15
INSOMNIA
(1994)
Coming on the heels of Gerald’s Game (1992) and Dolores Claiborne (1993), Insomnia provides further evidence that, following the destruction of Castle Rock in 1991’s Needful Things, Stephen King had moved on to a new phase in his writing career. The evidence was certainly there: two character-driven novels in a row, with nary a supernatural element in sight, followed by a dark fantasy detailing the adventures of two senior citizens. Had the author made a conscious decision to avoid horror, the genre that had brought him his greatest fame to date?
King had used older characters before in his fiction, but none as elderly as Ralph Roberts and Lois Chasse, and none featured as prominently in a plot line. Firestarter (1980), Pet Sematary (1983), and The Shining (1977) featured Irv Manders, Judson Crandall, and Dick Hallorann, respectively, who either served as father figures to the particular male leads of those novels or as grandfather figures to younger characters. Glen Bateman, a secondary character in The Stand (1978), served a similar purpose there, also acting as mentor to the governing body of the Free Zone. King did showcase seniors in more expansive roles in the television miniseries Golden Years (1991), but only briefly. Its protagonist, Harlan Williams, ages backward after he is caught in a blast at a research lab. Of course, The Stand also highlights the brittle Mother Abagail, but she exists more as an icon than as a real human being.
Insomnia, however, takes two senior citizens and places them at the center of the action. During the 1994 novel’s slow buildup, readers are told about the perils and mixed blessings of growing old; it isn’t until the second half of the narrative that really wild things start to happen.
King zeroes in on the milieu of the elderly with laser-sharp focus—readers learn the details of insomniac Ralph’s day-to-day existence, and suffer with him through the loss of a spouse and as his agonizing malady worsens. They see Ralph and the other “old crocks” struggle to live out their final days in dignity, something which society and even, in some cases, their own children, deny them. For example, prodded by his duplicitous spouse, Lois’s son is unnecessarily considering putting her in a nursing home.
As Bill McGovern somberly reflects at one point in Insomnia, getting old is no job for sissies.
King may have been inspired to tackle the subject herein by Don Robertson’s The Ideal Genuine Man, a book published by King’s own Philtrum Press that deals with many of the same issues.
Insomnia is a unique hybrid, at once one of King’s more down-to-earth and one of his more “cosmic” novels. Down-to-earth in that it stars Ralph Roberts and Lois Chasse, two senior citizens, who, up until the time the novel begins, have led a quiet, restrained existence. Cosmic in its consideration of human fate and destiny, and due to its explicit ties to King’s The Dark Tower series, specifically mentioning the Tower of Existence and Roland, the tortured Gunslinger.
Insomnia is similar in a number of ways to King’s 1993 short story “The Ten O’Clock People.” There, too, the main character experiences a change in perception, due to his attempts to kick his smoking habit. As a result, he can see a race of “batmen” that nonsmokers cannot.
Insomnia also has ties to several other King novels. The story is set in Derry, the locale of It (1986). King here makes constant references to the events of that novel, like the Great Storm of 1985. Later, he mentions that things that fall into Derry’s sewers have a nasty way of popping up again when you least expect it. Mike Hanlon, one of the heroes of It, appears briefly in Insomnia in his adult incarnation as the chief librarian at the Derry Public Library.
Within Insomnia, Ralph escapes the Court of the Crimson King and glimpses an unearthly glow of swirling colors, which he instinctively thinks of as “deadlights,” a concept also used in It. Lois, meeting TV news personality Connie Chung, tells her she is “her number-one fan,” perhaps a nod to the catchphrase first introduced in Misery (1987). A picture of Insomnia character Susan Day (not to be confused with actress Susan Dey) is noted in the pages of Rose Madder (1995). Atropos, who in the manner of a serial killer takes souvenirs from his kills, keeps Gage Creed’s (Pet Sematary) lost sneaker in his lair. Ralph subsequently appears in 1998’s Bag of Bones; he has a brief conversation with Mike Noonan, who comments that Ralph later died in a car accident.
