Stephen King's Misery

 

I have never until just now read Stephen King. I remember trying to start on Salem’s Lot once, and then at another time on The Shining, but soon putting them down. Other than the acknowledged great works, I have never felt I had time for novels. They were mere entertainment. And Stephen King has that reputation. Horror: cheap thrills.

Recently, however, I caught Misery streaming on Tubi. I watched idly for a while before bed, figured I’d finish it the next day. But the next day it had been removed from the service. Driven to know want happened next—nobody says King is bad at plotting--I just had to pick up the book from the library.

I now stand amazed at how good a writer King is. Of course he is great at plot—that is why he is so popular. But I discover he is also a master at description, writing dialogue, and, most importantly, characterization. I teach writing. King is a master craftsman, who is a model of all aspects of the trade. Especially characterization. This is the mark of the great writer—to understand human psychology. You need to understand human psychology to know what will keep the reader reading; you must be deeply empathic. And you need to understand human psychology to be able to create characters who seem alive on the page. 

In the character of Annie Wilkes, King gives us a perfect analysis of the narcissist, in their true self, behind closed doors. Having had the misfortune of having to survive narcissists for much of my own life, I found the accuracy of the portrayal haunting. King understands it far better than the psychiatrists. How does he know? I wonder about the details of his own upbringing.

Annie Wilkes, the narcissist, is hopelessly sentimental. Narcissists have sentiments, not emotions. As Jung said, “sentimentality is a façade concealing brutality.” So she is inevitably, in her own eyes, the “number one fan” for Paul Sheldon’s series of bodice rippers. And she cannot tolerate the heroine dying at the end of the story.

Perhaps this is where King learned about narcissism—from fans of his own writing. Although actually written to a high standard, his writing can also be enjoyed by readers at the penny dreadful level.

As a narcissist, Annie is obsessed with exercising power over others. She therefore gravitates to a profession that offers this: nursing. She seeks to control Sheldon to the point not only of kidnapping him, but hobbling him. She decides what he can and cannot write. She enjoys inflicting pain. She enjoys killing.

Like all narcissists, she projects her own moods on those in her power. This is the great evil of living with a narcissist, and what is most disorienting. One minute she is declaring her undying love; the next she turns dark and starts maiming him for his supposed wickedness. 

Like all narcissists, she has her own rigid sense of morality, and presents herself as the arbiter of right and wrong. She burns Sheldon’s manuscript because he uses bad language. But in reality ”good” only means what she wants. Anyone else who does not do what she wants is a “brat.”

Like all narcissists, she is paranoid. Everyone else is out to get her. This may be a projection: she is out to get everyone else. Or it may be because she is, to herself, so important. So everyone else’s thoughts must be of her.

Like all narcissists, she lies and gaslights. In the novel, she kills a policeman, then blames Sheldon for it. It was his fault, for crying for help. That especially rings true. She claims to have been lovers with a tourist she killed; Sheldon finds this improbable, and I think we can assume he is right. More likely, she killed him because he would not make love to her. A narcissist will insist that whatever they want to be true is true. Yet they also know they are lying, for Annie certainly takes care to conceal the evidence of her misdeeds.

Most remarkably accurately, perhaps, Annie smells bad. I have never seen anyone else but King mention this before. But in my experience, narcissists always smell bad. Heaven knows why. Perhaps because they think they’re wonderful as they are, and so see no need to stay clean. Perhaps because their conscience troubles them, so they sweat a lot. But I think no one mentions this because it seems supernatural, and perhaps it is. Perhaps evil stinks.

Now I must read more from King. And I recommend Misery to others.