Rage (King novel)

Last updated
Rage
Rage (1977) front cover, first edition.jpg
First edition cover
Author Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)
LanguageEnglish
Genre Psychological thriller
Publisher Signet Books
Publication date
September 13, 1977
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages211
ISBN 978-0-451-07645-8

Rage (written as Getting It On) [a] is a psychological thriller novel by American writer Stephen King, the first he published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It was published in 1977 and was collected in the 1985 hardcover omnibus The Bachman Books . The novel describes a school shooting, and has been associated with actual high school shooting incidents in the 1980s and 1990s. In response, King allowed the novel to fall out of print. In 2013, King published the anti-firearms violence essay "Guns".

Contents

Summary

Charlie Decker, a Maine high school senior, is called to a meeting with his principal about the cause of his suspension - an incident in which he struck his chemistry teacher with a pipe wrench, leading to the teacher's hospitalization. Charlie subjects the principal to a series of insulting remarks, and is expelled.

Storming out of the office, Charlie retrieves a pistol from his locker, then sets the contents of his locker on fire. Returning to his classroom, he fatally shoots his algebra teacher, Miss Jean Underwood. The fire triggers an alarm, but Charlie forces his classmates to stay in the room, killing a history teacher, Mr. Peter Vance, when he attempts to enter. As the school evacuates, the police and media arrive.

Over the following four hours, Charlie toys with the authority figures' attempt at negotiation, including the principal, the school psychologist, and the local police chief. Charlie gives them certain commands, threatening to kill students if they do not comply. Charlie admits to his hostages that he does not know what has compelled him to commit his deeds, believing he will regret them when the standoff is over. As his fellow students start identifying with Charlie, he unwittingly turns the class into an impromptu psychotherapy group, causing the participants to semi-voluntarily tell embarrassing secrets regarding themselves and each other.

Interspersed throughout are flashbacks to Charlie's troubled childhood, particularly his tumultuous relationship with his abusive father Carl. As the standoff proceeds, a police sniper attempts to shoot Charlie through the heart. The attempt is foiled by the combination lock inside the breast pocket of Charlie's shirt.

Charlie finally realizes that only one student is really being held against his will: "Big Man On Campus" Ted Jones, who is harboring his own secrets. Ted also realizes this and attempts to escape the classroom, but the other students brutally assault him. Charlie eventually releases the students except for Ted, who is in a catatonic state. When the police chief enters the classroom, the now-unarmed Charlie feigns shooting, causing the chief to shoot Charlie. Later, Charlie, having survived the gunshot, is declared insane and committed to a psychiatric hospital in Augusta, Maine.

The final chapters contain an inter-office memo concerning Ted's treatment and prognosis at the hospital where he is now a patient, and a letter from one of Charlie's friends describing developments in the students' lives during the months following this incident. The story ends with Charlie addressing the reader: "That's the end. I have to turn off the light now. Good night."

Connections to actual school shootings

The plot of Rage vaguely resembles actual high school shootings and incidents of hostage-taking that have transpired since its publication. As a result, King became uncomfortable with the idea of having it remain in print, for fear that it might inspire further such occurrences ("[Rage is] now out of print, and a good thing"). [1] The novel has been associated with several events:

End of publication

When King decided to let Rage fall out of print in the United States, it remained available only as part of The Bachman Books . In contrast, the other novels that appeared in that compilation— The Long Walk , Roadwork , and The Running Man —are available separately in the US. Rage remained available in the United Kingdom and other countries in The Bachman Books for a time, but later appeared to become unavailable. [10] New editions of The Bachman Books do not include Rage. In a footnote to the preface of the novel Blaze , dated January 30, 2007, King wrote of Rage: "Now out of print, and a good thing."

