“You Are All Too Old to Do Anything but Get Yourselves Killed:” Age and Masculinity in Stephen King’s It, Dreamcatcher and Doctor Sleep
Using three of Stephen King’s most well-known novels centered on groups of male friends, namely, It (1986), Dreamcatcher (2001), and Doctor Sleep (2013), the chapter argues that, even though King records men’s age-related anxieties as they reach middle age, he does not use his stories to demonstrate...
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| Format: | book part |
| Status: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Publication Date: | 2021 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universitat de Lleida (UdL) |
| Repository: | Repositori Obert UdL |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/464965 |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71596-0_5 https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/464965 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | King, Stephen, 1947- -- Crítica i interpretació |
| Summary: | Using three of Stephen King’s most well-known novels centered on groups of male friends, namely, It (1986), Dreamcatcher (2001), and Doctor Sleep (2013), the chapter argues that, even though King records men’s age-related anxieties as they reach middle age, he does not use his stories to demonstrate that men can age and still be manly, strong, powerful, and heroic, as is the case in many contemporary narratives where the aging male hero reclaims his ascendancy through sheer force of muscle. Instead, King challenges patriarchal constructions of masculinity that impose impossible standards on men, especially as they age. At the same time, he redraws the notion of the heroic that is prevalent in popular narratives, mostly based on the use of singlehanded individualism, violence, and aggression. Instead, he draws on qualities such as solidarity, friendship, love, and memory as essential in order to battle the forces of evil. |
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