How did Stephen King create the character of It (Pennywise, Bob Gray) in “It”?
One day a great writer went home. His road passes through the bridge; old boards were crackling with every step and he remembered the old tale. Here, right now, he would hear a voice: “Who is on my bridge?!” By the time our writer got home, he had already known that there was something in it. That is how one of the greatest novels was born – under the creaking of boards!
The little town as a model of the universe and Great Evil ruling the souls of its inhabitants, the magic of childhood opposes the cruel rationalism of the adult world. All these images are gently gathered in one book. Each scene is depicted so vividly and the reader can lose touch with reality and find himself in those places. The characters are portrayed through a prism of Absolute Evil. But the definite answer is given – there is no Absolute Evil. For each person any evil is absolute in relation to him (C. Cowden, 2014).
The Absolute Evil is Mrs. Kaspbrak, Eddie’s mother, who consciously inspires her son that he is sick. The Absolute Evil is Mrs. Hensk, Biao’s mother, who consciously overfeeds the son to a condition of a fat pig that is fraught with humiliations and mockeries. But what woman who works all day long can do? She can only replace her mother’s love by some cakes and pies. The Absolute Evil is Mr. Marsh. The unrealized pedophile beating the daughter. Well, and what still to do to it? After all he doesn’t want to beat her, he wants to show his tenderness, but can’t allow it. The Absolute Evil is Henry Bauers. Sadist, psychopath, maniac. The Absolute Evil is the Tom Rogan beating the wife (and not only her) (J. Smythe, 2013).
And maybe it sounds pathetic, but each of us is a portal of absolute evil in this world. And it’s not the devil and other religious turbidity. The fact is if we tend to justify for themselves the evil that we can do (or done)? And if so – then we will see the same degradation as Henry’s, as March’s, as Rogan’s. And they have the common ending. The novel is about the inner monster that lives in everyone.
Works Cited
King, Stephen “It”, 1986, Viking.
Cowden, Catarina “Why Stephen King Is Finally Letting His Novel It Become A Movie”, 2014.
Smythe, James “Rereading Stephen King, chapter 21: It”, 2013.
