A Brief Look at Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947. When King was two years old, his father left home and never returned. , leaving him to be raised by his mother. The family moved around to Wisconsin, Indiana, and Connecticut before returning to Maine so his mother could care for her parents.

Stephen King never clearly states the thesis of this essay however there is enough information provided that we can infer one. We need to keep our inner lyncher at bay by feeding ourselves with small portions of demonic, bloody, violence, found in horror movies. King writes “It deliberately appeals to all the worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized...” (Why We Crave Horror Movies, paragraph 12) and by doing so he’s implying that horror movies are like a temporary fix for our violent craves.

As I was lying in bed recalling the event happened an hour before I was thinking to myself that I will never look at lightning the same way again. Thunder and lightning was still present in the night sky as I lay there in bed thanking God I was alive and well. Each flash of lightning lit the entire room and each clap of thunder rattled the windows of my hotel room. Lightning can seem much more terrifying when you’re up 20,000 ft in the mountains, and the thunder sounds a lot louder too. The sound of nature’s fury seemed to slowly descend as the night went on, but my nerves did not. I was still stunned and in shock of being stuck in a lightning storm high in the mountains. I never thought about the power and damage lightning can inflict

Stephen King, being the famous director that he is, has a strong voice when it

If somebody asked me what my favorite type of movie is I would probably say horror. I would say horror because it provides a thrill in me that no other type of movie sparks within me. When reading Stephen King’s article I realized there is more to a horror movie than just thrill, there is anticipation, and even suspense shown. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, Stephen King uses a mysterious tone and pathos to successfully persuade his audience of kids and adults into watching mysterious horror movies that will let you re-establish your feelings.

Watching frightening films such as “It,” Stephen King’s masterpiece, which is engrossing its monumental audience, is a favorite pastime of many young people. This industry is vast and creates a large amount of wealth for many of the people behind it. However, parents should diligently research these films’ psychological effects on minors before allowing their children to engage in this form of entertainment. After all, “‘Given that very young children may not yet know what types of stimuli frighten them most, nor do they enjoy the power to choose which media the family will view, they are in special need of protection from exposure to such scary stimuli before coping strategies are necessary’” (“Scary”). This shows that parents must carefully consider the content they allow their children to see. People watch horror movies for myriad reasons, as shown in Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” and watching these films have both positive and negative effects that parents should be aware of, which are displayed in Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies” and in the USA Today article “Scary Movies and TV Programs Have Long-Lasting Effects.”

Stephen King’s “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” is a marvelous and unusual text. Within the first part of his book, also called C.V., he explains his life experience up to the day he finishes the book. King expresses his life with multiple literary elements that assist the readers on imagining his life of adventures, catastrophes, fears, and loves. Following are three of my favorite passages that caught my attention.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone was mentally ill? If the only way for people to feel normal was to watch a horrific, bloody movie? In Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, King states that “we’re all mentally ill...those outside the asylum only hide it a little better”(King 1). I completely disagree, if we were all mentally ill, murder would be legal, and killing people would be a daily ritual. Also if we are supposedly “mentally ill” that means that even cute, pure babies are mentally ill also, and that they also crave a good horror movie. This suggests that there is not one person on this planet that doesn’t crave watching the blood and gore of horror movies. King’s statements are clearly false because we all know at least one person that is still afraid of the dark, let alone Jack the Ripper who cuts people’s bodies to shreds. So, if people openly reject the nightmare forced horror movies, that means we all don’t “crave” them.

The story written by Stephen King in Reading To Write, confirm to us that when you are interested in achieving something, you have to be willing to put in the efforts. You cannot assume to take on a task without doing something outside the box. Putting effort, love and joy into a work will help achieve a goal faster. Becoming a writer necessity a lot of reading, many sacrifice, and passion to be recognize as a writer. Willing to read multiple article or Novel will prepared you to great experience, it helps you to discover you talent. It open your eyes on your mistake and you progress, and give your ability to write.

In the Novel the body by Stephen king The Character Gordie Lachance is a very girfted kid. Gordie is very creative having the ability to create stories for his friends and he also like writing stories. Gordie is also has good teamwork skills being able to act efficient in a group of people. Gordie was also neglected but he still managed to be successful.

Stephen King said, “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They’re inside us, and sometimes, they win.” This quote sums up the arguments made in the article “Why We Crave Horror” and what King believes. Stephen King makes three correct claims saying that humans crave horror to have a peculiar sort of fun, face our fears, and reestablish our feelings of normalcy.

Humans crave horror as a way to get out of facing our fears. There is a man in the story “Strawberry Spring” that is walking around killing college girls like it is a normal thing that people do. Did you know that people have been burying their dead for at least 200,000 years. Stephen King says in his article “Why We Crave Horror”, that we have certain feelings due to the “human condition”. Stephen King is correct because he states that we as humans crave horror; we watch and read horror to show that we can, to re-establish our feelings of normality, and for us to experience a peculiar sort of fun and experience and adrenaline rush.

The Shining is about the Torrance family having to stay at the Overlook hotel for five months. Having that said, the family was completely isolated in such a big place over the winter. The hotel had horrific history of a murder done by Charles Grady who had committed suicide after killing his two girls and wife with an axe. The shocking information given to Jack did not bother him at all and he even said that his wife, Wendy would enjoy a good scary story. The film proceeds into a story that would seem calm and full of tranquility but this would not be the case since it soon enough turns out into something more horrifying. After a month has gone by, one can clearly notice the difference between the old Jack to the new Jack. This has to do with his personality and how he is acting by himself and towards others. His attitude changes to wanting to spend more time alone and not caring to do the work for the hotel, which he was hired to do in the first place. Danny is the young son of Jack who has psychic powers which at times confuses him but most of the time frightens the young boy. Danny encounters the two young girls that were killed in the hotel. Danny tries to avoid the girls as much as possible and tries to stay away from room 237 but it attracted Danny’s attention.

Danny Torrance, the five-year-old son of Jack and Wendy, is an intelligent boy who has the telepathic ability of “the shining”. The Overlook hotel’s seems to be strengthened by Danny’s mental power. Despite the fact that his father abused him, Danny still loves him and is willing to forgive. It also worth mentioning that Danny’s middle name is Anthony, just like Jack’s violent father’s. (Shmoop Editorial Team. 2008)

Stephen King’s: IT, is a story which is set in the small town of Derry, Maine; it is illustrated as the most oministic place in the book where everyone in the town acts so strange when kids start to go missing strangely. It happens every 27 years, by a mysterious creature that lives beneath, of Derry, and starts to target seven unlikely group of characters that come together to defeat the mysterious beast so IT can never harm the town anymore, and 27 years later the seven friends get a disturbing phone call that tells them that IT has come back and they will need to finish off their promise. But the story itself is a coming of age, which is these characters learn what it is like in the real world when, even if your a kid you can’t really depend on the grown ups to help “Eddie discovered one of his childhood’s great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought” (King, 814). and if they are going to defeat the creature they will have to face their fears.