Serena and I are hosting a read-along of Stephen King’s IT, with discussions held every month from August to December. The discussion for Part 4 and the Fourth Interlude was originally scheduled for Nov. 30, but I’m a little late in posting because I was away for my grandmother’s funeral. Thanks for your patience.
[Please be aware that the discussion may contain spoilers. The discussion of Part 1 and the First Interlude was held on Savvy Verse & Wit in August (my responses to Serena’s questions are here), Part 2 and the Second Interlude was held here in September, and Part 3 and the Third Interlude was held on Savvy Verse & Wit in October.]
Here are the discussion questions I came up with for Part 4 and the Fourth Interlude. We hope you will join in the discussion, whether you’re reading with us now or have read the book in the past.
1. We have now seen the 7 main characters, “the Losers,” both as children and adults. Do you have a favorite character at this point?
What I like best about IT so far is that King is able to juggle so many characters, giving them distinct and unique personalities. You can understand how and why they become friends; their personalities just clicked.
I think right now my favorite characters are Bill, the thoughtful one and the leader, Bev, the strong tomboy, and Ben, whose love for Bev is so endearing. I don’t think I like Bev as much as an adult, though. I can understand how after all she’d been through she ended up with an abusive husband, but I still don’t like thinking about how the young Bev who insisted the boys not treat her differently because she’s a girl grew up to marry such an awful person, even if one could blame it on her relationship with her dad.
2. After Richie and Mike have a vision of It having always been in Derry, what do you think It is? Do you think they have any chance of getting rid of It once and for all?
They stress that what carried It to Derry was not a spacecraft per say, so I’m not certain It’s an alien life form or anything like that. There seems to be some indication that It has just always been, sort of like God but different, so maybe It is the opposite of God, an evil that has always been around. I think I might be overthinking that one, but it’s less cheesy than It being an alien! Still no clue why It has targeted Derry, though, but It’s influence over the town’s history is evident.
I’m hopeful that the gang has the strength to take It down, though I have a feeling that some of my favorite characters may not survive. If they, as a group of kids, a gang of Losers, had the ability to scare It, why couldn’t they as adults get rid of It for good? I’m optimistic…for the moment.
3. In the Fourth Interlude, Mike talks about the axe murders committed by Claude Heroux in a crowded bar. The people not targeted by Claude’s rage simply sat and did nothing. What do you think this means in the context of It and what we know about the town of Derry?
I think this episode underscores the fact that evil is lurking in Derry. There’s mention of a man clowning around and doing tricks, and we can assume this was Pennywise or Bob Gray or whatever It was then. Was It controlling Claude and the patrons who did nothing? I guess that’s possible. But it also shows that the people of Derry are powerless to stop the violence perpetrated by It and how he uses people to commit these acts (i.e. the fire involving Mike’s dad and the execution of the gang in downtown).
4. After the kids scare It away from the house on Neibolt Street, Ben thinks a lot about “power.” What do you think “power” has to do with It?
I wonder if believing that It and all its many forms are real gives It some power. I also think that the kids joining forces has given them some power of It. One could say power comes up many times in the book — the power It has over Derry (the many acts of violence over the years, the curfews, and the fear), the power It has over the lives of each of the main characters (their success and even childlessness, their failed relationships), and the power of It to call them back to Derry for a final showdown.
5. What are your overall impressions of the book so far?
I’m enjoying this book more than I honestly thought I would. Part 2 and the Second Interlude were the hardest for me; they really dragged. But the book has picked up the pace and is keeping me on the edge of my seat. I can’t say it’s made me really scared, but some of the scenes with Pennywise have really creeped me out. It definitely could be shorter, though; King does seem to ramble at times.
What do you think??
Please visit Savvy Verse & Wit on Dec. 21 for the final discussion on Part 5 and the Last Interlude.
© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
I’m listening to it now. Lol. I’m still too far behind to catch up to you guys but when I’m done I plan on going back to your discussions.
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Great! I can’t wait to hear what you think and discuss with you.
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OO, I wonder what it is like on audio! That must be creepy! I’d like to do that some time. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say!
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I’d love to hear the scene with Pennywise in the library. I’d probably wet myself. j/k!
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O gosh, that would be freaky. Though I think your daughter already took care of the audio for that section. LOL
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It is good on audio. It’s long though – 44 hours! The narrator has a great voice too – kind of deep but with that cool and chilly tone kind of.
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I bet that voice and tone work great for when It shows up! I would love to know who the narrator is.
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Serena, his name is Steven Weber I believe.
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Cool
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Yeah, she did do that creepy audio!
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We have now seen the 7 main characters, “the Losers,” both as children and adults. Do you have a favorite character at this point?
I love Ben. He’s my favorite…I also like Mike and the role he plays in keeping an eye on things in Derry and calling them all back. I also like Bill because he’s driven by something deeper than the other characters. Without Bill, I often wonder if the others would have continued to tackle It or even to have come back to Derry as adults.
After Richie and Mike have a vision of It having always been in Derry, what do you think It is? Do you think they have any chance of getting rid of It once and for all?
The vision to me is something that is contrived. I really wanted it to remain a mystery and in many ways it is. Since It can see and hear what they do, can’t he also make them have visions and how do we know that what they saw was the real origin of It? We don’t. I’m also optimistic, but I think its because I remember the ending now when I didn’t at the beginning. But I could still be surprised. I may have faulty memories…lol Maybe It is screwing with me too?!
I do think It is a symbol for evil and I think that evil has existed since the beginning…whether he’s the devil, an alien, or a monster, it really doesn’t matter since the result is the same.
In the Fourth Interlude, Mike talks about the axe murders committed by Claude Heroux in a crowded bar. The people not targeted by Claude’s rage simply sat and did nothing. What do you think this means in the context of It and what we know about the town of Derry?
