Stephen King Why We Crave Horror Essay

We are born afraid of only two things: falling and loud noises. All our other fears are learned and influenced by the environment and cultures surrounding us. The world we live in helps differentiate the “insanity of man” that we all share (3). Since “we’re all mentally ill” (King, “Why We Crave” 1), it leaves us the decision of our degree of sanity. In his essay, “Why We Crave Horror,” Stephen King thoroughly claims that we humans crave horror to face our fears, restore humans feelings of being normal, and to encounter a peculiar sort of fun.
Humans crave horror to simply “dare the nightmare” (King, “Why We Crave” 1). Everyone has something that they are afraid of; even though we don’t like to admit it. The ideal life is to be fearless

It amuses us to watch what we know will never happen. As King had said in his essay, “The fun comes from seeing others menaced - sometimes killed,” (King, “Why We Crave” 2). Accordingly, King had proposed that “we’re all mentally ill,” and theses emotions are part of the Human Condition (1). Just as we cry to release our sadness, we also need to find a way to express our insanity. We need horror films as cathartic release to be able to be “let loose to scream and roll around in the grass” (2). “Strawberry Spring” provides us with “psychic relief” throughout the killings of Springheel Jack (2); the madness within the killer gives the reader's suspense. For instance, in King’s story, “Strawberry Spring,” the murder had been on his second kill, “‘The guy killed somebody else last night. And now they’re hunting all over for it’ … The pallid face wavered in front of me again. ‘Her head. Whoever killed her took her head with him.’” (King, “Strawberry Spring” 3). This excites the readers with “peculiar fun” (2), just like in the past when relatives had gone to watch their beloved ones become executed. Stephen King presents his readers with opportunities to exercise our psychosis needs; the short story “Strawberry Spring” gives the readers their turns to “ keep the gators fed”