Most explicit among all of these connections, however, are the links to King’s Gunslinger books. Clothos and Lachesis tell Ralph and Lois about ka, the great wheel of being. Clothos and Lachesis also label their alliance a ka-tet, a concept introduced in The Drawing of the Three (1987).
We also learn that Patrick Danville, the young boy in Insomnia, dreams about The Dark Tower series’ Roland. After his mother asks him about a picture he has drawn (featuring Roland squaring off against “the Red King” against the backdrop of the Tower), Patrick tells her that Roland is a king. Finally, after Patrick is saved, King cuts to a scene where “a man named Roland” turns over in his bedroll and “rests easily once again beneath the alien constellations.” Patrick will later play an enormous role in combating the cosmic forces working against Roland’s quest.
The book can also be seen as another contemplation of Fate and Destiny, topics first explored at great length in The Dead Zone. King obviously evokes that subject in Insomnia’s use of Clothos, Lachesis, and Atropos, the novel’s three “little bald doctors” named for the three goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology who were thought to control human destiny. King suggests that we all have roles to play in this life, that we all are part of some cosmic plan.
In mapping out the forces at work in his Universe, Stephen King has his characters Clothos and Lachesis explain the Four Constants of existence—Life, Death, the Random, and the Purpose—and the hierarchy of short-timers (normal mortals), long-timers (enhanced mortals), and all-timers (immortals). But they also add that all are part of the same Tower of Existence (to Roland, the “Dark Tower”). Between the Random and the Purpose there is a kind of chess game being played, but still there is mystery aplenty in life. There is a plan, but that can be altered. In Insomnia, Atropos, an agent of the Random, tries to do just that, but is frustrated when Ralph and Lois intervene.
More of a dark fantasy than outright supernatural horror, Insomnia contains a number of literary references as well: to the Bible (Ed Deepneau mentions King Herod in the context of baby-killing), J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic The Lord of the Rings (Ed’s wedding ring plays an important part in the narrative, and Bilbo and Frodo Baggins are named), Greek mythology (the little bald doctors may have inspired the legends of Clothos, Lachesis, and Atropos), and Arthurian legend (Ralph is compared to King Arthur and Sir Lancelot several times).
With this book, King continues to show a willingness to deal with modern social issues as well. Pro-life versus right-to-choose groups clash in Derry, and the pro-lifers, such as Ed Deepneau, are depicted as madmen. The author also returns to the subject of spousal abuse, a grim topic he deals with in passing in books like ’Salem’s Lot (1975) and Cujo (1981), and later explores more graphically in It, Gerald’s Game, and Dolores Claiborne. King would revisit this subject with a vengeance in his next novel, Rose Madder.
INSOMNIA: PRIMARY SUBJECTS
RALPH ROBERTS: After the tragic death of his wife, seventysomething Ralph begins to suffer from insomnia, waking three minutes earlier each night. The insomnia affects many aspects of his existence, and causes him to perceive reality in new ways. For instance, he begins to see people’s auras, and can tell when they are about to die, due to the presence of black “death bags” that he perceives hanging over their heads.
Ralph’s heightened perceptions allow him to observe two tiny, oddly dressed men whom no one else can see. For some reason, he immediately begins to think of them as “the little bald doctors.” After he learns their function, Ralph gives them the names Clothos and Lachesis, after the Fates of Greek mythology who spin and measure the threads of human destiny.
Clothos and Lachesis work to promote the g
oals of “the Purpose.” Another bald doctor opposes them. He is a hideous creature Ralph refers to as Atropos, after the Fate who severs the threads of destiny. Atropos serves “the Random” and, more directly, a fearsome entity known as the Crimson King. Using Ralph’s neighbor Ed Deepneau as a pawn, Atropos sets events in motion that threaten the stability of the universe itself.
