King's fool proof way to stop plagiarism 11-12

Stephen King hates a cheater. In many of his stories the cheater, or unfaithful partner, goes through tribulations and punishment.Although Infidelity is examined in several of his texts, it is not the only form of cheating King frowns upon. A more thought provoking form is plagiarism. King writes about both of these dishonest acts in his novella, Secret Window Secret Garden (1990).

Mostly defined by his more in-depth and longer written novels found in The Dark Tower series, King's novellas and short stories are overlooked as literary achievements. His novella Secret Window Secret Garden part of Four Past Midnight deserves more recognition than some of King's novels like, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

As always, King's scenario is the realistic horror of an everyday situation once it has reached beyond a person's control. The majority of King's work is based on this premise, and the horrifying idea that it can happen to anyone, at anytime. King's stories tend to take place in "small town America", meaning it could be any little town, in any state. The characters could be anyone, including the reader. King's novella is a realistic horror that can mentally bombard anyone who reads it, but the story itself speaks to a more specific reading group.

When asked when Stephen King knew he wanted to become an author his response was "around the age of seven or eight". King's fan base is not only readers of popular fiction, but it also includes writers. King's novella, Secret Window Secret Garden, is written for latter.

All authors feel that the work they produce is original, straight from their mind, and they haven't been influenced enough to claim it as anything other than their own work. Their ideas merely came to them in a dream, or after a few drinks and hours in front of the empty page. King's character, Mort Rainey, thought this to some degree. After some analysis into Mort's mind through the text it's obvious that Rainey always felt like he was stealing, "Everyone took from the universal bank of ideas..." (King 423). He believed that everyone stole from everyone else, and there were really only five different stories told; the stories continued to change characters and setting. 

Secret Window Secret Garden is an interesting piece of King's work. From the beginning Mort Rainey wins sympathy from readers because of his situation. His wife, Amy, was cheating on him which lead to separation and divorce. As the story progresses Mort truly goes mad and eventually turns into John Shooter, his alter ego. Even as the audience learns that Mort did cheat and stole the story Sowing Season from another classmate, the sympathy is still in his favor. Mort goes on a killing spree, which includes the death of his cat, and burns his lovely home to the ground. After learning all these actions were Mort Rainey as John Shooter the blame is then shifted towards Amy and her infidelity. King manipulates the reader into rooting for the bad guy, Mort Rainey/John Shooter. King has his reader deeply emotionally invested into Mort's character that it would be unnatural not to side with him.

As stated earlier, this novella is written for specific reading group-- the writers. This story is King's way of saying, 'be careful when you're writing and give credit where credit is due'. Colleges across the country should require this novella has mandatory reading, after reading about the overpowering feeling of guilt from plagiarism it'll deter all students from cheating.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon-- Quote Reading 6-10

"How could one be whole and the other so badly shattered? How was that possible?" (King 57)

Trisha relies on her Walkman, the voices of other humans, to help her cope while she is lost in the woods. For a brief moment she contemplates the tragedy of being lost without an attachment to the outside world and she is certain her Walkman is "broken, shattered to a million pieces [...] Had to be" (King 56). Luckily for Trisha her Walkman sustained the fall. Her Gameboy, on the other hand, was the shattered and now useless object.

This is one of the most important, and affective scenes in The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. The reader feels the high intensity of danger Trisha is in: lost in unfamiliar woods, without sufficient food or shelter, and relying on what little knowledge of the wilderness she has. This scene is an important building point for the rest of her journey, and showcases the importance of her Walkman to her survival. Although she is delighted her Walkman is in tact, she is confused about how only one survived,"How could one be whole and the other so badly broken" (King 57).

Though the Walkman versus Gameboy scene is important to understand Trisha's circumstances in the wilderness, more importantly is the metaphorical meaning it suggests for broken relationships. Stephen King doesn't hesitate to tell the reader Trisha's parents are divorced, within the first two pages to be precise.Bits of information are scattered here, and there about the divorce and the marriage but, nothing substantial enough to place blame on one individual. From the perspective of both the narrator, and Trisha the Walkman can be identified with Larry McFarland, Trisha's dad. The "badly shattered" Gameboy then represents the mother, Quilla Andersen.

