I never understood how did Bill defeat the spider through the Ritual of Chud. Why did the phrase “HE THRUSTS HIS FISTS AGAINST THE POSTS AND STILL INSISTS HE SEES THE GHOST”, could harm It. I enjoyed the book a lot, one of King’s Best for sure, but I can’t go on without understanding this important detail. Thank you all, King’s fans, for your help.
May I suggest that a mod edit this thread title to include the word, “SPOILER!”
IIRC, and it’s been a while since I read it, he’s just using the sentence as a way to focus his mind–it’s not intrinsically “magic” or anything like that.
It’s been a while since I read it, but:
Bill had a stuttering problem. The sentence was one a speech therapist (?) taught him. The sentence’s only significance is that a stutterer would have a hell of a time saying it. If Bill concentrated, he could say it without stuttering, and, IIRC, after saying it successfully he’d have no further problems talking.
I think him saying the sentence at that moment was his way of getting his concentration focused so he could get rid of the monster.
Since this is about a book, I’ll move this thread to our arts forum, Cafe Society. I’ll change the title to indicate “spoilers” as well.
The phrase comes from Curt Siodmak’s classic SF/Horror novel Donovan’s Brain. In it, a disembodied brain (Donnovan’s) takes control of everyone around it. One person (IIRC, an ex-stutterer) resists by repeating the tongue-twister over and over: the phrase is so ‘embedded’ in the protagonist’s mind that the evil brain can’t get through. I know King read Donnovan’s Brain (he’s mentioned it in essays here and there) and I suspect this was a homage to it.
In other words, what AudreyK said: it was an aid to concentration.
Fenris
Oh, and the entire rhyme (as opposed to the snippet King used) was:
Amidst the mists
And frozen frosts
He thrusts his fists against the posts
Yet still insists he sees the ghosts.
And I think that the character in Siodmak’s book was a lisper, not a stutterer, but I’m not positive of that.
I kind of came to a different conclusion. The same way that the asthma meds worked, was the way this “chant” worked. I felt it had a lot to do with the children believing it would work, with the innocence of childhood, the same way that when you are little you think the monster can’t get you through your blanket.
It was this that the monster wanted to kill you fo, and it was also this that protected you.
Does that make any sense?
Poysyn, I think you make perfect sense, and it doesn’t at all invalidate what AudreyK said either.
As she said, the chant focused his concentratrion to conquer his stutter. The important thing, though, is that Bill’s stutter was always one of his greatest fears. Since It was a creature that thrived on and took the form of fears, Bill conquering the stutter meant that he denied It any power over him… effectively, conquering the stutter negated Bill’s fear, and thus was his way to beat It.
I need to re-read that book… not King’s best, but still quite good.
I agree with poysyn. It has been a long time since I read the book (Probably ~ 15 years), but from what I remember, it was just a sign that he was thinking clearly and wasn’t scared. When he was spooked he couldn’t get a word out without stuttering. If IT had no power of fear over the children, it had nothing.