Is Stephen King Consider Literature?

            “When things go wrong, they keep going wrong until tears.” (That Bus 1)

            When the concept of literature is brought up names like Shakespeare, Twain, Dickenson, and a dozen other ancient writers. Old school literature may be seen as old and wise, while critics often claim that modern “fiction” is shallow and pointless. This same accusation has been forwarded to a popular author that changed the whole horror genre. Stephen King. Author of The Shining, Carrie, and dozens of short stories, he had made amazing stories that had terrified people to the core! But is this modern author literature? This is the question that many literary writers have been trying to answer but often have been overshadowed by bickering over his popularity. Stephen King is literature by definition and his stories have important implications for the human condition, that other authors have missed. His casual style, symbolism, and critical themes have made many readers shudder and made many critics lose their marbles.

The issue of defining literature in the context of “objectivity” is that literature is an art and by definition is subjective. People will often view a piece of work with love or loathing or even somewhere in between. Though they are basic summaries of this so-called definition that does not have a lot of common ground it leads to most literary critics fighting over the exact definition of what is literature. However, the first way most people figure out a definition is by going into a dictionary and simply pulling one out. For example, “writings in prose or verse; Esp: writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.” (Merrian-Webster’s 727) This would give us a rudimentary definition of literature. However, doing Stephen King justice requires a more rigorous form of such an important definition. Within a Norton textbook, I found a more flavorful definition of literature that makes sense to me. “The difference between pragmatic and literary reading, in other words, resembles the difference between a journey that is only about reading a destination and one that is just as much about fully experiencing the ride.” (Mays 3) In summary, literature is a piece of work that goes through the human condition and is written in such a way that makes every page important to the story. This definition applies to plenty of stereotypical authors we all learn about in a high school classroom, however, Stephen King being the unique writer that he is, how does he hold up to this definition of literature?

            Though there are dozens of human experiences that we can go into that Stephen King has addressed in his writings, I wish to address the top three themes seeping into most of his popular works; morality, death, and suffering. Morality is often depicted in horror movies such as the popular slasher Scream or even the award-winning television show Dexter. Stephen King being the “king” of horror has also addressed these important topics within his works with a clear view of humanity's darker side. next, suffering is a common part of the human experience, it is this common struggle that makes us human. Stephen King creates some of the most page-turning examples of human suffering. Finally, death is a big question that people have been trying to answer since the dawn of human intelligence, Stephen King has a unique view of death that he perfectly writes in several of his short stories.

            Morality, what is good and what is bad? Such a fantastic theme for horror delving into the depth of humanity's need to be “moral” in their own eyes. Stephen King has put a lot of work over the years exploring this subject in detail through some of his amazing short stories. In his story, fondly enough called “Morality” he explores the theme of a supposed holy man, George Winston, paying the couple Chad and Nora to do extremely sinful things for his satisfaction. “Sin for its own sake. Deliberately planned and executed.” (Morality) He gives this couple hundreds of thousands of dollars to film themselves doing horrible things the most horrific is hurting a child.  This explores the morality of money and what we are willing to do for it. How far down the rabbit hole are you going to go down in order to gain wealth? We see this in corporatists stepping on the little guy to make a buck, or politicians taking hush money to push bills they don’t personally support. King in this short story perfectly explores our greed in a fun, yet horrific way. Next, the same book of short stories explores the question of indirect murder for a good cause in the short story “Obits”. “Keep it clear, and keep it in a straight line.” (Obits) this sentence starts our short story of a man who could kill anyone while writing their raunchy obituary. He kills his horrible boss, someone who abused his friend, and someone who abused his friend’s friend (sounds like the start of a terrible joke) But because he wasn’t specific, the story killed people who had the same name as the people he wrote in his obituary. He was doing a good thing and didn’t know the repercussions of what he did. He refused to write again and became a hermit in…Laramie, Wyoming. Though he was doing a good thing in killing these horrible people he killed hundreds of innocent people in the process, which is why he felt so guilty and moved to Wyoming. King explores the issue of playing God and taking people's life without knowledge of its consequences. Finally, we hear the confessions of a “grave” sinner in his fantastic short story “Mute.” This short story explores a fairly complicated theme of the narrator, Monette, and the moral quandary he lays upon his local priest. Basically, he tells his story of woe to a “mute, and deaf” hitchhiker who in turn killed his former lover and the man she was having an affair with. “My question is, do you want the police to catch this ?”  the priest puts this question to Monette, and he lies and says yes. King explores should we feel bad when our bad wishes come true? That guy who cut me off deserves to get into a wreck, my boss who fired me deserves to get beat up, or my wife who cheated deserves to die. These thoughts are common in people often to varying degrees, imagine if it became true. Is it moral to be happy when bad things happen to bad people who hurt us…kind of a mind twister that Stephen King puts into the mind of his readers.