Trisha's mother, Quilla, is the broken Gameboy after the divorce. Although she won custody of both Trisha, and Pete, Trisha's older brother, she fights trivial battles with her son and lacks interest in her daughter. Trisha disappears into the woods because her mother is too busy fighting with Pete, instead of paying attention to both of her children (King 9). Prior to her abandonment on the trail Trisha reflects on past outings with her brother, and mother, "Sometimes, if her really liked a place, Pete would give his mouth a rest. He has pronounced Six-Gun 'for babies' [....] Go along to get along wasn't in his nature. Nor was it in their mother's" (King 11). While on the trail with her brother and mother Trisha attempts to get them to stop to she can use the bathroom, "Pete? Mom? Mommy? [....] Trisha thought, [...] they don't even know I'm here. The Invisible Girl, that's me. I might as well have stayed home"( King 21-22).

Not only does Quilla's lack of interest in her children help portray her as the broken Gameboy, but also her resentment towards their father. Trisha's mother changed her name back to her maiden name, Andersen. Though King offers little insight into the divorce, the petty fighting with Pete sheds light onto her personality. Quilla always has her best interest in mind. This is obvious when Pete's circumstance is explained in their new home. He is lonely, has no friends and is the outsider. Quilla, not taking her son's needs into consideration, makes it harder for Pete to have a normal childhood. She wanted to move away from their father;she thinks moving into a different town will erase her problems. Running away from her problems inevitably creates more problems: fights that lead to Trisha's disappearance and death, and  Pete's self-esteem issues that will lead to depression.

If Quilla is the shattered and broken Gameboy, that leaves Larry McFarland to be the reliable Walkman. Trisha's relationship with her father is more genuine than the one she has with her mother. Larry and Trisha have a special bond, a bond that helps her make her way through the woods-- the Boston Red Sox. Both father and daughter shared the same favorite player, Tom Gordon. Trisha needs the Walkman throughout her journey. Hearing the voices of commercials, DJ's, and announcers at Red Sox games helps her through the dreadful silence of the woods (King 68&122).

As Trisha's journey continues she recalls survival methods her mother taught her, but she doesn't remember them clearly. She knows moss grows on a certain side of a tree, but can't remember if its south or north. What she does remember are the conversations shes had with her father. These help her mentally fight through the wilderness, "I don't want to  believe in any actual thinking God that marks the fall of every bird in Australia, and every bug in India, a God that records all of our sins [....]I don't want to believe in a God who would deliberately create bad people, and then deliberately send them to roast in hell He created--but I believe there has to be something" (King 65). While lost in the woods Trisha concentrates on "The Sub audible" and the way her father viewed the higher power (King 66). The subaudible becomes an important element of her trip through the woods.

Larry and Trisha's relationship provides Trisha with encouragement to keep pushing forward while lost. She imagines herself lost with their favorite player, Tom Gordon. She even images having full-blown conversations with him about his pitching techniques, standing your ground, and he helps her find her way out of the woods,"What's that? Tom asked from behind her" (King 182). The Red Sox hat Trisha is wearing the entire time in the woods was signed by who other than, Tom Gordon-- her father had sent it to Fenway Park with a written letter about Trisha (King 197). Tom Gordon, or the hallucination of him, is Trisha's saving grace. The relationship between Larry and Trisha grows even stronger after this experience.

In the final scene Trisha connects with her father, "This time Trisha didn't try to speak, only fixed her father with her eyes and mouthed it again, very carefully: Dad! [....]She moved her eyes to the chair, to his face, back to the chair. He looked puzzled-- [....] then his face cleared. He smiled, picked up the hat [....] Trisha tapped the visor of the cap, then pointed her right index finger up at the ceiling" (King 219). In Trisha's final moments she sent her father a message about her journey through the woods. She connected with Larry at that moment, no one else, no one else would understand about Tom Gordon.

Morning thought

Thoughts on this morning: 

Faulty Relationships 3-5

As my study into Stephen King's literature unfolds, his fears, or ones he deems important are more apparent. Thus far, King has examined the broken marriage or faulty relationship from several different perspectives. These elements weave in and out his texts like a black snake on pale concrete.


 King's 1974 novel, Carrie, merges stories of not only Carrie White herself, but also classmates, and her mother and father. The reader is given a scope into her parents marital relationship, and her mother's religious views.


 Margarette White's marriage is broken by the death of her husband, Ralph. Though this death terminated their marriage, it can be argued that their fanatic religious views contributed to their marriages downfall too. After all, even though she was married she viewed intercourse as a sin, and pregnancy as punishment from God, "Margarette said, [...] they were living sinlessly without the curse of intercourse" (King 49). Margarette and Ralph White are only the first taste of a loveless and troublesome marriage, and bad parenting.


