It (novel)
| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Bob Giusti, illustration Amy Hill, lettering |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror |
| Publisher | Viking |
Publication date | 1986 |
| Publication place | USA |
| Pages | 1142 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0670813028 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
It is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1986. It is one of his longest at over a thousand pages. Considered one of King's most visceral, gory works, It deals with themes which would eventually become King staples: the power of memory, childhood trauma and the ugliness lurking behind a happy, small-town facade.
The novel is the story of seven friends from the fictional town of Derry, Maine, and is told with the narrative alternating between two different time periods.
Plot
In 1958, when they are eleven years old, the seven self-proclaimed "Losers" are united in seeking refuge from a gang of bullies led by Henry Bowers. The children each individually discover the existence of a child-murdering, shape-changing monster (which they call "It"). "It"'s appearance (about once every 27 years) always brings with it a series of horrifying events: a racially motivated arson attack, an anti-gay murder, and most importantly, the mutilation and killing of George Denbrough, the six-year-old brother of Bill Denbrough, the leader of the Losers.
"It" appears in many forms, often taking the shape of its prey's worst fear (i.e., vampire, werewolf, or mummy), but usually as a sadistic, malevolent, balloon-wielding clown called Pennywise. The children make a pact to return and fight the creature again if "It" returns. All but one later move away from Derry and forget about the events, but one of the children, town librarian Mike Hanlon, remains and calls them in 1985, when the killings begin to happen again. Only five of the other Losers return to Derry to once again confront the monster. The sixth, Stanley Uris, is dead, having committed suicide rather than face the ancient terror.
All except Mike have gone on to success and wealth (which is a side-effect of the confrontation with "It", the monster wishing the children never to return by gifting them with success, says Hanlon), though the stamp of their unhappy childhoods is evident: none of them have children. Ben Hanscom is a world-famous architect. Richie Tozier is a nationally recognized disc jockey. Beverley Marsh, the only female in the group and a renowned fashion designer, is married to an abusive lout just like her father. Bill Denbrough, now a successful horror writer, has married a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Bev. Eddie Kaspbrak (a hypochondriac whose asthma is psychosomatic) owned a limousine service and married a morbidly obese, neurotic woman resembling his mother (who was afflicted herself with Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, although this is never stated in the novel), which he explains right before they enter "It"'s bone-strewn lair.
Henry Bowers, the crazed bully who tormented them as kids, also emerges from the shadows of their pasts; he was committed to Juniper Hill, an insane asylum, nearly thirty years ago, and is goaded by "It" into escaping and returning to Derry to kill the remaining six. The book turns to all-out fantasy at the end as the details of "It"'s origins and its sinister ties to Derry, Maine are revealed. Throughout the novel the Losers Club uses rituals, movie plot devices (i.e. silver bullets), and an ancient magic to defeat "It."
IT
It apparently originated in a void containing and surrounding the Universe, a place referred to in the novel as the Macroverse. (The void could be the Todash darkness mentioned in The Dark Tower.) Its real name (if indeed it has one) is unknown -- although at several points in the novel, It claims its true name to be Robert Gray -- and it is christened "It" by the group of children who later confront it. Its natural enemy is "the Turtle" another Macroverse dweller who, eons ago, vomited up our Universe and possibly others. The Turtle is based on other World Turtle stories, such as the Discworld's Great A'Tuin. (The Turtle is also mentioned in King's own series, The Dark Tower.) The book suggests that It, along with the Turtle, are the creations of a separate, unknowable Creator referred to as "the Other" (although probably intended as a reference to God when first written, this can now be seen to refer to King himself, in light of King's self-referential authorship of the Dark Tower Series. Gan, the God of the IT/Dark Tower/Stand universe, is also a probable "culprit" of the Turtle creation.)
In Its natural habitat, It is a creature made of orange "deadlights"; coming face to face with these lights drives any living being instantly insane. When It enters our universe, though, its natural form is that of a massive spider, fifteen feet high. It arrived in our world in a massive, cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact, although the entry seems to have been into our space-time rather than merely into the atmosphere of Earth. It landed in the place that would, in time, become Derry, Maine.
For millions of years It dwelt under Derry, awaiting the arrival of humans, which It somehow knew would someday come. Once people settled over Its resting place, It adopted a cycle of hibernating for long periods and waking approximately every twenty-seven years. Its awakening is always marked by an act of great violence, and another great act of violence ends Its spree and sends It back into hibernation:
- 1905-1906: It awoke when a lumberjack named Claude Heroux murdered a number of men in a bar with a huge axe. It returned to hibernation when the Kitchener Ironworks exploded, killing many children engaged in an Easter egg hunt.
- 1930-1931: It awoke when a group of Derry citizens gunned down a group of gangsters known as the Bradley Gang. It returned to hibernation when the Maine Legion of White Decency, a Northern counterpart to the Ku Klux Klan, burned down an African-American army nightclub.