King said, in his keynote address at the VEMA Annual Meeting on May 26, 1999: "The Carneal incident was enough for me. I asked my publisher to take the damned thing out of print. They concurred." [8] King went on to describe his view on this subject, which acknowledged the role that cultural or artistic products such as Rage play in influencing individuals, particularly troubled youths, while also declaring that artists and writers should not be denied the aesthetic opportunity to draw upon their own culture—which is suffused with violence, according to King—in their work. [8] King went on to describe his inspiration for stories such as Rage, which drew heavily upon his own frustrations and pains as a high school student. [8]

In an article on the ominous writings of Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho for Entertainment Weekly , King said: "Certainly in this sensitized day and age, my own college writing—including a short story called 'Cain Rose Up' and the novel Rage—would have raised red flags, and I'm certain someone would have tabbed me as mentally ill because of them..." [11] After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he elaborated in a non-fiction essay, titled "Guns" (2013), [12] on why he let Rage go out of print. King's website states: "All profits from 'Guns' will benefit the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence." [13]

Notes

  1. The title was changed before publication.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bachman</span> Pen name used by horror fiction author Stephen King

Richard Bachman is a pen name of American horror fiction author Stephen King, adopted in 1977 for the novel Rage. King hid the link between himself and Bachman, until allowing for his identification in 1985. He collected the first four Bachman novels into The Bachman Books. Rage became controversial for being about a school shooting and was allowed to go out of print after the 1997 Heath High School shooting. Three more novels were published under the Bachman name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School shooting</span> Event in which gun violence happens at a school

A school shooting is an armed attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of a firearm. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple casualties. The phenomenon is most widespread in the United States, which has the highest number of school-related shootings, although school shootings take place elsewhere in the world. Especially in the United States, school shootings have sparked a political debate over gun violence, zero tolerance policies, gun rights and gun control.

<i>The Bachman Books</i> 1985 collection of Stephen King novels

The Bachman Books is a collection of short novels by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman between 1977 and 1982. It made The New York Times Best Seller list upon its release in 1985.

<i>Roadwork</i> (novel) 1981 novel by Stephen King

Roadwork is a thriller novel by American writer Stephen King, published in 1981 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman as a paperback original. It was collected in 1985 in the hardcover omnibus The Bachman Books. The story takes place in an unnamed city of the Midwestern United States in 1972–1974. Grieving over the death of his son and the disintegration of his marriage, a man is driven to mental instability when he learns that both his home and his workplace will be demolished to make way for an extension to an interstate highway. A film adaptation of the novel was announced in August 2019, with Pablo Trapero as director and Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti as producers.

The Red Lake shootings were a spree killing that occurred on March 21, 2005, in two places on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota, United States. That afternoon, 16-year-old Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend at their home. After taking his grandfather's police weapons and bulletproof vest, Weise drove his grandfather's police vehicle to Red Lake Senior High School, where he had been a student some months before.

San Gabriel High School (SGHS) is a public high school located in Los Angeles County, California and operated by the Alhambra Unified School District. It is almost entirely in the city limits of Alhambra, with a small portion and the school's address in the city limits of San Gabriel.

The Frontier Middle School shooting was a school shooting that occurred on February 2, 1996, at Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, Washington, United States. The gunman, 14-year-old Barry Dale Loukaitis, killed his algebra teacher and two students, and held his classmates hostage before a gym coach subdued him.

The Heath High School shooting occurred at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, United States, on December 1, 1997, when 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on a group of students, killing three and injuring six.

The Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis was a hostage taking and shooting at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colorado, on September 27, 2006. The gunman, 53-year-old Duane Roger Morrison, took seven female students hostage and sexually assaulted them, later releasing four. When police broke open the classroom's door with explosives, Morrison opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol before shooting hostage Emily Keyes in the head. The other remaining hostages escaped unharmed, and paramedics confirmed that Morrison had committed suicide shortly before police were able to enter the classroom. Keyes was pronounced dead at 4:32 p.m. MDT at Saint Anthony's Hospital in Denver, Colorado, after undergoing emergency surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jokela school shooting</span> 2007 school shooting in Tuusula, Finland

The Jokela school shooting, also known as the Jokela High School massacre, occurred on 7 November 2007, at Jokela High School in the town of Jokela, Tuusula, Finland. The gunman, 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen, entered the school that morning armed with a semi-automatic pistol. He killed eight people and wounded one person in the toe before shooting himself in the head; twelve others were also injured by flying glass or by spraining their ankles during the ensuing chaos. Auvinen died later that evening in a Helsinki hospital.

