Pop Culture: The Star-Spangled Banner And Stephen King

Ava Brimeyer
Mr. Owens
The American Experience
6 Oct. 2017
Pop Culture/Literature Hard work is an important American belief that is shown everywhere throughout the history of the United States. In Francis Scott Key’s poem “The Star-Spangled Banner” and Stephen King’s book “IT” both make it clear that hard work is well represented on both ends of history. Key wanted to express what he was seeing the day he wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”, even though he saw a lot. King, on the other hand, shows hard work through a fictional group of kids who never stop working hard throughout the book. In Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner”, hard work is shown throughout the poem. For example, “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” (Key 5). Key shows hard work is this excerpt by expressing to the readers how intense the situation was. In another part of the poem Key stated “Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming” (Key 3). Key’s goal was to express exactly what he was seeing. He saw the soldiers working hard and pushing through

For example, “Maybe worth dying for too, if that’s what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart” (CITATION). This quote shows the emotional side of the overall eerie book, but still shows that the kids had to stick together and work hard as a team to beat the creature terrorising their town. In another part of King’s book, one of the kids stated “Swear to me swear to me that if it isn’t dead you’ll all come back” (CITATION). King’s main goal was to spook his readers and to portray his story of a group of kids from a little town called Derry who step up and work hard to find all of the kids who went