The Forces of Stephen King

After reading 4 (and a half) of his books, I am noticing that in each one, there is an overruling force that guides the characters, to or from evil. This theme is interesting to this genre. In every book, the characters do not have a will of their own.

In The Stand, each force was powerful in its own way. The good force was gentle, and brought the truly good survivors to be together and grow as a civilization. The alternative force, the evil force exploited someones misgivings. These misgivings were exploited until the misgivings grew into hate, and that hate was used and controlled. But if you weren't good, you were brought to Las Vegas with no will of your own.

In The Shining, the force was the hotel. The hotel tempted Jack to drink, to kill. "'I believe you must take it up with your son, Mr. Torrance, sir. He understands everything, although he hasn't enlightened you. Rather naughty of him if I may be so bold, sir. In fact, he's crossed you at every turn, hasn't he? And him not yet six.''Yes,' Jack said. 'he has.' There was another wave of laughter from behind them. 'He needs to be corrected, if you don't mind me saying so. He needs a good talking-to, and perhaps a bit more. My own girls, sir, didn't care for the Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of my matches and tried to burn it down. I corrected them. I corrected them most harshly. And when my wife tried to stop me from doing my duty I corrected her'"(533) The hotel was slowly manipulating Jack, and it terrified Wendy and Danny, while it took Jack's body and mind and used him to control everything.

In Misery, it was Annie. If you see a previous post (Misery: part one, metaphor) Paul refers to Annie as the goddess- an immortal, ever powerful being with only one objective: to torture, to destroy, to corrupt, to detain. Paul became scared and weak.

In Pet Cemetery, it was the burial ground. In this book, the power was amplified. "'this place has a power, Louis...it's been full of power before, and I'm ascared it's coming round to full again'"(397)

It's interesting how the manipulation, the telepathy, the power works. The characters never question it- it was always there, so why be surprised? It's interesting that it works, and how it works, and slowly the time falls into place, and then it ends. I wonder what it shows about our society- books are depictions of our society after all,but what does it mean after wards? To me, it speaks that there always was a power, and we do not control anything. It will end, and the ending is unpredictable, and we cannot control it.