Ralph and his friend Lois Chasse have been cursed with insomnia to prepare them to act as human agents of the Purpose. In fact, they have become the “pivot point of great events and vast forces.” Ralph and Lois are charged with stopping Ed Deepneau before he destroys the Derry Civic Center by means of a kamikaze attack. Ed, lost in the throes of madness due to Atropos’s manipulations, believes he is attacking Susan Day, a pro-choice advocate who is speaking to a capacity crowd at the Civic Center. In reality, Atropos is using Ed to try to kill a small boy named Patrick Danville, attending the event with his mother. Patrick is important to the designs of the Purpose—per King’s writings in Insomnia, eighteen years later Patrick is destined to save two men, one whose existence is also vital to the cause.
Eventually, Ralph squares off against Ed and the master manipulator, the Crimson King. He narrowly defeats them, averting disaster only by a thin margin. Patrick lives, hopefully to fulfill his destiny.
During an encounter with Atropos, the little bald doctor taunts Ralph with a vision of the future in which young Natalie Deepneau is struck and killed by an automobile. Ralph cuts a bargain with “the Purpose” to save Natalie: once he has fulfilled his own purpose, he will give his life in exchange for hers. As Ralph lays dying in the arms of Lois Chasse, now his wife, Clothos and Lachesis come to guide him to a new plane of existence.
CAROLYN ROBERTS: Ralph Roberts’s first wife, Carolyn dies from brain cancer. She does, however, remain a presence in his life, in that he often “hears” her voice and sees her in his dreams.
BILL McGOVERN: A good friend to Ralph Roberts, Bill is also his tenant. Bill is gay, but not openly so. Atropos, who takes souvenirs from his future victims, steals one of Bill’s hats and uses it to taunt Ralph. Bill McGovern dies after having his “lifeline” cut by Atropos.
LOIS CHASSE: Over time, Lois goes from being Ralph’s friend and fellow insomniac to becoming his co-adventurer and his second wife. Lois also sees the special things Ralph sees. She, too, is chosen by “the Purpose” to battle the Crimson King. Lois is strong, independent, brave, intelligent, and loving, at once complementing and completing Ralph. Due to the intensity of their supernatural experiences, their mutual admiration for each other quickly deepens into love. Following the conclusion of their adventures, Lois, like Ralph, loses her memory of them. Her memories are reawakened, however, on the day Ralph dies.
It is presumed that Lois still resides in Derry.
ED DEEPNEAU: A research scientist at Hawking Labs, Ed becomes a pawn of Atropos. Atropos cuts Ed’s “string,” but Ed doesn’t die. Instead, he is driven insane, and is programmed by Atropos to mount a kamikaze attack on the Derry Civic Center. Ed Deepneau dies in the assault on the Civic Center.
HELEN DEEPNEAU: Helen’s marriage to Ed Deepneau is a nightmare. He beats her so savagely that she leaves him, fleeing to Woman Care, an organization associated with feminist activist Susan Day. Helen divorces Ed, and later adopts a lesbian lifestyle.
NATALIE DEEPNEAU: Ed and Helen’s infant daughter. Years after the main events of Insomnia, Ralph sacrifices himself to save her life, frustrating Atropos’ plans for vengeance.
DORRANCE MARSTELLAR: Ralph learns that “Old Dorr,” though mostly regarded as the town oddball, is privy to the world and thinking of “long-timers” like Clothos, Lachesis, and their masters. Old Dorr (whom some King experts see as “ka personified”) acts as the long-timers’ liaison to Ralph and Lois, delivering cryptic messages to them at critical moments and providing guidance to the bewildered duo.
SUSAN DAY: A prominent women’s rights activist, her proposed trip to Derry polarizes the pro-life and pro-choice factions there. She is decapitated in the aftermath of Ed Deepneau’s attack on the Derry Civic Center.
THE CRIMSON KING: A mysterious and powerful figure of horrible evil, the Crimson King wants Patrick Danville dead. Raving to Ralph, Ed Deepneau likens the Crimson King to King Herod, going so far as to claim that Herod is merely one of the King’s incarnations. Ed states that the Crimson King jumps from body to body and generation to generation, always looking for the Messiah.
