Structure

“The Raft” by Stephen King is a short story where the events happen in chronological order. The story starts in medias res with the group at the lake, then shows through a flashback how the characters decided to go to the lake. The events take place on a Tuesday afternoon and continue on into the following night.

There are some foreshadowing elements in the text. For example, Rachel remembering the first time she swam to the raft and how she had stood there “ ‘for damn near two hour, scared to swim back’ ”(p. 361, ll. 18-19) foreshadows how Randy and LaVerne will end up trapped on the raft and unable to swim back because of the creature. 

The tense situation that the characters find themselves in leads to several external conflicts. Before the first atta...