            The general themes of morality above as shown that Stephen King has great insight into these matters, however, one subject that he has done amazing work in is the subject of vengeance. The moral question of should we do justice on our own, is it right or wrong, and how much is too much “justice.” This questions, are answered in two of Stephen King’s works,  “Dolan’s Cadillac” and Carrie.” The short story “Dolan’s Cadillac” is not a typical horror story, it is more of an action-pack thriller of a determined man, Robinson, getting revenge for his wife against the crime boss Dolan. A basic quote he uses to introduce us to this story is “Revenge is a dish best-eaten cold.” He trains in the way of building highways while stalking Dolan to see his every move and daily habits. In the end, he creates a road bump that perfectly makes Dolan’s Cadillac fly into a ditch where he is buried alive. In the story, he was guided by the “spirit” of his wife and almost died creating that perfect road to kill Dolan. He was driven to the hospital and whispered this in his sleep “It’s dark in here. Let me out” (Dolan’s Cadillac) This showed he had some doubts about what he was doing. King wrote this story about a man willing to do what he could to get revenge, and with the “spirits” and voices he was hearing how it drove him kind of insane. The obsession with vengeance for his wife had in turn ruined his life, I would be interested to see Stephen King write a sequel to “Dolan’s Cadillac” a quote from Illidan when he was defeated in Black Temple (I am a geek, and this is a World of Warcraft quote) was “The huntress is nothing without the hunt.” He seemed happy in the end, but what is his purpose now? Despite my hope for a second short story, it is clear that Stephen King has an interest in this subject that is important for anyone who has been wronged. Before this story was conceived, however, there was a great book that brought up the idea of vengeance (it even got a movie) this was the story of Carrie. This book is the first published novel by Stephen King and remains a horrific page-turner to this day. The story is about a weird girl named Carrie who grew up with an abusive mother who thought everything was the devil (I wonder if Waterboy was inspired by this story) Carrie is special because she has psychic powers. Her bully Chris Hargensen had bullied her for having her first period at the beginning of the book, and when Carrie’s revenge was carried out after she had pig’s blood poured onto her by Chris’s boyfriend. “Her face all smeared, like an Indian with warpaint on. She was smiling.” (Carrie 202) After this event she killed over 400 people in a terrifying vengeful rage, she even killed her mother. In the end, she died. This story brings up a lot of sympathy for Carrie because of how she was horribly treated by both her family and her peers. However, she murdered over 400 people most of which did nothing to her. King’s story brings up the question of how much revenge is too much. How many people must die before your sense of “justice” is fulfilled? I’ll give a real-life example of school shootings done by people who have been bullied in school. They had a similar experience to Carrie and carried out their atrocities in a similar matter (without powers of course). This theme of vengeance applies to both reality and fiction relatively well, and Stephen King is a fantastic writer of this sort of vengeful fiction.

            Another quote by the anti-hero Illidan that matches perfectly with the idea of suffering is “I am my scars!” Suffering is a common thing that most people experience (even rich people surprisingly enough) and Stephen King writes some of the best examples of human suffering. For example, in his short story “The Little Green God of Agony” he explores the pain and suffering of a nurse and snobby rich person who has suffered a great accident. Katherine MacDonald is the final physical therapist of the rich man Mr. Newsome who is looking for an “easy” way out of the painful situation he is in. Kat finally stands up to him say “If you died and went to hell, the first thing you’d do is try to grease Satan’s palm.”(Little Green God) This was because he was seeking aid from a “magic” guru named Rideout. It turns out Rideout was right and there was a little green god of agony living in the chest of Mr. Newsome.  The ending is horrific because the lights shut off and Rideout dies. King in this story explores the idea that suffering is not just a concept, but a living breathing thing. He wrote this after his own horrific accident. Pain is like a little green god causing suffering in all aspects of our lives. This is a perfect story to explore that idea. Next, the story I have chosen is a little more graphic, and harder to find a perfect meaning of suffering. However, it reminded me of Touching Spirit Bear (it is a kid’s book, so it is nowhere as horrific as anything King has written) during the first part of that particular story. “Survivor Type” is a story about a man being stranded on an island with only a few supplies from the lifeboat and “two kilos of pure heroin, worth about $350,000. (Survivor Type) In this story, he nearly starved to death, and ended up taking the heroin and slowly started eating himself ending with “Lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers.” (Survivor Type) In the horrors of a survival situation, King goes through the suffering of the narrator, Richard, and his own struggle to live. In a lot of the parts of the world they are people struggling just to survive, for example, the residents in Gaza and the people in Ukraine. The struggle of oppression that is life is perfectly depicted in this horrific and sad story.

