Stephen King
Man Behind The Horror
Controlling Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to, in extensive detail, give you the faithful reader an understanding of one of the world’s most prolific writers. There is a lot more to Stephen King then numerous best selling books and hit movies. He is a true genius in every sense of the word, and I rank him amongst the greatest writers of all time. I feel I can give my opinion on him so freely and bluntly because I have read every published work he was ever had, and most of them I consider to be classics. In the end I hope to show you the true brilliance of Stephen King, and hopefully give you an insightful look at his past history.
I. The Life of Stephen King
A. Early Years to His First Book
B. The Books that made him Famous
C. Facts and Tidbits about Stephen King
II. Stephen King: The Man and His Works in My Words
A. The Writer’s Opinion on Mr. King
B. A Review of the Novels
The Life of Stephen King
A. Early Years to his First
Born in 1947, Stephen Edwin King was the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. When he was very young his parents were separated, so he and his older brother, David were raised by their mother. In his childhood he spent time Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father’s family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. As a child Stephen and his brother made frequent visits to his mother’s family in Malden, Massachusetts and the small town of Pownal, Maine.
At the young age of eleven, his mother moved him and his brother back to Durham, Maine, this time for good. She did so because her parents had become debilitated with old age, and Ruth had been convinced by her siblings to assume the care of the elderly couple. Other members of the family contributed money and support while others pitched together to supply her with a small house in Durham. When Stephen’s grandparents passed on, his mother found work in Pineland, which was a nearby place for retarded people.
King attended grammar school in Durham and then high school in Lisbon Falls High School, from where King graduated in 1966. He attended college at the University of Maine in Orono, and in his sophomore year he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, The Maine Campus.
Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Mr. King was a phenomenal man, even as a boy, he was very articulate and smart for his age. He was the second child of King Sr. who died in 1984 and was a pastor, his mother, Alberta Williams King worked as a former schoolteacher. King Jr. was the middle child of older sister Christine and younger brother Alfred. He grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, where there most prosperous and prominent African Americans were to come. King Jr. had attended segregated public schools and had been admitted at the age 15 to Morehouse College where he studied medicine and law.
Stephen King is one of the greatest American authors who was greatly influenced by history and it is clearly shown in his work. Throughout the 20th century there have been many world events that have influenced American culture today; many of these controversies in which America has been involved include: Russia’s Red Scare, The Cold War, and the Vietnam War.
It was both a continuation of certain literary trends that had begun to develop themselves as well as something possessed of itself, original, striking, and new. The work of Sherwood Anderson and others had begun to shift literary perspective toward the more dirty and real, but as Louis Kronenberger wrote of the book in the Saturday Review of Literature, “It has sound merit of a personal, non-derivative nature; it shows no important affinity with any other writer, and it represents the achievement of unique personal experience.”
In 1966, King graduated from high school and took his scholarship from the University of Maine at Orono. He received a bachelor’s degree in English and a certificate to teach high school in June 1970. He then married Tabitha Jane Spruce on January 2, 1971.King accepted a teaching job at Hampden Academy as an English teacher, and so they moved to Hermon.
Stephen King is a well-known and talented horror/fiction author who has published over eleven books in the last two decades. His great stories of horror and fantasy have been enjoyed by kids and adults starting from his first best-seller, Carrie. King's wit and style of writing has made him one of the most popular horror story authors today. Stephen King's life has not been an easy one.
