The novel It by Stephen King tells the story of The Losers Club, a group of kids (and later on adults) who band together to defeat the evil living in their town of Derry who calls Itself Pennywise the Clown but is dubbed ‘It’ by those who fear it. This essay aims to explore the possibility that the fictional town of Derry is an abject materialization of the monster ‘It’. The fears and horrors Its victims suffer are reflections of the anxieties of living in a small town at the times the story is set, late 1950s and mid 1980s. Pennywise represents anxieties faced by children and adults in the two different time periods, which is represented through the narrative presented by King. Additionally, Derry is a physiological representation of Pennywise,
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He breaks down several definitions of the word haunt/haunted, but the one that stands out is this definition of haunt: “a feeding place for animals” (147). Most towns and cities have haunted places; a haunted house, a spooky bridge, some kind of tale that is passed down from citizen to citizen regarding the old tales of the town. However, many people throughout It describe Derry, the whole town, as being haunted. There is no doubt that Pennywise has a significant amount of control over Derry, as it is able to seamlessly travel from place to place, shift into things that frighten its victims, and kidnap and kill many people every 27 years in order to feed. However, one point of this essay is to break down the idea that Pennywise is the town of Derry, and vice versa. Pennywise inhabited the land before Derry was created, and would no doubt have stayed there for a long time if The Losers Club had not stepped in. The geography of horror stories often has the origin of the monster being a place such as a lost continent or outer space, making monsters native to places outside of or unknown to the human world (Carroll 57). In this vein, it could be argued that Pennywise is from an otherworldly place, yes, but so is Derry. On the outside Derry seems like a relatively normal place, even with all the murders; the horror only happens ever 27 years, so in between those times Derry is a safe, boring place. Pennywise is shown to feed off of fear, which is why it shapeshifts into the things that its victims are most afraid of when it is chasing them – when it is trying to lure them to their deaths, it appears as people they know such as family members, or something that most kids find joy in, such as a clown. The appearance of such a character in small little Derry is joyous and exciting for a child, and by the time they realize that all is not right it is too late to escape Its clutches. A small
He breaks down several definitions of the word haunt/haunted, but the one that stands out is this definition of haunt: “a feeding place for animals” (147). Most towns and cities have haunted places; a haunted house, a spooky bridge, some kind of tale that is passed down from citizen to citizen regarding the old tales of the town. However, many people throughout It describe Derry, the whole town, as being haunted. There is no doubt that Pennywise has a significant amount of control over Derry, as it is able to seamlessly travel from place to place, shift into things that frighten its victims, and kidnap and kill many people every 27 years in order to feed. However, one point of this essay is to break down the idea that Pennywise is the town of Derry, and vice versa. Pennywise inhabited the land before Derry was created, and would no doubt have stayed there for a long time if The Losers Club had not stepped in. The geography of horror stories often has the origin of the monster being a place such as a lost continent or outer space, making monsters native to places outside of or unknown to the human world (Carroll 57). In this vein, it could be argued that Pennywise is from an otherworldly place, yes, but so is Derry. On the outside Derry seems like a relatively normal place, even with all the murders; the horror only happens ever 27 years, so in between those times Derry is a safe, boring place. Pennywise is shown to feed off of fear, which is why it shapeshifts into the things that its victims are most afraid of when it is chasing them – when it is trying to lure them to their deaths, it appears as people they know such as family members, or something that most kids find joy in, such as a clown. The appearance of such a character in small little Derry is joyous and exciting for a child, and by the time they realize that all is not right it is too late to escape Its clutches. A small