Audience
Invoked: usually
positions the reader on the side of God, or good. Often his conflicts are God
vs. the Devil, or good vs. evil. The name of the genre “horror” in which
Stephen King writes provides its general purpose “to promote… a sense of horror”
(Carroll). Carroll also says that “…to distinguish the horror story from mere
stories with monsters, such as fairy tales, is the attitude of characters in
the story to the monsters they chance upon. In works of horror, the humans
regard the monsters that they encounter as abnormal. In fairy tales, on the
other hand, monsters are part of the everyday furniture of the universe.” “In
examples of horror, it would appear that the monster is an extraordinary
character in our ordinary world, whereas in fairy tales and the like the
monster is an ordinary character in an extraordinary world” (Carroll). The
characters react in ways that we would expect them to in response to the
monster (Carroll). Emotions of characters and audience are the same in horror
(Carroll).
Audience
Addressed:
normal people who like horror and sci-fi. Definitely not literary critics; most
critics don’t think much of his work.
How
he established a relationship with his audience: provided good stories, and
relatable characters
How
he continued that relationship:
maybe because of the genre he writes? Because horror allows the reader to feel
the emotions of the characters it allows the reader to establish a kind of
connection with King.
- What do you think about when you think about
horror?
- If monsters are mentioned then point out that
monsters are in fairy tales too. For example, the giant in Jack and the
Beanstalk. Use this quote from Carroll to explain the difference: “…to
distinguish the horror story from mere stories with monsters, such as
fairy tales, is the attitude of characters in the story to the monsters
they chance upon. In works of horror, the humans regard the monsters that
they encounter as abnormal. In fairy tales, on the other hand, monsters
are part of the everyday furniture of the universe.”
o
Also,
another difference is that in horror the reader gets to feel the emotions from
the character.
- I’ve told you all of this so that I can tell
you about King’s invoked audience. One of the traits of an invoked
audience is that the author can put them in a particular place, such as on
one side of a conflict. King sometimes presents an overall conflict of God
vs. the Devil
o
Desperation
o
The
Stand
- King usually places his audience on the side of
God. He does this by aligning us with the characters that represent God,
and making us feel contempt for the characters that represent the Devil.
o
In
The Stand the Devil character crucifies people for any crime where the God
aligned characters welcome people with open arms.
- King’s actual addressed audience is different
o
Addressed
audience is basically anyone who likes horror and sci-fi type works. Definitely
not literary critics.
- So how did King establish this relationship
with his invoked and addressed audiences?
o
He
gave good story lines
o
He
had relatable characters
o
Plot
often has twists and turns
- How did he continue that relationship?
o
Because
he writes in horror he could have similar story lines
o
Still
lets his reader connect with the emotions of characters
o
Tells
the story through multiple character’s point of view
- So Stephen King’s novels seem like he’s doing a
lot of the same stuff and he is. But his genre allows him to do these
things.