<i>School Days</i> (novel) Book by Robert B. Parker

School Days (2005) is a work of detective fiction by American author Robert B. Parker, the 33rd in his acclaimed Spenser series.

To see the school in Hoschton, Georgia, click the provided linkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_County_Comprehensive_High_School

<i>Detention: The Siege at Johnson High</i> 1997 American TV series or program

Detention: The Siege at Johnson High is a 1997 American made-for-television thriller drama film based on the 1992 Lindhurst High School shooting and siege that resulted in the death of four people. The film, written by Larry Golin and directed by Michael W. Watkins, stars Rick Schroder, Freddie Prinze Jr., Katie Wright, Alexis Cruz and Henry Winkler. It was originally broadcast on ABC on May 19, 1997.

The East Carter High School shooting occurred on January 18, 1993, in Grayson, Kentucky, United States. The incident occurred when 17-year-old Gary Scott Pennington walked into an English classroom and fatally shot his teacher Deanna McDavid and head custodian Marvin Hicks, and held classmates hostage for 15 minutes before surrendering to police.

The Lindhurst High School shooting was a school shooting and subsequent siege that occurred on May 1, 1992, at Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst, California, United States. The gunman, 20-year-old Eric Houston, was a former student at Lindhurst High School. Houston killed three students and one teacher and wounded nine students and a teacher before surrendering to police. Houston was sentenced to death for the murders, and he is currently on California's death row in San Quentin State Prison.

Since the 1994 film Natural Born Killers was released, several attacks suspected to be copycat crimes have been committed by fans of the film, mostly by high school students within the age range of 15 to 18. Though apparent links have been claimed between the film and most of the incidents described below, certain causality has not been proven.

The Dundee school shooting was a 1967 incident at St John's Roman Catholic High School in Dundee, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyrone Mitchell</span> 20th-century American mass shooter (1955–1984)

Tyrone Mitchell was an American spree killer who fatally shot a student and a passerby as well as wounding twelve others who were leaving 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on February 24, 1984. Mitchell then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a double-barreled shotgun.

<i>Guns</i> (essay) Essay by Stephen King

"Guns" is a non-fiction essay written by American writer Stephen King on the issue of gun violence, published in 2013.

<i>Panic High School</i> 1978 Japanese film

Panic High School, also known as High School Big Panic and Panic in High School, is a Japanese youth suspense action film directed by Gakuryū Ishii and Yukihiro Sawada. The film is a remake of a film of the same name released the year before and also directed by Ishii. The plot follows Jono, a high school student who steals a rifle and shoots at his school staff before holding multiple students hostage as revenge for the school's oppressive academic system. It was released in Japan on August 19, 1978.

References

  1. King, Stephen (June 2007). "Foreword". Blaze .
  2. "Hijack Tied to Teen Classroom Siege". The Press-Courier . Oxnard. Associated Press. April 27, 1988.
  3. Katz, Jesse (January 14, 1990). "A High School Gunman's Days of Rage". Los Angeles Times .
  4. "Kentucky Youth Frees 11 Hostages and Surrenders". The New York Times . McKee, KY. Associated Press. September 18, 1989.
  5. "Memories of a SD school shooting". Capital Journal . Rapid City, SD. Capital Journal. September 11, 1991.
  6. "Two Killed in School Shooting in Kentucky". The New York Times. January 19, 1993.
  7. Buckley, Jerry (October 31, 1993). "The Tragedy in Room 108". U.S. News & World Report .
  8. 1 2 3 4 King, Stephen (May 26, 1999). "Stephen King's Keynote Address, Vermont Library Conference, VEMA Annual Meeting". horrorking.com.
  9. AP (25 August 1997). "Loukaitis trial starts today". Ellensburg Daily Record. Seattle. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  10. "The Bachman Books". Hodder & Stoughton. 2008. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  11. King, Stephen (April 23, 2007). "On Predicting Violence". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  12. King, Stephen (January 25, 2013). Guns (Kindle ed.). Philtrum Press. ASIN   B00B53IW9W.
  13. "Promo: Guns". StephenKing.com.