# If you have read Stephen King's IT, please answer my question. (SPOILERS) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174 "2002-08-29T21:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zombie33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/48db29/32.png) [@Zombie33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zombie33)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/1 "2002-08-29T21:17:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/2 "2002-08-29T21:24:43Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/3 "2002-08-29T22:47:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/4 "2002-08-30T01:24:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/5 "2002-08-30T01:48:54Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/6 "2002-08-30T01:50:37Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/7 "2002-08-30T02:51:21Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/8 "2002-08-30T03:18:11Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-read-stephen-kings-it-please-answer-my-question-spoilers/126174/9 "2002-08-30T03:24:59Z")
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.