The Man in the Black Suit

from Everything's Eventual

This tale was told to King by one of his friends, claiming that it had actually happened. King also said that it was based on the same ideas as Nathanial Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" from Mosses from an Old Manse. "The Man in the Black Suit" is not a Faustian tale, which is what I usually think of when I think of people conversing with the devil.

The only similarity I could really find between the two texts is the devil character. In "Young Goodman Brown" the devil's purpose is to shake the faith (or Faith) of the goodman, whereas in "The Man in the Black Suit" the devil seems to just be hungry. On second thought, however, in both stories the devil does employ the tactic of using someone close to try and sway the protagonist. In "Young Goodman Brown," Brown sees his wife, Faith, among the converts in the woods. In "The Man in the Black Suit," Gary, the protagonist, is told by the devil about the death of his mother.

I remember talking about the symbolism of the name Faith when I studied this story in college. She is not only his wife, but represents his faith in God as well. As he leaves her he says, "My love and my faith...this one night I must tarry from thee." (The link to the ebook is above.) Brown knows with whom he's meeting when he leaves his wife. For so many children, their faith is tied to the faith of their parents. So the supposed death of Gary's mother shakes him as much as seeing Faith in the woods with the devil.

I'm going to have to admit that neither of these stories ranks high on my list of favorites. I also must admit that I bought Everything's Eventual because I wanted to read "1408" before seeing the movie. Since I purchased the entire book, however, I am going to read the entire book from front to back.

The End of IT, (or IT Part II)

I have to admit, when my friend told me that the end of the film disappointed him, I was skeptical. I thought, "Usually the book is better than the movie, anyway, so it doesn't matter." Well, while the build-up to the end of the book was fabulous, (no extraneous information, all the details drove the plot along), I felt like the heroes' triumph over the antagonist was, while well deserved, a little juvenile. Yes, they had to revert to their childish selves to "beat the devil" as the last chapter was so aptly named, but a spider? Or a shape roughly resembling a spider? Not only does King contribute to people's fear of clowns, but the fear of spiders as well.

I can't decide whether or not I was set up to be disappointed. If I hadn't discussed the end of the novel with someone else, would I feel the same way I do about the way it ended? Or at least about the defeat of the monster.

I thought how Bill Denborough used Silver to revive his wife was interesting. But then, Big Bill always knew what to do to make things right. Using the bike in the way King did eliminated the red herring I thought the bike was going to be. And just think. At that point in his life, he probably actually fit on it. But what are the odds that bike would have been in that shop after twenty seven years?

IT by Stephen King (Part I)

On picking up this book, I'd never read any Stephen King before. At this point, I'm about halfway through. I've never read a book over 1000 pages that I haven't gotten bored with at some point. I have to say, as loquacious as King is, he's held my attention thus far.

As of right now, I don't have many comments on the text. At first, it was a little confusing trying to navigate through the flashbacks, but once the story really gets going, it's an awesome way to present the background information that the reader needs to understand the story.

I also must admit that the whole idea of Pennywise has me a little freaked out. There was one night, after a particularly creepy passage, where I had to go find my dog so I wouldn't be sleeping alone.

I saw this on a shirt once and now it makes sense...

"Can't sleep, the clown will eat me..."

This is Eli, signing off.