It (novel)

It

File:It cover.jpg
Author	Stephen King
Cover artist	Bob Giusti, illustration Amy Hill, lettering
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Horror novel
Publisher	Viking Press
Publication date	1986
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	1142 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-670-81302-8
Preceded by	The Bachman Books
Followed by	The Eyes of the Dragon

It is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1986. It is one of his longest at 1,138 pages. Considered one of King's most visceral, graphic 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 façade.

The novel is the story of seven friends from the town of Derry, Maine, and is told with the narrative alternating between two different time periods.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler In 1958, when they are eleven years old, the seven self-proclaimed members of the "Losers' Club" are united in seeking refuge from a gang of bullies led by Henry Bowers. The children each individually discover the existence of a terrifying, child-murdering, shape-changing monster (which they call "It"). Its appearance (about once every 27 years) always brings with it gruesome acts of violence that culminates in a horrific tragedy, among them a racially motivated arson attack, a homophobic murder, and the explosion of a factory killing numerous children. It is also responsible for 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, and takes the shape of It's prey's worst fear (e.g., vampire, werewolf, leeches, or mummy, and in one case the creature from the black lagoon), but most often appears as a sadistic, malevolent, balloon-wielding clown by the name of Bob Gray, or Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The children find It's lair and battle It, wounding the monster badly but not killing it. They make a pact to reunite and fight the creature again if it returns. All but one later move away from Derry and completely forget about the events, but one of the children, Mike Hanlon, who has become the town librarian, remains. He calls the other six characters in 1985, when It returns and the killings begin once more. Only five of the other Losers return to Derry to once again confront It and resurrect their harrowing and long-forgotten memories. 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. Stanley is a partner in a large Atlanta accounting firm. Ben Hanscom is a world-famous architect. Richie Tozier is a nationally syndicated disc-jockey. Beverly Marsh, the only female in the group, is a renowned fashion designer. Bill Denbrough, now a successful horror fiction writer, has married an actress (met while working on a film adaptation of one of his best-selling novels) who bears a striking resemblance to Beverly. Eddie Kaspbrak (a hypochondriac whose asthma is psychosomatic) owns a limousine service catering to the wealthy and famous. The stamp of their unhappy childhoods is evident, however: none of them have children; Bev's husband is an abusive man just like her father; and Eddie married a morbidly obese, neurotic woman bearing a strong resemblance to his mother. Ben, Richie, and Mike have remained single.

Henry Bowers, the crazed bully who tormented the Loser's Club 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 Its origins and its sinister ties to Derry, Maine are revealed. An ancient magic ritual involving an enormous battle of wills is used by the Losers to fight It (during which Eddie loses one of his arms and his life). It is eventually destroyed by Bill who punches his way into Its body and crushes Its heart in his hands. One unfortunate side-effect of killing It is that the memories the Losers have of each other fade quite quickly, although the up-beat ending leaves the implication that while they may not remember each other exactly, they know that they will be always be friends. Template:Endspoiler

It

It apparently originated in a void containing and surrounding the Universe, a place referred to in the novel as the Macroverse. It's 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 is christened It by the group of children who later confront it. Likewise, its true form is never seen. Its final form in the physical realm is that of an enormous spider, but even this is an illusion. Its true form exists in a realm beyond the physical, where It refers to Itself as "the deadlights." Bill comes dangerously close to seeing the deadlights, but successfully defeats It before this happens. As such, the deadlights are never seen, and Its true form is never revealed. Coming face to face with the deadlights drives any living being instantly insane (a common H.P. Lovecraft device).

Its natural enemy is "the Turtle," another ancient Macroverse dweller who, eons ago, vomited up our Universe and possibly others while having a bout of indigestion. The Turtle shows up again in King's own series The Dark Tower. The book suggests that It, along with the Turtle, are themselves creations of a separate, omnipotent Creator referred to as "the Other". As it is stated that the Turtle and It (the Spider) are eternal enemies (creation versus consumption), it is entirely possible that Pennywise is/was one of the 'Demons' that existed along the Beams, such as the creature who impregnated Susanna Dean in the Tower series; further consideration is lent to it by the name and form of the beast (as well as the constant capital 'S' in Spider, much as there is a capital 'T' in Turtle.)