Again these faulty relationships appear throughout King's The Shining. The Torrence's, Jack and Wendy, have fought and continue to fight through the entire text. Jack's abusive nature towards Danny makes Wendy cautious to even allow them to be in a room together without her. Jack's drinking, takes much of the fault for many of his actions. Though divorce is talked about, or thought about, on several accounts Jack's demise, and his families escape, occurs through death.


 Both texts, Carrie and The Shining portray this hazardous relationship among partners, and how it affects their children. In 1999, King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was published. And, yes, he retreads the daunting truth of the broken marriage through his main character, a preteen, Trisha McFarland.


 Unlike The Shining and Carrie where King provides immediate back story for the ill-minded parental characters, in The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, the only back story provided by the sixth inning is what can be intertwined into the story of a ten year old girl lost in the woods. Half way through the book it is not certain what brought on the divorce of Trisha's parents. The only thing certain is the hostility held by the mother towards the father, but there is no mention of alcohol abuse, physical abusive, nor infidelity.


During Trisha's entrapment in the woods the narrator tells the reader stories about Trisha's father; some of which are alcohol related. After the scene where Trisha finds the beechnuts and checkerberries the narrator drops the reader into a reminiscent thought. "She remembered thinking about her Dad's backyard behind the newer, smaller house, how the grass needed cutting and the lawn-dwarves looked sly-- as if they knew something you didn't-- and about how Dad had started to look sad and old to her, with the smell of beer always coming out of his pores..."(King 141). During the reflection back King makes it potent to bring in the the drinking. Like Jack in The Shining, both these dads have a drinking problem. This is one of Stephen King's most popular themes throughout the texts I've studied thus far. The children in both these stories, like many children in similar circumstances, will reflect back on their father's with the thought of alcohol at the front of their memories.


Although both these fathers have a related issue, it's safe to say their issues are not on the same level. Jack, coming from an abusive home, falls into the habit of drinking early on. While Trisha's reflection makes is seem that her father didn't start drinking, and letting go until after the divorce. Throughout the entire story of Trisha Mcfarland it is unclear why her parents are getting a divorce in the first place. One thing that is clear-- the children are affected and the parents don't take the time to try to fix it.

Carrie Response 1-2

Stephen King develops several frightening themes throughout his novel Carrie. On the surface the novel concentrates on the bizarre and horrifying abilities of a teenage girl. Although her powers are frightening her home life is meant to scare the reader more than her ability to make stones fall from the sky.  Family, authority, schooling and religion are just some of the themes filtered throughout the novel. The most alarming of the themes being the latter. King's focal point on religion examines how people are affected by it as well as, how it is used as a crutch throughout a lifetime. 

One might say that Carrie's telekinetic power is her downfall and the leading cause of many deaths. While others might argue that the problem was more from her harmful social interaction with fellow peers. Although both of these factors contribute to Carrie's demise, the problem started elsewhere. Carrie grew up in a complicated household with her mother. Her mother, Margaret White, believed in an extremely dogmatic set of values. These thoughts were pushed onto Carrie and refusal was not an option. 

Margaret White forced her views onto her daughter, Carrie. Mrs.White does not attend church, nor share her religious views with anyone else. The town views her as a "fanatical fundamentalist" (King 11). She had no friends, and no one to confide in after her husbands death. She viewed the fetus in her womb as an abomination and punishment from God. She wanted to kill her baby. White was a fanatic that did her picking and choosing from the bible. If it would suit her life, and make Carrie's harder she would follow what the bible said; the parts in the bible about love and kindness were skipped. 

Mrs. White's fanatical views made her an inadequate mother, to say the least. She lied to Carrie about the simple and scientific elements about her puberty. Instead of consoling her daughter White manipulates Carrie into believing becoming a woman means you've lived a life full of sin. She deprives Carrie of basic necessities of childhood and adolescence. The earliest scene King provides us an inside look at Carrie's powers revolves around "dirty pillows". An early Carrie, only three, has had her brain molded into believing that breasts are dirty pillows, and only "bad girls" will get them (King 24). Instead of Margaret White explaining the changes Carrie's body will make one day she blames breasts on sin. 

Again Margaret White rejects her motherly role when eating dinner with Carrie. Carrie is reluctant to eat pie, "It makes me have pimples, Momma. Your pimples are the Lord's way of chastising you. Now eat your pie" (King 75-76). White believes that everything that is wrong, mentally and physically, with Carrie is coming from God. She takes no responsibility for depriving her young daughter of a normal life. White does not see Carrie as her daughter, but instead as "devilspawn" (King 75).