Not a Literary Analysis of "It"

According to Blogger, this is my 23rd post on this blog. And since 23 is my favourite number, I figure this should be a post that's a bit more special.

When I travel, or whenever I leave home for more than 2 nights, there are 3 books that I always bring with me. It used to be 4, until I found out that you can read the full Sherlock Holmes stories online.

Anyway, these 3 books are Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam, The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein and It by Stephen King. Probably goes without saying but these 3, along with the Holmes series, are my favourite books of all time. Of course, among these 4, by the Well-Ordered Principle, there has to be a top-ranked favourite book.

And, for me, this is my favourite book of all-time.


And so, I thought I'd dedicate this post to my favourite book of all time. First things first, one thing that always struck me was the simplicity of the title - "It". If you're going to pull off a title like "It", you better be good. It's kind of like if someone wrote a book called, "Earth" - you better be able to justify using a one-word title with such a broad scope and general meaning. And by golly, "It" delivered.

To clarify, and I will argue this point until I permanently run out of voice or die, whichever comes first, "It" is not a book about a scary clown. On the surface, sure. It's a cornucopia funfest of traditional monsters from werewolves to spiders to giant birds to mummies and so on. But, when you read "It" in its entirety (see what I did there?) - 1090 pages in the Signet version - you will find that, more than anything else, "It" is a book about friendship and the strength of the bonds between friends.



So, who are the friends? The story essentially revolves around the lives of 7 children, each with a standard stigma that depicts a person as a "loser" and hence, they are the Losers Club. From left to right, Eddie Kapsbrak is an asthmatic weakling, Bill Denbrough has a speech impediment in the form of stuttering, Richie Tozier is Ginger with huge glasses, Mike Hanlon is black, Stan Uris is Jewish, Beverly Marsh is poor and Ben Hanscom is fat. The novel tracks the separate lives of these kids as they band together, at age 11, to do battle against It - their adventures, their fears, their games, their plans. And when they become grownups, the novel then tracks the lives of these kids as they re-band together to face It for a second time.

Perhaps the primary reason why Stephen King is my favourite fiction writer (David Halberstam being my favouite non-fiction writer) is because of his tremendous skill and appetite for character development. And, of all his books, this skill is most notably observed in this book. As I went through the book, I found myself getting lost in the lives of these kids, picturing myself as one of them (if you've read my previous posts, you'll know who) and just going along for the ride. Anytime a book can make you feel like it's you living the story, you know it's a winner.

It takes a lot of talent and time to build such a strong bond between 7 diverse characters who are, believe it or not, believable (see what I did there?). This bond of love, friendship and desire makes up the true theme of the book. Stephen King does brilliantly in making the reader understand the depth of these bonds and ties among these friends such that the reader, or at least I did, feels that these bonds were also a part of me.

"It" also addresses a crapload of issues in one book that most books or TV series never do in multiple novels or seasons. These include, but are not limited to, child abuse, domestic violence, parental emotional abandonment, bullying, racism, homophobia, deaths in the family, insanity, loneliness, poverty. As each of the 7 main characters suffers from at least one of these issues, it was not difficult to get a strong sense of attachment to these completely believable characters, thinking at different points, "I totally get this. I've totally been there before and felt exactly this."

Also, coolest name for a battle. Ever.


The apocalyptic rockfight.

Of course, besides the themes of friendship and the bonds of love between friends, "It" also has masterful descriptions of how people tend to feel about love and life. There's the quote about moving forward with life, the one about being in love and the best part is, Stephen King writes it in such a way that you would imagine a kid thinking it or feeling it. Honestly, some of the stuff that's in the book is exactly how I thought or felt in a given situation. Like when Beverly asks Ben about the haiku. See, a lot of writers can describe situations based that you've been in before and you go, "Ah, I know what that's like." Very, very few writers can describe exactly how you thought or felt, near word-for-word, when you were in that situation.

Take for example this situation when Ben first realises that Bill was reciprocating Beverly's feelings.

"In that one instant, that one bare second, Bill had become aware of her in a way that only Ben himself had been before..."Good luck, Big Bill," Ben thought, and he turned away from that gaze. It was hurting him, hurting him in a deeper place than any vampire or werewolf would ever be able to reach. But all the same, there was such a thing as propriety. The word he didn't know; on the concept he was very clear. Looking at them when they were looking at each other that way would be as wrong as looking at her breasts when she let go of the front of her blouse to pull Bill's tee-shirt over her head. "If that's the way it is. But you'll never love her the way I do. Never."

A bit long, but plenty poignant.

"It" also gave me loads of metaphors and things to think about. Here's one which I think would be good if you just pondered about it a while, particularly the part I bolded.

"It always comes back to power. I love Beverly Marsh and she has power over me. She loves Bill Denbrough and so he has power over her. But - I think - he is coming to lover her...But if he's starting to love her, she's starting to have power over him."

Beyond the superficial, "Don't let people have power over you" thought, think about it further. As long as you choose to care for someone, in whatever manner, you will always cede power. As a corollary, if you don't want anyone to ever have power over you, then don't care for anyone. Ever.

I'll end this post with another metaphor or thought for you to ponder, obviously again from "It."

"You don't have to look back to see those children; part of your mind will see them forever, live with them forever, love with them forever. They are not necessarily the best part of you, but they were once the repository of all you could become."

Someone turn on the heat cos the room just got chilly.