Misery, Stephen King

Misery, Part 1: Metephors

The metaphors in Misery hold a very definitive place in the book. The book is about an author, Paul Sheldon's survival when he is taken captive by an insane women, Annie Wilks. Throughout the book, Paul makes a series of connections which I annotated in red. The first metaphor of the book is on page 3, in which Revere Beach is described, a piling that the tide would mask and unmask throughout the day. Paul later creates a metaphor responding to the memory. On page 8, "The pills were the tide; Annie Wilks was the lunar presence which pulled them into his mouth like a jetsam on a wave. she brought him two every six hours," I noticed also that the pilings were a negative aspect to his metaphor. Seeing the pilings meant that the tide was out, and that the Novril had worn off and his legs were hurting. He also used the Africa metaphor, in which he feels like a caged animal so far away from salvation. He was Annie's 'pet writer'.

Stephen King added these metaphors as part of Paul's character. Paul is a writer, thus he thinks like a writer and it's part of his character to make connections, analyze, symbolize. The metaphors will be introduced by a moment and then will be shown over and over. Slowly the metaphor becomes rounder, more truthful, and clearer.

Paul thinks of Annie as a goddess, not as a positive trait, but as an all-powerful, immortal, strong force that is against Paul's most definitive want: to be free of his captivity. In the climax of the book (spoiler alert) Paul is paranoid, "You are in error, Paul. You can't kill the goddess. The goddess is immortal. Now I must rinse." (see Misery: Part 4: Crazy)  He slowly becomes paranoid, and his metaphors become reality.

Misery, Part 2: Writing Style

Stephen King's writing style is very interesting. His characters are 3-D because of the details he includes. The metaphors and backgrounds are very human and his characters are all very different.  On page 153-154 Paul is having a writing moments. He has discovered the turning point of the book he is writing and in the notes Paul writes down, his voice is very clear, in the way most of our voice is clear when we think out loud. An example from the notes Paul writes down, "...they WERE related. Misery's an orph. And guess what? The Evelyn-Hyde babe was MISERY'S SISTER! Or maybe half sister. That would probably work better..." The thought process he went through was very defined and you could easily see his voice.

Stephen King does not use description at all times, which is good, because description can be over used, and there is a clear borderline between descriptive and boring, a borderline that is easily crossed. It's unfortunate when description looses it's beauty, and it takes a talented author to know not only enough about our society in order to create a character out of our lives, but a good author must also know enough about our society that they know about suspense as well as the patience a reader has for a part of a book. For instance, when I read Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer, the second portion of the book in which Bella is a vampire and she goes out into the forest for the first time. Meyer spends a generous portion of the next two pages describing every single thing that Bella perceives with her new and improved vampire senses, which quickly becomes old and consuming.

 Stephen King also uses an intriguing paragraph structure in the end of the book, towards the climax. (viewer discretion advised)

see page 234

I want to note that while gruesome,  the paragraph has a very certain vibe around it because it is all one sentence. It portrays the idea that it all happened quickly.

Miserey, Part 3: Annotation

On page 65, Paul changes, a checkpoint is crossed. Paul begins to play a mind game with Annie, he begins to manipulate her. He confused her, and took advantage of her mental disability. I found that annotation was important at that point, because his tactic was becoming intricate.

Tactic:

His tactic, which he often referred to as Scheherazade was manipulative, but his only fault was that he manipulated Annie as a sane person, and not as a crazy person, which he did and succeeded with at the climax of the book. But on page 65, and again on page 67, he belittles Annie so that she feels confused and stupid. He described her face, which he described (see part 1 for other metaphors, recurring thoughts, and similes) as much as any other metaphor, as 'opaque' and 'childish'. But his tactics go far, he tricks Annie into a lot of things, especially things that end up (spoiler alert) aiding his escape in the end.   

Miserey, Part 4: Crazy

The book especially deals with Annie's deformed mental state, as well as Paul's mental state after his months in the captivity of a crazy women. Her Paranoia, and her homicidal tendencies. (spoiler alert) By the end of the book, when the officers find Paul, he is in a state near death, and he was very paranoid. Even after he is home, he is suffering from insomnia. On page 235, "Annie is good let us thank her for our food including that we don't have to eat girls just want to have fun but something wicked this way comes please don't make me eat my thumb Annie the mom Annie the goddess when Annie's around you had better stay honest she knows when you've been sleeping she knows when you're awake she knows when you've been good or bad so be good for goodness sake you better not cry you better not pout but most of all you better not scream don't scream don't scream don't scream don't" By the end of the book Paul is not insane, but he is scared and rattled, the way anyone would be if they went through what he did. On page 144, " You forgot didn't you? you forgot, just the way you keep forgetting to change February on that damned calender. Forgetting to make the quarterly property-tax payment is a hell of a lot more serious than forgetting to change the calender page, and your upset because this is the first time you've forgotten anything that big. Fact is, you're getting worse, Annie, aren't you? A little worse every day. Psychotics can cope in the world - after a fashion- and sometimes, as I think you well know, they get away with nasty shit. But there's a borderline between the lands of manageable and unmanageable psychosis. You're getting closer to that line every day...and part of you knows it." Annie is insane, and dangerously so. She is paranoid, and that paranoia leads her to (spoiler alert) cut off Paul's leg. "He knew that even a raving paranoid like Annie would reject what was so obvious..." Paul was also paranoid by the end of the book, but rightfully so. " There was an overstuffed sofa, and Annie was behind it. There was the kitchen door, and Annie was behind that. The floor boards creaked behind him...of course! Annie was behind him!" The crazy of Annie had begun to take over Paul. He jumped at every shadow, every sound. He was scared, because he was so close to his freedom.