I like this interlude because it really goes to show how powerful It is in the town. Its almost like the monster is protecting its territory and the people who live there are interlopers and It sees fit to do what he will with them. I think It has the power to control what each person sees and doesn’t see, especially if their will is not strong enough to see past the illusion.
After the kids scare It away from the house on Neibolt Street, Ben thinks a lot about “power.” What do you think “power” has to do with It?
Power has a lot to do with It and the story. We all have the power to be positive and strong or to be weak and negative. When you’re a kid, you tend to see the best in things or be happy with the littlest victories. Here, the kids swept away It with their collective confidence that they could. You can change or be anything when you are a kid. But as you become an adult, even if you are successful, you often are more jaded and negative about being able to change or accomplish change. Power comes from within and if the kids/adults in the gang give It the power, he will not hesitate to use it.
What are your overall impressions of the book so far?
I love the cast of characters, their depth, and the story. It doesn’t scare me as much as it did when I was a kid, but that’s not surprising, since I’m so jaded now. LOL King is a great story teller and I think this is still my favorite of his books, though I haven’t read Bag of Bones yet or the new one about JFK. I don’t mind the rambling, but I can see how it would get on readers’ nerves after a while. I just love how descriptive he is about everything. Not sure his prose would resonate with younger readers who have shorter attention spans.
Great discussion questions this go around. I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks about these and the rest of the book.
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Mike is an interesting character. Having stayed in Derry, he doesn’t seem to have the forgetfulness or the repressed memories of the others, which is necessary for him to flesh out the town’s history and it’s connections to It.
Why do you think the gang can still see It as adults, especially considering that they have had to remember everything that went down so many years ago? Do you think they are just different than other kids, or that It is now targeting them, that It has the power to control what people see or don’t see?
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That’s a good question. I can see why some of them can still see It, given their personalities and how they seem that they still have not grown up…goofing around like Richie with his voices.
I think since they are the only group to make It go away before it was finished whatever it had planned…I think It and the Losers have a special connection.
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Hmmm. I’ve read It several times and I never thought of Richie and Mike’s vision as a false one, planted by It. I kinda thought it might have been the Turtle helping them out? Trying to give them an idea of just how infinite It actually is? And I don’t think we can really say It “targeted” Derry; It was there before Derry was even thought of. It didn’t come to Derry; Derry came to It, in a way. Derry grew around It, which is why Derry is so effed up.
I think the people ignoring what’s going on is a very integral part of Derry; people there have a habit of forgetting the bad things. I almost think of it as genetic. Almost all of the people in Derry have this “situational blindness,” per se, that allows them to completely ignore all the crazy stuff that’s happening. Actually, scratch that, it’s more like learned blindness, because most of the kids get it, but the adults don’t. And that ties into the discussion of power, because it’s clear that the kids have more power over It than the adults do. It has something to do with imagination and how everything seems possible when you’re a kid. Once you’re an adult, your perspective narrows drastically, encapsulating just you and your family and your job and your friends. But as a kid, reality itself can seem to shift at times. And that is not only what gives the children power over It but also what gives It the power over them, because It can manipulate them.
Sorry if none of that made any sense. Maybe someone can say it more coherently than I can?
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I get your points. I see that the power here that the kids had were a double-edged sword. And I agree that the town grew up around IT.
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Makes sense to me, though where we are in the book, there hasn’t been much about the turtle yet.
I didn’t think about it being a false vision either. But you do make a good point about it not targeting Derry, that it has just always been there. Guess I was thinking about why Derry, not thinking about the fact that when It arrived Derry didn’t exist yet.
The whole idea of power was there all along, and I didn’t really see it until Ben mentions it. But it’s there the whole time, with the kids being able to see things the adults can’t. I still wonder how much of the adults not seeing things has to do with becoming jaded as we age and how much has to do with visions created by It. I wonder if the moving back and forth in time in the narrative makes it more difficult to guess? Wow, there’s a lot more to ponder in this story than I thought there would be.
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Yeah, the more I read it, the more little connections I find. And you make a good point about whether adults don’t see It because they’re jaded or because of visions created by It–I think part of what It feeds on is the energy and imagination of children, so you wouldn’t necessarily be targeted when you’re an adult, because much of that imagination has been sapped. That’s not to say It wouldn’t turn down a tasty bite of grown-up, but kids are not only more nourishing, they’re also easier to manipulate simply because of their wild imaginations. Maybe.
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It makes me wonder why the gang can see It as adults. Is it because he wants them to, because he is seeking revenge, or because what happened so many years ago made them different from other people? They did seem to forget what had happened in Derry…was that from the trauma or the fact that they were no longer children and tried to tell themselves that it was all in their imagination, the whole jaded adults thing?
We still have a good chunk of the book left, so hopefully it all becomes clear by the end!
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I think that goes back partly to my “targeting” argument–had these seven kids not antagonized It so badly when they were kids, It would not have targeted them as adults. I think, like you mention, their experiences fundamentally changed them.
As far as the forgetting goes, I think there’s something said about how they didn’t need to remember, so they forgot. But heck, I’d just say it was plain old PTSD, although it is strange how complete the amnesia is. It is addressed a little later, but I don’t remember there being any true conclusion made.
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I think its both — adults in the town being jaded and less imaginative and adults being clouded by what IT wants them to see. I can’t wait to get to the last part of the book. I just love this book and I’m so glad I got to read it again.
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I quickly skimmed thru the questions ladies, I’m still reading. I should have my discussion ready by next week 🙂
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Can’t wait to see what you have in answer to these questions. This has been a fun read-a-long. I can’t wait to see if the end is as I remember it.
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[…] was held on Savvy Verse & Wit in October, and Part 4 and the Fourth Interlude was held here (late) earlier this […]
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