![]() ![]() That adults - and more specifically, parents - can't see the blood that burbles out of Beverly's bathroom drain is symbolic of their literal ignorance of Derry's astronomical murder rate, or, in several instances, the way they dismiss violence even when they do see it. More than simply being It's minions, the Derry residents are more fundamentally of It, understanding and cooperating with It on basic, subconscious levels. Mike's history of Derry is also a history of It, monster and town feeding off one another in the same mutual parasitism King had explored between Todd and Dussander in "Apt Pupil," and later between Paul Sheldon and Annie Wilkes in Misery. Part of the reason It functions so well is the effectiveness of these segments, which not only form a backbone to this sprawling book, but also prove the nature of It's influence on the town. In these segments, interpolated throughout the text, Mike sketches the brutal history of Derry, Maine. "Can an entire city be haunted?" This question, posited by Mike Hanlon in the first of his five "Interlude" segments, introduces the primary conflict of It early on. The notion of forgetting the past is a central conceit in It, as the citizens of Derry have learned to ignore the cycle of violence and death that has defined the town since its inception. King's clever reversal of the two years - '58 and '85 - recalls George Orwell's 1984, published in 1948 King himself had used a similar reversal with The Shining's "redrum." The 1958 segments function largely as coming-of-age story, as children learn how to be adults (culminating in a frank sexual sequence that is at once shocking and moving) as the adult Losers begin regaining their memory, they are learning how to be children. ![]() What results is a split narrative of discovery and action that works on literal, symbolic, and allegorical levels. Most of the adults in It have lost the memories of their childhoods completely, and only over the course of the novel do they regain them. ![]() Structurally, It is King's most ambitious work, tackling dual time frames that parallel each other and eventually merge. Only by coming together and sharing their talents with one another do they truly blossom, cementing their later roles as adults. At twelve, these characters are classified and limited by these traits, but as with most child characters in King's fiction, it is not who they are but what they do that truly defines them. King's seven characters - eventually known collectively as The Losers Club - begin the summer of 1958 in Derry, Maine as loners, each an outcast "type": Ben Hanscom is fat, Beverly Marsh is poor, Eddie Kaspbrack is asthmatic, Mike Hanlon is black, Stan Uris is Jewish, Richie Tozier wears thick, "Coke-bottle" glasses, and Bill Denbrough stutters. Even at this early stage in the novel, we begin to sense how profoundly the events of 1958 have shaped the adults of 1985. Advancing this technique further, King introduces these people as adults, in a series of short vignettes that eventually give way to their lives as children. He is fascinated by these people, and develops them slowly and richly enough to allow readers to become fascinated by them, as well. ![]() Used to great effect in The Dead Zone (in which we come to know Johnny Smith through the impressions and reactions of Sarah Bracknell), in It, King approaches his characters even more cautiously, discovering each of his seven primary characters through the eyes of secondary - and even tertiary - characters. One of King's most clever devices is his technique of developing his main characters through the observances of lesser characters. One of King's most important books, It is a massive undertaking, not only addressing and expanding upon the themes in his earlier fiction, but also transcending those themes, uncovering and creating something new.Ī novel as long and complex at It defies simple summary as with most of King's novels, the real story lies in the characters rather than the plot or situation. It also functions as a statement of intent as to what he hopes to accomplish with his later novels: explorations of adults and the dual natures of creativity and creation. It marks a deliberate shift in Stephen King's career, a stated conscious decision to sum up everything he had to say about children and monsters. ![]()
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