IT (King)

Title: IT

Author: Stephen King

Date of First Publication: 1986

Place of Publication: Viking

Type: Novel

Critical Summary: IT is a novel by Stephen King relating the tale of a group of misfits that unite to defeat an evil monster from another dimension. The story takes place in a quaint town called Derry that has been plagued with many unfortunate events, such as destructive floods and abnormally large death rates. Unbeknownst to most of the denizens of Derry, a being from another dimension controls the town and feeds upon the fear it instills in mostly young children. A group of ordinary, misfit children must fight off the creature, not only once, but a second time twenty-seven years later.

The being in the novel takes different frightening shapes, including, briefly, the Creature from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This points to a thematic connection in both concerning the fears we make, and how we deal with them. The Loser’s Club are antisocial, and so risk becoming Byronic heroes. Each character has his/her own individual flaws yet must overcome them in order to combat It and rescue Derry from any further misfortune. The social class of each child remains low due to different situations and disadvantages each character has, such as weight, social ability, family relations, etc. However, these characteristics help us to relate and identify with the Loser’s club. In contrast to Victor’s wealthy upbringing and initial family connectivity, each child lives in a disjointed family. The death of a loved one at the hands of It provides a strain on Bill’s relationship with his parents. Eddie Kaspbrak lives with a domineering mother who obsesses over her son’s fragility. Mike Hanlon, the only African-American member of the group, has to deal with racist attacks against him and his family, mostly by the hands of local bully Henry Bowers. While status is used in Frankenstein to highlight Victor’s fall and tragedy, King uses social class to show that any “loser” can step up when the situation calls for it.

Frankenstein and IT both tell storys of misanthropes. In King’s novel, the gray area of Victor’s dilemma is absent, lending to a more straightforward moral: anybody can be a hero.

Administrative Notes: Silva Cristo, CSUF; Dr. David Sandner, CSUF (editing)