            His major bestseller, The Shinning (made into a movie Stephen King hates) goes into the suffering of one individual. A man that we all hate (and can relate to) Jack Torrance the father of the main child in the story Dan. “You lost your temper, Ullman had said.”(The Shining 21) the story of The Shinning goes into the struggle of Jack's temper and the suffering it not only brings upon his family, but himself. Suffering is not only external like in the story “Survivor Type” and not just about outward pain like in “The Little Green God of Agony” Suffering can be mental and emotional. The struggle of the human psyche is one of the greatest struggles of all, and Stephen King writes that amazingly in the story of Jack Torrance a man struggling with both anger and his ego. For example, when he calls Mr. Ullman and starts a fight that didn’t need to be had over the historical documents he found in the basement. “I just don’t believe your cheek, your bloody damned impertinence.” (The Shinning 265) It seemed like he was filled with both ego and rage when he started this conversation with Ullman. King’s construction of this egomaniac of a character is both interesting and important to the definition of literature. A story is supposed to have characters that we can relate to and tell us a story about ourselves. Jack is an angry man because humanity is filled with people who are angry and people to be angry against. Jack has an ego because people often think of themselves as “good” or in the “right” when thinking of other people. The Shining is one of Stephen King’s best works for this reason. As mentioned by Illidan, “I am my scars!”

            The subject of death is the biggest and most controversial of the human experience and literature as a whole. Everything dies, but what happens to the dearly departed? Do we go to heaven or hell like the Bible says, do we reincarnate like the Budha as preached, or do we just die and nothing happens like modern Atheist philosophy? Stephen King and his stories have an interesting answer to this question that I find profound in two of the stories he wrote about it. (However, I must admit I disagree with his idea) In his story, “Afterlife” goes through the lens of William Andrews and his own death of cancer. “One theory he’s read suggests the white light comes as a result of sudden cessation of blood flow to the brain. Another, more elegant, posits that the brain is performing a final global scan in an effort to find an experience comparable to dying. Or it may just be a final firework.” (Afterlife) He is greeted by Issac Harris (which whom they have a comedic exchange) but is left with these two paths for an afterlife; relive his life in its entirety or become nothing. This is similar to the view that Stephen King holds of constantly reliving your life over and over again, enjoying each event like it is brand new every time.  King, work is interesting because it is more modern approach to the idea of death, without the need of spiritual aid. Next, in the story “The Reach” he explores the final days of an old woman living on an island off the east coast. “The Reach had been wider in those days. If anyone knew it was so, that person was Stella Flanders. She had been Born in 1884, she was the oldest resident of Goat Island, and she had never once in her life been to the mainland.” (“The Reach”) When she got lost in the wilderness she was surrounded by her dead friends. Seeing them for the last time before she died and joined them. “Do the dead sing? Do they love? On those long nights alone, with his mother Stella Flanders at long last in her grave, it often seemed to Alden that they did both.” (“The Reach”) This is beautiful and poetic writing from King that solidifies him as an author of pure literature. The ideas of death and the human condition are inseparable and King’s exploration of it shows his deep understanding of symbolism and human emotions, making his writing literature.

            In conclusion, Stephen King is a prolific author who has written many works of literature that would fill thousands of pages of textbooks if someone was brave enough to explore him in that context (Looking at you English snobs) As mentioned before he meets my hybrid definition of literature perfectly. Literature is a piece of work that goes through the human condition and is written in such a way that makes every page important to the story; within the stories I have mentioned each page is important to the context of the story, as well it answers the question and raises the question of the human condition unique to Stephen King’s darker view on life. First, he explored morality through the idea of vengeance, accidental deaths, and human greed. Second, he puts forth the issue of suffering with both internal and external pain as well as exploring the most harboring form of pain…mental and emotional. Finally, his views on an afterlife are unique to his more realistic sense of death, which leads the reader to have to prospect what it is like to die; will we see our friends dancing, or relive our life over and over again, or even more terrifying nothing? These questions and stories have not only raised a whole generation of horror lovers but also brought many open-minded scholars to have a new view of what literature is.

“Monsters are real. Ghosts are too. They live inside of us, and sometimes, they win.” -Stephen King.

Work Cited

King, Stephen, Carrie, Anchor Books. 1974

King, Stephen The Shinning, Anchor Books. 1977

King, Stephen “Mute” Just After Sunset, Pocketbooks. 2009

King, Stephen “Dolan’s Cadillac” Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Signet. 1994

King, Stephen “The Little Green God of Agony” Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner. 2015

King, Stephen “That Bus is Another World” Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner. 2015

King, Stephen “Morality” Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner. 2015

King, Stephen “Obits” Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner. 2015

King, Stephen “Afterlife” Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner. 2015

King, Stephen “Survivor Type” Skeleton Crew, Signet 1982

King, Stephen “The Reach” Skeleton Crew, Signet 1982

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Editon. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. 2003

Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature 12^th edition, W.W. Norton & Company. 2017