It arrived in our world in a massive, cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact; Richie and Mike, two of the Losers, see in a smoke-induced vision (if vision it was) of the remote past Its thunderous, earth-shaking entry into our space-time. 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 happen. 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 a great act of violence, and another great act of violence ends Its spree and sends It back into hibernation:

• 1715 – 1716: It awoke.
• 1740 – 1743: It awoke and started a three-year reign of terror that culminated with the disappearance of over 300 settlers from Derry Township, much like the Roanoke Island mystery.
• 1769 – 1770: It awoke.
• 1851: It awoke when a man named John Markson poisoned his family, then committed suicide by eating a white-nightshade mushroom, causing an excruciating death.
• 1876 – 1879: It awoke, then went back into hibernation after a group of lumberjacks were found murdered near the Kenduskeag.
• 1904 – 1906: It awoke when a lumberjack named Claude Heroux murdered a number of men in a bar with an axe. Heroux was promptly pursued by a mob of townsfolk and hanged. It returned to hibernation when the Kitchener Ironworks exploded, killing 108 people, 88 of them children engaged in an Easter egg hunt.
• 1929 – 1930: 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.
• 1957 – 1958: It awoke when several people were murdered in Derry, most well known being George Denbrough, but a number of others, such as Patrick Hockstetter, Belch Huggins, Victor Criss, Jimmy Cullum, Betty Ripsom, and many others. It then met its match when the Losers forced It to return to an early hibernation when wounded by the young Bill Denbrough in the first Ritual of Chüd.
• 1984 – 1985: It awoke when three young homophobic bullies beat up a young gay couple, Adrian Mellon and Don Hagerty, throwing Mellon off a bridge. It was finally destroyed in the second Ritual of Chüd by the adult Bill Denbrough.

It is speculated in the novel that these events are actually caused by It, which somehow influences or gains control of the people involved. Mike Hanlon, one of the Losers, and a character who does a great deal of research on It, learns by interviewing eyewitnesses that a clown (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 Kitchener Ironworks in 1958, was always present at each event.

In the intervening periods between each pair of events, a series of child murders occur, 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 book's implied reason for why the atrocities go unnoticed is far more sinister: It won't let them. As such, It has control over Derry and is able to selectively dictate the town's history; horrors and atrocities are largely ignored so that It will remain free of scrutiny. Bill Denbrough, one of the book's main characters, is sure that this is either because It is a part of Derry, or because Derry is part of It. This possibility is reinforced at the end of the novel, when the town is practically destroyed by a massive flood as It is finally vanquished.

It finally meets its match in 1958 when, as murders begin happening afresh, a group of children, calling themselves the Losers and led by Bill Denbrough, manage to deduce Its existence. This is mainly because Bill's younger brother, George, was Its first victim of the latest killing cycle, 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. 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 manipulating an insane and highly unstable schoolyard bully named Henry Bowers. Pursuing the Losers into the sewers, Bowers' two friends are killed by It and Bowers himself flees in terror. He is later committed to a mental hospital after Henry confesses to the child murders. The hospital, Juniper Hill, is also mentioned in the short story "Suffer the Little Children" in the collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and in the novels The Tommyknockers, Insomnia and Needful Things.

Mr. Gray (in Dreamcatcher), furious at finding the Standpipe missing, confronts Jonesy's consciousness — demanding an answer to several questions, one of which is "Who or what is Pennywise?".

Jonesy answers with a somewhat misinformed version of the story in It, beginning with the murder of Adrian Mellon at the hands of Christopher Unwin, Steve Dubay, and John "Webby" Garton and ending with the storm in 1985 which, we learn, was national news.

The fact that it was national news is a fairly interesting aspect, since the killings in Derry barely made the local newspaper. This, perhaps, is because of the loss of It, who seemed to have kept such things from being discussed.

Even more interesting is the "Pennywise lives" message painted on the memorial — of the people who even knew who (and what) Pennywise was, surely only one still resided in Derry at the time — Mike Hanlon, certainly one who wouldn't be spreading the idea. On top of that, Dreamcatcher occurs in the early 2000s (it was published in 2001); if Pennywise had survived, it wouldn't awaken for another 11 years (if its patterns were remaining stable as they had for the past several hundred years), in 2012; 30 years after the end of It.

This message brings into question whether or not It is actually gone — while Bill Denbrough may have killed It, we're still left unsure whether Ben successfully destroyed Its eggs. The further speculation in Dreamcatcher is a chilling consideration. Pennywise himself makes several appearances in The Tommyknockers.

