Under the Dome

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Dome-Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1439148503/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262660665&sr=1-1

Stephen King's Under the Dome is novel that deals with how the inhabitants of a small town in Maine try to survive after a mysterious, impenetrable dome unexplainably appears over it, blocking them off from the rest of the world. Though they can still communicate with outsiders via phones and internet, nothing can be done for their safety as citizens begin to strive for power and do anything it takes to stay alive.

The novel deals with humanity as a whole and how we define ourselves as human beings by showing the survival efforts that the people of the fictional Chester's Mill make and how all of them are justified in their own way, simply because each person is just trying to continue his or her own existence. Certain characters hold grudges from before the dome incident against other characters and then battle those same characters since they now see their enemies as legitimate threat to their own survival. Meanwhile, seemingly good people ally themselves with more evil characters when they see that those evil characters hold more power and it would be much safer to be on their side. But it isn't only that, for the main characters soon begin to see themselves as the victims of some cruel, unknown game and believe that the dome was put forth only as a form of torment, much like a group of young children would torment a small animal for fun. Once this realization is made, the novel demonstrates the paradox of being human: we're still animals and are no different from any other species. Like a colony of ants being set aflame by a magnifying glass, in our moments of helplessness most of us will do whatever it takes to survive and abandon all concern for anyone else. Through a few main characters that do end up being selfless and try to help others, King shows that in order to be human in the mental sense, we have to let go of all of our survival instincts and take the time to help those who can't survive. Otherwise, we're just like any other animal.