Connections Between Stephen King’s Childhood and It

In another one of Stephen King’s novels titled On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft he talks about many different childhood experiences. In one of these experiences he says: “There was a sharp smell of alcohol. A clank as the ear doctor opened his sterilizer. I saw the needle in his hand—it looked as long as the ruler in my school pencil-box—and tensed. The ear doctor smiled reassuringly and spoke the lie for which doctors should be immediately jailed: “Relax, Stevie, this won’t hurt.” I believed him.” This quote connects directly to what Eddie Kaspbrak thinks in Mr. Keene’s back office. Mr. Keene says, “Loosen up, Eddie. I’m not going to bite you, or hurt you.” Immediately Eddie thinks to himself, “Oh I’ve heard that before. It was about what the doctor said when he opened his sterilizer and the sharp frightening smell of alcohol drifted out stinging his nostrils. Stephen King connected these two books with personal experiences, making it so that the characters have a personal effect on readers.

In the TV series Stranger Things a character named Bob mentions nightmares he had as a kid regarding a clown at a carnival that he called Mr. Baldo. Bob is also originally from Maine, where IT is based, and was a child when Pennywise came out of hibernation and went on another killing spree. This brief conversation makes an allusion to Pennywise by talking about how the nightmares ultimately stopped. Bob says that he told Mr. Baldo that he was no longer afraid of the clown. Pennywise works the same way in the case that he feeds off of children's fear and terror. The Losers club mentions this when they say, “The Himalayans called it a tallus or taelus, which meant an evil magic being that could read your mind and then assume the shape of the thing you were most afraid of.” The director of Stranger Things ultimately admitted that the show paid tribute to the great character.