It is speculated in the novel that these events are actually caused by It, who influences or gains control of the people involved. The librarian Michael Hanlon, the character who does a great deal of research on It, learns by interviewing eyewitnesses that a clown named Pennywise (Its favorite form) or some unlikely creature, like the giant bird seen by Mike's father Will in 1931, and later by Mike himself at the remains of the Kitchner Ironworks in 1958, was always present at each event. In the intervening periods between each pair of events, a series of child murders occurs, which are never solved. The book's surface explanation as to why these murders are never reported on the national news is that location matters to a news story - a series of murders, no matter how gruesome, don't get reported if they happen in a small town; however, the more likely explanation is that It is capable of using its influence to prevent outsiders from interfering.
An important thing about It is that the things It does or is responsible for are never noticed or, if they are, acted on by bystanders. Bill Denbrough, another major character, is sure that this is either because It is a part of Derry, or because Derry is part of It.
It finally meets its match in 1958 when, in light of a new rash of murders, a group of children, calling themselves the Losers' Club and led by Bill Denbrough, manage to deduce Its existence. This is mainly because Bill's younger brother, George, was Its first victim in 1957. They learn that It can take many forms, but it usually assumes the form of whatever the person confronting it fears the most after luring them to It, in the form of Pennywise the Clown. The kids go after It and wound It severely with silver slingshot slugs in an old abandoned house It frequents. It attempts to kill them by driving insane a highly unstable schoolyard bully named Henry Bowers, but they track It to its lair in the sewers under Derry. Pursuing them, Bowers's two friends are killed by It and Bowers himself flees in terror. He is later committed to a mental hospital. The hospital, Juniper Hill, is also mentioned in the short story "Suffer the Little Children" in the collection "Nightmares and Dreamscapes", "The Tommyknockers", and in the book "Needful Things".
The Losers discover Its true form and Bill, looking into Its eyes, is transported out of his body and into the void of the universe - It intends to bring him face to face with the deadlights. On the way, Bill meets the Turtle. Before being brought out of the universe to the deadlights, Bill uses all his mental powers to escape back into his body. He seriously wounds It, but It manages to flee before the kids can kill it totally. They make a pact to return to Derry should the murders begin again.
They do, in 1985, and Mike Hanlon (the only one to stay behind in Derry) calls them to come back again. One, Stanley Uris, commits suicide by slitting his wrists in the bathtub, but the rest return, even though they remember very little of what they did in 1958. They eventually return to the sewers and discover what Stan Uris had been the only one to realize before - It is female and, what's more, pregnant. Bill's out-of-body experience occurs again, but this time he is aided by his friend Richie Tozier, who joins him in the void and whose skill at voice imitation wounds It greatly. Another, Eddie Kaspbrak, dies of blood loss fighting It after his arm is torn off. Bill and Richie return to Earth, and It flees, leaving a trail of eggs behind. Ben Hanscom, another of the Losers, tries to destroy all the eggs while Bill and Richie confront It. Bill, given power by the creator of It and the Turtle, smashes into Its internal cavity and crushes Its heart, killing It.
Reaction
It was a best-selling book, has become a favorite among his fans and has risen in stature with critics over the years.
The book is perhaps one of King's most immediately unsettling, since the titular character is a child-killing, shape-changing monster (King apparently wanted to create a character that was like "all the old monsters from the movies rolled into one.") While unmistakably one of his more overtly horrific books, the end of the story sees it veer into fantasy territory, which King would revisit with his Dark Tower series. However, many readers consider It to be one of King's most fully realized and moving novels.
It was filmed as a TV movie in 1990, featuring Tim Curry as Pennywise.
The American punk band Pennywise took its name and icon from the repulsive, gleefully sadistic clown which is the creature's primary form.
Trivia
Dick Halloran, the chef from The Shining, makes a brief appearance in the book It.
The movie Back to the Future is playing at the town's movie theater; however, the events in the story take place in May 1985, whereas that movie came out in July of that year.
In Dreamcatcher, the "Losers Club" have dedicated a statue to the town and children of Derry, Maine upon which someone (or something) has spraypainted "Pennywise Lives".
In The Tommyknockers, Tommy Jacklin ran an errand in Derry, and while suffering adverse effects from being away from the air in Haven, saw Pennywise in a manhole 3 years after the events of It took place. "...as he drove up Wentworth Street, he thought he saw a clown grinning up at him from an open sewer manhole -- a clown with shiny silver dollars for eyes and a clenched white glove filled with balloons." It is never clear if this is a hallucination or an actual sighting, but Tommy was 15, so an actual sighting is possible.
In the beginning of the movie Donnie Darko the mother of the family is seen reading the novel It.