the sequence of IT already premiered in theaters. And the book that gives rise to the films (and other adaptations), originally released in 1986, is a gigantic tome. We know that not everyone has time to read all of this before going to the movies.
Therefore, we have gathered below all the oddities of Stephen King’s work (with many, many spoilers) and we tell you.
First of all, a summary of the story: the book begins in 1985 when Mike Hanlon, an inhabitant of the city of Derry, calls his six childhood friends warning that the Thing has returned to attack and summons them to return and fight against it.
The six friends – Bill, Beverly, Stan, Richie, Eddie and Ben – are scattered in different parts of the world. But everyone agrees to go back to face the Thing.
As they return, the reader is presented with flashbacks telling what happened the first time they faced the Thing, in 1958, when they were children.
At the time, in addition to facing problems such as bullies and neglectful parents, the seven also had to deal with a wave of child murders and discovered that a shape-shifting creature was responsible.
Among the victims was George, Bill’s younger brother. After much preparation, they seek out the Thing’s lair in the sewers and confront it, severely injuring it. Back in 1985, the group (with the exception of Stan, who would rather commit suicide than have to face the Thing again) regroup and return to the sewers for an ultimate fight.
Now for the oddities:
1) The Thing came from space
The biggest shock in the book IT is that, in its first two-thirds, it is totally urban and then, in the end, it becomes something else.
Yes, we know that the Thing is supernatural, after all it is able to change its form according to what its victims most fear. But throughout the book, the Thing seems to be bound by very mundane rules: it lives in the sewers, comes out of them at specific points, and only attacks children when they’re alone.
We also know, from Mike Hanlon’s investigations, that the Thing has lived in Derry for many years and that its cycle of violence has been repeated every 27 years (approximately) since at least the 18th century.
All of this signals a kind of order in the chaos that is the Thing.
This induces the reader to think that there is some unrealistic foundation in the monster. Was it a clown who died in a terrible way and turned into this creature? Was it a demon conjured up by the concerned citizens of Derry?
The book’s explanation is much more lame, revealed when the boys inhale smoke to see visions.
Two of them have a flashback to Derry in prehistory and witness the Thing falling from space in a ball of fire. She came from something called the macroverse and spent millennia waiting for humans to colonize the city so that she could finally begin her cycle of violence. It makes very little sense.
2) The world we live in was vomited up by a turtle
If you found the previous item strange, know that this is just the beginning. When the kids descend into the sewers to confront the Thing, the monster isn’t the only thing they find there.
There is also a tortoise, whose origin is not explained, which keeps quiet and retracted in its shell. This tortoise is nothing less than the creator of the world – our universe was spewed out by him in a bellyache crisis. Oh, and there is still a third entity, which created the turtle.
All these elements are simply thrown in IT and, to understand them, one must go further into Stephen King’s universe.
The tortoise is an important character in The Dark Tower, where it is explained that she created the entire universe in which the author’s books take place. It’s a slightly traveled story, but one that makes sense within the context of the fantasy of The Dark Tower.
However, for a book like ITwhich takes place almost entirely in realistic scenarios and presents problems that are not at all fanciful, the leap between one thing and another causes astonishment.
3) The whole city is the Thing
In one of the chapters narrated by the Thing itself, it is explained that the city of Derry was influenced by it and shaped to serve its food cycle. This explains, for example, why so many people ignore the violence in front of them (something that is referenced in the film franchise) and why the map of Derry’s sewer systems has been lost. It also explains how the Thing is able to possess people, like Henry Bowers and Beverly’s father.
The Thing is everywhere.
4) The final battle is psychic, not physical
The book narrates the two occasions on which the Clube dos Otários faced the Thing: in 1958, when they were children, and in 1985, already adults. In both, the group uses the same resource to face the monster: the Ritual of Chüd.
It’s a Native American ritual where you bite the Thing’s tongue and make it laugh.
