Stephen King’s style is very unique. He tailors his use of words and imagery based on the setting, mood, and feeling of a certain scene. In Chapter 28, after Wendy and Jack fight, Jack goes down to the dining room. He imagines that it is 1945 and all the free booze that would be available. He then finds the bar. For the next 30 lines, Stephen King is really focusing on recreating the feeling of an ex alcoholic’s craving for alcohol. Here is an excerpt:
“All the same, a bitterly powerful wave of nostalgia swept over him, and the physical craving for a drink seemed to work itself up from his belly to his throat to his mouth and nose, shriveling and wrinkling the tissues it went, making them cry out for something wet and long and cold”
King really uses a lot descriptive language to convey Jack’s urge to drink. Words like wet, long, cold, shriveling, and wrinkling allow the reader to recreate the image and feeling that King is trying to portray. There is lots of imagery going on in this one excerpt. King paints the image of a wave swallowing up Jack in the passage “ a bitterly powerful wave of nostalgia”. It is telling the reader that the nostalgia, his craving, is slowly overpowering him and that he is losing control over staying sober. When I read this passage the imagery of a slithering snake comes to mind, “physical craving for a drink seemed to work itself up from his belly to his throat to his mouth and nose”. And lastly the imagery of being dried out, like a sponge, is created through King’s words, “shriveling and wrinkling the tissues it went, making them cry out for something wet and long and cold”. King has the fascinating ability to create a specific image in your mind such as a slithering snake without having to specifically use words that relate to it. He uses very suggestive words that don’t give away the image so easily and allows for the imagination of the reader to fill it up. I find it quite incredible.
King very clearly sets the mood and tone of the scene. The mood in this scene is very uneasy and is filled with anger and frustration. This mood is achieved with the type of words King uses that are coarse. Here is an excerpt that exemplifies this:
“The only thing that remained was that smell of beer, [...] not to be eradicated by any cleaner invented. Yet the smell seemed sharp...almost fresh. [...] The first bar he’d been in for nineteen months and the damned thing was dry, just his luck.”
This scene revolves around one of the themes of the novel of alcohol causing violence. The gin martini, Jack’s favourite drink, is a symbol and it is used in this scene. Jack says, “You set me up an even twenty martinis An even twenty, just like that, kazang.” The martini symbolizes Jack’s alcoholism and until this point, Jack was completely dry. Now we see that is caving into his old habits and addiction as he is ordering twenty martinis at once!
“All the same, a bitterly powerful wave of nostalgia swept over him, and the physical craving for a drink seemed to work itself up from his belly to his throat to his mouth and nose, shriveling and wrinkling the tissues it went, making them cry out for something wet and long and cold”
King really uses a lot descriptive language to convey Jack’s urge to drink. Words like wet, long, cold, shriveling, and wrinkling allow the reader to recreate the image and feeling that King is trying to portray. There is lots of imagery going on in this one excerpt. King paints the image of a wave swallowing up Jack in the passage “ a bitterly powerful wave of nostalgia”. It is telling the reader that the nostalgia, his craving, is slowly overpowering him and that he is losing control over staying sober. When I read this passage the imagery of a slithering snake comes to mind, “physical craving for a drink seemed to work itself up from his belly to his throat to his mouth and nose”. And lastly the imagery of being dried out, like a sponge, is created through King’s words, “shriveling and wrinkling the tissues it went, making them cry out for something wet and long and cold”. King has the fascinating ability to create a specific image in your mind such as a slithering snake without having to specifically use words that relate to it. He uses very suggestive words that don’t give away the image so easily and allows for the imagination of the reader to fill it up. I find it quite incredible.
King very clearly sets the mood and tone of the scene. The mood in this scene is very uneasy and is filled with anger and frustration. This mood is achieved with the type of words King uses that are coarse. Here is an excerpt that exemplifies this:
“The only thing that remained was that smell of beer, [...] not to be eradicated by any cleaner invented. Yet the smell seemed sharp...almost fresh. [...] The first bar he’d been in for nineteen months and the damned thing was dry, just his luck.”
King’s word use adds to the tone of the whole scene of uneasiness and anger since many of the descriptive words are coarse. ‘Eradicated’ is usually used to get rid of pests or something substantially harmful. It is used here to get rid of the beer smell. An overly harsh word to use for something not so harmful. The beer smell is described as ‘sharp’. This is a horror book and the reader’s mind will automatically think of a knife when something is described as sharp and I believe this was King’s intention. This contributes to the uneasiness tone using coarse words. Lastly, a mild curse word is used and simply isn’t necessary but it just adds to feeling of frustration and anger present in the scene.
This scene revolves around one of the themes of the novel of alcohol causing violence. The gin martini, Jack’s favourite drink, is a symbol and it is used in this scene. Jack says, “You set me up an even twenty martinis An even twenty, just like that, kazang.” The martini symbolizes Jack’s alcoholism and until this point, Jack was completely dry. Now we see that is caving into his old habits and addiction as he is ordering twenty martinis at once!
This scene is a perfect example of King's captivating writing style that makes The Shining that much more interesting. His use of imagery, descriptive words, and symbolism allows the reader to create such a vivid picture of the story which is essential for a good horror novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment