Enduring Understanding

Stephen King’s writing style typically consists of characters that can immediately grab someone’s feelings. For example, Beverly Marsh from IT is initially portrayed as poor and living in harsh conditions at her home; more specifically, being abused by her father. This type of character is significant in King’s writing, as it helps present characters as hardworking, persevering, and ambitious. These traits are key elements when creating a character, because without these characteristics, characters could come off as cheesy or presented as having “plot armor.” Furthermore, Beverly is experienced with defense and bravery. This is explained by her traumatic past with her father, which gave her the ability to stay calm and collected when facing her fears in IT. One of the key points King makes of the main characters is that they are in a club. This club is specifically named “The Losers Club” to state the type of people the book focuses on: unfortunate kids. Although the children are unfortunate, they still find happiness within their friendship. King’s characters often have an underlying happiness within his writings, but as horror novels tend to do, that happiness is challenged by some sort of antagonistic evil, whether physical or mental. What’s unique about IT, however, is that Pennywise the clown is an evil in both forms.

Similar to IT, King’s first largely successful novel Carrie involves an evil that grows in influence, along with a shy and outcast main character similar to that of The Losers Club. Carrietta White is the protagonist of this story, with growing telekinetic powers, who is constantly bullied. Similarly to Beverly, she is a girl who is constantly called a “freak” or other oddball names. As the plot continues, however, the harassment leads to Carrie growing stronger than most others because of her perseverance. Unlike IT, however, Carrie is the one that brings destruction and monstrosity to the book, compared to Beverly who defends the kids against Pennywise. It is important to recognize that, in both books, the protagonist is trying to contain the evil from affecting others, whether the evil is in themselves or in another form. The horror character within King’s books varies in representation, but between both  Carrie and IT, they are both within the main character. Furthermore, the dichotomy between the two is that both are a mental horror, but Carrie’s telekinesis is controlled by her, as Pennywise attempts to control Beverly using her fears.

King’s novels are often praised for their intriguing and suspense-filled plots. A great example of this would be the monster of IT. The reason that this novel gets separated from the rest of the horror genre is as follows: Pennywise the clown is more than a monster. King created a plot surrounded by a monster that is inescapable. Pennywise has the characteristics of a monster like Freddy Kreugher and Chucky. Basically, Pennywise taunts the children in the mental world but attempts to murder them physically. IT’s plot consists of the absolute perfect villain simply because it can be any horror possible: the entire story is based on each character’s personal fears, as the entity known as Pennywise can take on any form of horror imaginable. Furthermore, the plot of ITis set in the late 1950’s, which gives the book an eye-catching storyline, because many readers enjoy fiction in time periods other than the present day. This is because it is easier to find holes in a plot and a sense of impossibility when the reader knows more about the time period and setting. Conversely, King creates a plot around a made up town and an outdated time frame. IT is so interesting to readers because of the fact that nearly everything in it is fabricated by King; nobody can state that the book is not accurate or realistically written if most of the ideas in the plot do not exist.

Furthermore, a lot of King’s writings have a very defining, grotesque scene; for example, Carrie’s prom disaster scene with a bucket of pig’s blood being dumped all over her in the center of the event. Similarly, and even more grotesque, is one of the most controversial literary choices that Stephen King has made: a sex scene with 12 year olds. King has stated that this scene is largely more controversial now than it was when it first came out, as people have grown more sensitive to these topics. Nonetheless, King believes that these grotesque scenes are key to a novel, because scary creatures don't always leave a reader horrified. Furthermore, scenes like this allow readers to recognize that the supernatural is not the only thing that has power, as King illustrates that terrible things can happen from normal people; a prom can take a bloody turn without the use of telekinetic powers or shapeshifting monsters. Although these type of scenes may gross the reader out, it can be assumed that King’s goal is to make the reader feel that way.