue to fight her unceasing guerrilla war with Joe for the boy’s soul” (252). However, fate steps into Charity’s life again through Cujo: When the dog contracts rabies, it kills Joe. This horrific incident gives Charity and Brett the chance for a new life. They resolve to continue living on their old property and move forward together, free from Joe’s controlling hand, with a new dog they name Willie.

Joe is Charity’s husband, Brett’s father, and one of Cujo’s owners. He runs a car service yard at his home in Castle Rock, Maine. This yard is the site of the novel’s primary action, in which Cujo’s terrorizes the Trentons. Joe is a controlling, manipulative, and abusive husband to Charity. While he’s also controlling toward Brett, he shows his son more kindness and generosity than he shows his wife. For example, when Charity and Brett leave for their trip to Connecticut, Joe gives Charity an offhand “joke” of a warning that if she tries to leave him while she’s out of state, he’ll hunt her down with a chainsaw. Meanwhile, he gifts Brett $5 to spend as he likes on his trip and asks Brett for a kiss on the cheek before leaving, displaying his affection for the boy.

Joe received Cujo as payment for car service from one of the residents of Castle Rock in 1975. Joe loves Cujo and believes he’s a good, loyal dog. Incidentally, after the dog becomes rabid, Joe Camber is Cujo’s second victim. Cujo kills Joe soon after murdering his friend and neighbor, Gary Pervier. Joe stumbles upon Gary’s body when he goes to his house to discuss a planned trip to Boston. Cujo tries to rip out Joe’s throat just as he did to Gary but ends up going for Joe’s genitalia, which symbolizes an attack on the traditionally masculine character of one who exerts power over those in his life. By aiming for Joe’s sex organs, Cujo takes not only Joe’s life but the signifier for his gendered power as well.