Quitters In Stephen King Analysis

There are hundreds of methods to help people quit smoking; from quitting cold turkey to using alternative nicotine sources, yet even with the countless options less 6% have actually had success with quitting their destructive habit. Stephen King, in his short story “Quitters Inc.,” vividly shows the struggles of quitting through his tone, symbolism, and characterization. King displays the harmful effects addiction has in every aspect of that person’s life, along with how paranoia and protectiveness can clarify the mental state of an addict. Stephen King’s inspiration likely comes from his personal childhood. When Stephen was only two, his father abandoned his entire family after he went to the store to buy a pack of cigarettes ( ). Consequently, …show more content…
Stephen King makes it quickly apparent that Morrison feels inferior to his Old friend. As McCann describes his new found success, Morrison “tried to tell himself that the little worm of jealously in his stomach was just acid indigestion.” King describes this as a worm of jealously and acid indigestion to emphasize the cringing envy Mr. Morrison felt. His word choices express to the reader the amount of frustration and complication his life contains enticing the reader to empathize with Mr. Morrison, who does his best not to show his cynical emotions. As the story develops the author changes this tone from that of distaste to that of paranoia and protectiveness. The Tone of the story is important because it helps convey the theme of love being able to heal an addict. His actions could quickly put his loved ones in jeopardy; this causes him to be extremely wary, but because of this paranoia he is forced to have a clearer mind set on his priorities and make better decisions. Reality is similar in that nicotine addiction has a long lasting impact on the lives of the addict and his or her family. These effects are often overlooked because the immediate pleasure of nicotine can make one forget about the accumulative effects of smoking. Mr. Morrison is addicted to nicotine and because of that his life is falling apart of around him; he needed to be reminded …show more content…
“Oh no. Donatti [says] your wife gets the rabbit trick not you… Donatti smile[s] you he [says] get to watch” ( ). The Way Donatti entices Mr. Morrison into the treatment by arousing his curiosity and appearing harmless directly relates with how people begin smoking in the first place. They are ignorantly curious and eventually become trapped in their addition. Donatti’s voice is chillingly smooth and calm; when he’s not speaking of the treatment he seems kind and relaxed, but underneath that façade he has his patients trapped in this controlling treatment representing how nicotine traps its users slightly controlling the addicts life. The Treatment itself is directly based on how addiction develops; the more you use it the worse the consequences get. This shows how the more a person use nicotine the worse things become in his or her life. It starts with spouse then moves to hurt the user and then begins hurting the entire family progressively worse each