Stephen King was born on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine. When King was six his dad left to go buy a carton of cigarettes and he never came back. He would later go on to quote, “I am always interested in this idea that a lot of fiction writers write for their fathers, because their fathers are gone” (King). King was born into a very poor family, and his mother stained to stay afloat on bills. They moved around a lot until King was eleven, because at this time they moved back to Maine where his mother took care of her parents. Her family gave them food and clothes while they were there, since she could not have a job while she took care of them. King’s only sense of euphoria as a kid was when he was reading. Any extra money that he made would be put into buying a paperback book from the local book store. (Rogak 8-25)
Dr. King was born into the American Civil Rights movement in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. His grandfather was the founder of the Atlanta Chapters of the NAACP, and his father was the Pastor of the Eboniza Baptist Church where he worked as a Civil Rights Leader. Dr. King attended Morehouse College and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1948. Dr. King married Coretta Scott King in 1953. After graduating with honors from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1951, he went to Boston University where he earned a PHD in Divinity in 1955. After graduating from Boston University, Dr. King became the Pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama where he began the activities that would make him an American Civil Rights Leader.
Stephen King was born in Maine in 1947. His father abandoned him when he was 2 years old. His mother and brother was all he ever knew. Him and his brother were raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana where his father lived at the time. He was also raised in Connecticut too. His mother decided to move them back to Maine for their own good. There he got a job at Kitchens of Pineland. A kitchen of Pineland was by a mentally challenged hospital. He went to a Durham grammar school then attended Libson High School. In 1966, He graduated. At University of Maine of Orana, he was a sophomore that wrote for The Maine Campus, the school’s newspaper. He became a member of the Student Senate in Student politician. He also attended an Anti-war movement. In 1970, he graduated. His examination was a 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums. From his examinations, he got a diploma to be a full time teacher.
King was highly influenced by his family roots in the African-American Baptist church. He attended Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. This was where many African Americans ...
A successful writer is he who is able to transmit ideas, emotions, and wisdom on to his readers. He is cable of stirring emotions and capturing the reader's attention with vivid descriptions and clever dialogues. The writer can even play with the meanings of words and fuse reality with fiction to achieve his goal of taking the reader on a wonderful journey. His tools are but words, yet the art of writing is found in the use of the language to create though-provoking pieces that defy the changing times. Between the lines, voices and images emerge. Not everyone can write effectively and invoke these voices. It is those few who can create certain psychological effects on the reader who can seize him (or her) with inspiring teachings, frightening thoughts, and playful games with the language. These people are true writers…
Stephen King is known by many as a successful author, but every author is only as good as his or her works. King has produced various types of works such as short stories, novels, novellas, screenplays, and comics. His work has been the “most important bridge between the horror genre and literary respectability from the late 1960s and 1970s up to the present time” (Hoppenstand 3). Stephen Edwin King was born September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine. He is the second son of Donald Edwin and Nellie Ruth King. When King was two years old, his father, a captain in the merchant marines, went out to buy a pack of cigarettes and never returned. Nellie, King’s mother, raised King and his adopted older brother David. The family under the care of Nellie experienced many hardships and moved often as she looked for work. The family lived in Maine, Massachusetts, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. When King was six years old, the family finally settled in Stratford, Connecticut (Hoppenstand 8; Stephen King).
Before they even pick up a pen, novelists are given a task of giving their book a point. Book readers are often searching for something specific when they pick up a novel: supernatural elements, a romance, or anything else. Having something “different” in a world of the same story being told over and over again helps, but what makes a novel successful is how relatable a novel is to the readers. A theme is unable to be told unless the reader is able to associate themselves with the characters and situations that the author is almost required to set the story up with. One such author is Stephen King, whose real experiences and overwhelming amount of brand-tagging gives him credibility in his writing, making him one of the most popular modern writers of the past few decades. The novelist Stephen King demonstrates the theme of intolerance as seen in his book Carrie through the use of elements such as characters, setting, and diction.
Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947 at the Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine. His parents were Donald Edwin King and Ruth Pillsbury King. Stephen being the only natural born child in the family and his older brother David having been adopted at birth two years earlier.
King entered Morehouse College at the age of 15 and graduated four years later. 4 He was the third generation to attend this academic institution. At first he planned to major in medicine or law, but by his senior year, he changed to theology.5 King himself was not one to follow in the footsteps of his father, grandfather or mother, and was influenced by Dr. Benjamin Mays, President of Morehouse College, to become an “advocate for racial ...