In the book, this ritual is not interpreted literally, but figuratively: just as the Thing feeds on children’s fear, the weapon to overcome it is to use creativity. Indeed, when children begin to imagine that they can hurt It, they succeed.
This does not, however, prevent the battle from being psychic, with Bill seeing himself on a universal plane and trapping the Thing’s tongue in his own mouth.
To win, he repeats the training he uses to overcome stuttering – “He punches poles a lot and insists he sees ghosts”. It works both times: in 1958, they hurt the Thing, who runs away. In 1985 they finally kill her.
5) There is a child orgy scene
One of the most nonsensical things in the book is what happens after the kids first beat the Thing in 1958.
On the way back, they get lost in the dark sewer and fall into despair. It’s then that Beverly, the only girl in the group, aged 11, decides that she knows what to do to bring everyone together again: sex.
She undresses and, one by one, she invites the boys to penetrate her. They comply, collectively losing their virginity. In the end, after the sex, one of the boys remembers the way and they make it back safely.
Despite being graphically depicted, the scene has no violence. Still sound sick? Well, here’s what the author had to say about it in an interview for his official website:
“I wasn’t thinking too much about the sexual aspect of the act. The book deals with childhood and adult life – 1958 and Grown Up.
Adults do not remember their childhood. None of us remember what we did when we were kids – we think we do, but we don’t remember the way it really happened.
Intuitively, the Losers knew they needed to come together again. The sexual act connects childhood and adult life. It’s another version of the glass tunnel that connects Derry’s adult and children’s libraries. Times have changed since I wrote that scene and today there is more sensitivity to these issues.”
6) The thing is capable of having “children”
In the final confrontation with the Thing in 1985, the boys, now grown up, return to the monster’s lair and find eggs.
It’s the children of the Thing, or something like that. It is not known how long they would take to develop or what they would become exactly. But there is no time to find out: Ben stomps them violently and the monster feels the blows. In the end, in addition to defeating the Thing, we’re also certified that all the eggs have been wiped out.
Or is it not?
7) Some children may have survived
There are indications that the Thing is still alive or else, one of its children. In the book dreamcatcherwhich is also set in Derry, the villain is the alien Mr. Gray (the image above is from the 2003 film).
He wishes to place spores in the city’s water system to infect the township with the alien virus, and subsequently the world. He wants to know where the town’s water tank is, but the book’s protagonist, Jonesy, tells him that it was destroyed in 1985 (in the events narrated at the end of IT).
At one point, Mr. Gray finds a sign that reads: “To all those lost in the storm / May 31, 1985 / And to the children, all the children / From Bill, Ben, Bev, Eddie, Richie, Stan and Mike , with love / The Losers Club”. Underneath the sign, written in red graphite, is the following saying: “PENNYWISE LIVES”.
In addition, in The Dark Tower, there is a character named Dandelo who feeds on the emotions of others. Many fans believe that Dandelo and the Thing are the same creature or the same species. How the Thing Laid Eggs at the End of IT and Derry sort of serves as a gateway to the Tower, it’s not far-fetched that Dandelo is one of the Thing’s children.
8) Stephen King was pretty mad when he wrote
In the 1980s, Stephen King was addicted to alcohol and cocaine to the point where he had to stuff cotton wool up his nose to keep drops of blood from falling into his typewriter.
He was sober for approximately 3 hours a day at this time. His wife got used to finding him passed out in puddles of vomit.
And it was in this state that King wrote IT, Misery, Christine, Pet Sematary, Cujo and the first volumes of The Dark Toweramong other bestsellers.
No wonder, one of its recurring themes is alcohol addiction and the resulting violence. These bad habits took their toll: King has stated, for example, that he doesn’t remember writing Whose. He only abandoned intoxicants (after many attempts) in the 90s.
It’s a curious thought to have while reading IT, or watching the movies at the cinema – if something seems disturbing or unrealistic, it’s worth remembering that this story was written by a guy who woke up covered in his own vomit.