Introduction

IT was published in 1986 by Stephen King. It is a very modern take on the horror story
genre focusing on the psychology of horror for both the reader and the character. The main
protagonists are the group of friends called the Losers club containing Bill Denbrough, Eddie
Kasbrak, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Richie Tozier, and Stan Uris. The antagonist is the
ancient embodiment of fear that goes by IT and Pennywise the clown in the story.
The book begins with Georgie Denbrough having his older brother Bill help him make a
newspaper boat so that he can play with it in the newly created stream outside due to the recent
flooding. Bill, being sick with pneumonia, did not go and join Georgie and was unable to save
him from his fatal encounter with the ancient spirit IT. The story then skips forward 27 years to
explain that the monster IT has returned and it is up to Bill and his friends, who all seemed to
forget about Derry and their childhood as soon as they left, to stop IT once and for all.
The story jumps back to 27 years to when they were kids to describe the first encounter
and how the group of friends first came to be. The kids meet and injure IT forcing it into
hibernation, but never the less it still returns. With the group of friends, minus Stanley as he
killed himself rather than face IT again, returned they decide to take on IT again who possessed
their old childhood bully Henry Bowers who was committed to an insane asylum. Mike Is
injured deeply by Henry, but the others go down to the sewers and defeat IT once and for all
during the ritual of Chud.
The main themes are the power and perseverance of friendship and the psychology of
horror and fear. While it may be a horror story, IT is at its core the story of how 6 friends defeat
an ancient monster. In the end, the friends prevail by trusting each other and using their
friendship against the evil monster. IT may be an ancient malicious being that has killed for
centuries, but it stands no chance against the determination of friends and the revenge of a
brother. Fear starts in the mind, so instead of creating scary situations for the characters to
experience, King weaves a story that leaves the reader questioning his or her own sanity. The
reader is given insight into the twisted minds of the characters as they are being corrupted by the
aura of evil, but it slowly starts to seep through the pages. The reader is scared because King
shakes their core belief system instead of simply creating a scary scene on the page. No its the
embodiment of fear creating the fear of fear itself as the main source of horror.

Final Overview
I absolutely adored this book. I both loved and hated this blog assignment because it
meant I could write down all of my theories and explanations, but it also meant I had to stop
reading for an hour or two. For such a long book the pacing was phenomenal as I only slowed
down in the very beginning in the first hundred or so pages. King created a novel that had me
both glued to the next page as soon as it turned, but also one that made me question my
observations so much that I needed to stop reading and go back to see if I missed anything,
which I did almost every time. I spent so much time rereading that while the book is only 1100
pages long I easily read 1700 pages worth of the book as I spent time flipping back and forth.
I was also genuinely scared by the book which is essential to a horror novel. As any book
it appeals to the base natures in humans and how our life connects to those of the characters, but
this book had me shaken. There were times when I wanted to stop and throw the book in the
freezer just to get away, but could not as I was so hooked onto the story. The fear of fear itself is
the main driving force. It is an illogical and weird phenomenon of human life, so King
personifies it as an evil television clown. The craziness and zaniness is what makes it work, the
clown represents that original childhood ignorance to fear and the horrors of the world. Then
taking over the mind of the insane childhood bully just multiplies the fear. King chooses such
universal figures as tools to relate to all readers, but goes so in depth with character development
that they become real people. Every adult knows that clowns are creepy, but kids love them, and
can also remember a time in school when they were bullied or bullied someone, but the idea of
that bully not maturing after 30 years seems unlikely. Thats why King used it though; I
personally was lulled by the story of the bully and was shocked to see Bowers return because I
thought he was simply a plot device to explain characters like Ben. With his return I was shaken,
as all I could think of was that it only took a little push for Bowers to go off the edge and
become susceptible to this ancient terror. In the right circumstances it could have happened to
any of the friends had they stayed in Derry. Since the characters felt so real I also began to
wonder if it could happen to me. What would it take for me to go off the deep end and become
possessed by this ancient spirit?
I would recommend this book to anyone above the age of 15 as it entertains, as well as
provides a twisted perspective and insight into the human mind and why fear exists.