The Loser's Club

The seven Losers are the children who are united by their unhappy lives, their misery at being the victims of bullying by Henry Bowers and their eventual struggle to overcome the eponymous 'It'. They are clearly characters in the King tradition of sympathetic, plausible heroes who find themselves caught up in an evil they cannot quite comprehend but which they must battle.

Bill Denbrough: Also known as "Stuttering Bill" because of his bad stutter. His brother George was killed by It in 1957. He is the most determined and resourceful of the Losers, and is the one who, both in 1958 and 1985, confronts It in the Ritual of Chüd and eventually destroys It. As with other King characters Jack Torrance, Paul Sheldon, Ben Mears, Bobbi Anderson and Mike Noonan, in 1985, Bill is a successful writer.

Ben Hanscom: Known as "Haystack" after the professional wrestler Haystacks Calhoun. Because of his weight, he has become a frequent victim of Henry Bowers. He also develops an intense crush on Beverly Marsh. In later life, he becomes a successful architect and loses his excess weight.

Beverly Marsh: The only female in the group, in 1958, Beverly is from the poorest part of Derry and has an abusive father who beats her regularly. She develops a crush on Bill Denbrough and her skill with a slingshot is a key factor in battling It. As an adult, she becomes a successful fashion designer, but is married to an abusive husband, who sees her as an object of sexual desire.

Richie Tozier: Known as "Trashmouth," Richie is the Losers' most lighthearted member, always cracking jokes and doing impersonations, which prove very powerful weapons against It. His childhood trauma stemmed from his rapid-fire insults being compulsive and almost subconsciously triggered. He is the most devoted to keeping the group together, as he sees 7 as a magical number, and believes the group should have no more, no less. In later life, he is a successful disc jockey. Like Ben, he has a crush on Beverly, though it isn't crucial to the plot.

Eddie Kaspbrak: Eddie is a frail hypochondriac whose asthma is psychosomatic. He has a worrying, domineering mother and is easily the most physically fragile member of the group. He eventually runs a successful limousine business, but is married to a woman very similar to his mother. He is eventually fatally wounded and killed by It, making him the only direct adult victim of It (all others were killed indirectly).

Mike Hanlon: Mike is the last to join the Losers, when he is racially persecuted by Henry Bowers. The Losers fight back against Bowers in a massive rock fight. Mike is the only one of the Losers to stay behind in Derry, and he is the town librarian who beckons the others back when the killings begin again in 1985.

Stan Uris: Stan is a skeptical, bookish Jewish member of the group. In 1958, he is the first to encounter It in its natural form. He is the least willing to accept that It actually exists, and relies on logic more then anything else. Stan is also racially persecuted by Henry. As a kid, his main hobby was birdwatching. He later becomes a partner in a large Atlanta-based accounting firm. However, he commits suicide upon receiving Mike's phone call, rather than return to Derry to face the ancient terror. (The book later reveals that the reason why he took this action is because he was the only one of the Losers to notice as a child that It is female and pregnant.)

Literary significance and criticism

Publisher's Weekly listed It as the best-selling book in America in 1986. The novel has become a favorite among King's 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 novel The Eyes of the Dragon, as well as his Dark Tower series. However, many readers consider It to be one of King's most fully realized and moving novels.

Additionally, in the closing chapters of the novel, the under-age Beverly initiates sex with each of the other Losers (also under-age) in turn, in order to calm them all down enough to figure out how to escape the maze-like sewers after defeating It. She has realised that if she does not, they will all die, panicking, in the tunnels: "... this was not the place or time for worry: here there was love, desire, and the dark. If they didn't try for the first two they would surely be left with the last". King however is very careful not to make this into a lewd scene. Although all six boys do perform penetrative sex with Beverly, she only shares a climax with the last two to come to her, Ben and Bill. King portrays no lust, but an innocent scene of children not really knowing what they are doing, but showing their love and commitment to each other. King points out that only Ben, Bill and Bev herself are aware of the full significance of what they do.

This scene was ignored by the television miniseries, along with several references in the beginning of the book to It capitalizing on homophobia in Derry to frame someone for murder.

It was filmed as a TV movie in 1990, featuring Tim Curry as Pennywise.

According to an announcement made by the Sci Fi Channel, It is being remade as a 4 hour TV movie.