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Rage |
...getting it on...
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Rage |
Rage marks many firsts in Stephen King's career. It is his earliest written published novel (written several years before Carrie, in fact). It was the first of what was to become known as The Bachman Books. And, as far as I know, the first book about which the FBI questioned King.
It is a grim, violent novel. A young man named Charlie Decker is being expelled from school. He's been involved in several "incidents" in school, most notably beating his science teacher with a lead pipe when the teacher tormented him in class. Charlie, ostensibly because of his extremely out-of-whack home life, has become a sociopath, is convinced the world is against him. As he returns to his locker to collect his things after the principal expells him, he decides he is through with all forms of authority. He will take his fate in his own hands, for once. He sets the books in his locker on fire, first removing the pistol he has hidden in there. He returns to his math class, shooting his teacher, Mrs. Underwood, in the head. He closes the door behind him, and proceeds to "get it on."
Getting it on, in Charlie's parlance, is to free yourself from social constrictions and let your insides out. He begins a type of therapy session with the math class, a kind of Lord of the Flies 12-step program. The class respons with a surprising vote of confidence for Charlie. Most seem to be, at a lower level, also sick of authority and the ties that come with it. Charlie shares traumatizing stories with them (one, involving his near loss of virginity, another about a disturbing camping trip he took with his father.) One by one, the students let their boundaries down. An unpopular boy known as Pig Pen admits he hates his mother because she is excessively cheap. In telling the class about this, he breaks into tears, and no one in the class laughs. Two girls, after trading barbarous insults, are forced to stand in a circle, alternately insulting and slapping one another. The one to fall outside the circle is shot. Neither do; the face-off helps both of them. Others share their feelings, exposing themselves and bringing them closer as a group.
The only exception is a boy named Ted Jones. He is the model of a perfect student, everything the authoritarians love. In this light, he hates Charlie. He is a secrative, uptight boy, who prefers to keep his secrets just that -- secrets. When members of the class expose him, he can't handle it. And when Charlie ends up letting the class go at the end of the school day, they all turn on Ted, beating him and slathering him in ink. He becomes an apathetic wreck; before the end of Rage, we find both Charlie and Ted are in mental asylums, Ted having no real hope of recovery.
Rage is an angry and pessimistic novel. Its veiws very much reflect a young Stephen King, one boy against the world. The therapy is painfully Freudian (especially the 'evil parents' explanations), utilizing psychological methods that aren't all that cut-and-dry. The mental disintegration of Ted Jones is too quick, too much of a "just" ending.
Still, Rage is a good book. Though we fear Charlie, we come to sypathize with him. He becomes the embodiment of a scared, angst-ridden adolescant in all of us (so much so that several actual incidents in the US have been "inspired" by this book.) Rage may be pessimistic, with a thoroughly depressing ending (like all the Bachmans), but it is well worth a read or two, if only to gauge King's progress as a writer.
Rage was the first real SK novel I read. Before this, I'd gone through Creepshow, Cycle of the Werewolf, and some stories in Night Shift, but this was the first real novel I tackled. At the time, I was blown away by it. I was twelve at the time, and these kids were only a few years older than me. They certainly behaved differently than the kids in the Judy Blume novels I read at the time. It really opened my eyes -- this was my first real taste of Stephen King telling me the truth, raw and uncencored. My next novel would be It, and that book would cement my love for Stephen King once and for all, but this was the first one, my first Stephen King novel. So, in that respect, it's special to me, and every now and again, I'll re-read it. I recommend you do the same.
Like the rest of the Bachmans, this one is rare and expensive. The cover you see above is British, also hard to find. The paperback can usually be found for about $75-$150. I got mine for about $5, because it was slightly damaged. Happy happy, joy, joy!