During his struggles with Ed, Ralph actually meets the Crimson King in the King’s Court. The King, apparently plucking memories from Ralph’s mind, takes the form of Ralph’s mother, then of an enormous red female catfish. Ralph, staring intently at the bizarre figure in front of him, begins to see a shape behind the shape, “a bright man, a red man, with cold eyes and a merciless mouth,” an individual who in Ralph’s eyes resembles Christ. The king tells Ralph he wants Ed to succeed (“I’ve worked very hard here in Derry”) just before Ralph plunges the sharp point of one of Lois’s earrings into the king’s bulging eye and escapes.
THE GREEN MAN: This mysterious figure appears only briefly in the lives of Ralph Roberts and Lois Chasse, when he returns Lois’s earrings, which had been stolen by Atropos. She, in turn, gives them to Ralph, who pockets them, and later uses them as a weapon in his escape from the court of the Crimson King. Apparently the Green Man is an enemy of the Crimson King’s, but his nature has not been revealed further as of yet.
CLOTHOS, LACHESIS, AND ATROPOS: These creatures are mortal, but enhanced (long-timers), and certainly not human. Ralph Roberts calls them “the three little bald doctors.” These otherworldly beings may have inspired the Greek myths of the Fates, who weave, measure, and cut the threads of human destiny. Clothos and Lachesis, who describe themselves as “physicians of the last resort,” are agents of Death and of the Purpose. Atropos is a rogue, an agent of the Random.
Their current whereabouts are unknown.
PATRICK DANVILLE: Though only a boy when he comes into contact with Ralph Roberts and Lois Chasse, Patrick is vital to the designs of the Purpose. In the year 2012, Patrick is destined to sacrifice himself to save the lives of two men, one of whom is also important to the Purpose. Atropos is using Ed, who is in the service of the Random, to try to kill Patrick. His death would be disastrous to the Purpose. According to Clothos, Patrick is more important than Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, or Augustus Caesar. If he dies, “the Tower of all existence will fall.”
Fortunately, Ralph and Lois save him from the Crimson King.
INSOMNIA: TRIVIA
• To promote Insomnia, King traveled to several independent bookstores across the United States on his Harley-Davidson. The ten-stop tour started in Vermont and ended in California. The trip also provided a great deal of inspiration for Desperation and The Regulators (both 1996).
16
BAG OF BONES
(1998)
Stephen King created quite a stir in 1997 when word spread through the publishing industry that he was allegedly unhappy with Viking, his New York–based publisher of close to two decades. The press reported that King was rankled by Viking’s supposed refusal to meet his asking price for his latest novel; the full story is almost certainly more complex. A resolution was reached when the author signed a three-book deal with Simon and Schuster, entering into a unique partnership with the publisher—forgoing his usual large advance, he worked out an arrangement that reportedly gave him a higher percentage of the profits at the back end.
The first book King delivered to the publisher’s prestigious Scribner imprint under this new deal was Bag of Bones. A marked departure from what the general public had come to expect from “America’s best-loved boogeyman,” the novel represents yet another step in the author’s continuous challenge to himself to elevate the overall quality and emotional scope of his work. Equal parts ghost story, thriller, romance, mystery, and psychological suspense story, Bag of Bones demonstrates that King is as adept at evoking heartfelt em
otion as he is at sending shivers up readers’ spines. Critics who had previously dismissed the popular author as a mere “shockmeister” finally upgraded their opinions after experiencing this powerfully told, masterfully crafted roller coaster of a book.
Simply stated, it ranks among the four or five best novels the author has written in his entire career.
A love story with supernatural overtones, Bag of Bones consciously evokes Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938). King, however, twists the premise of that classic romantic thriller to suit his own purposes. For instead of a wicked woman being mistaken for a good one, Bag of Bones features a good woman, Jo Noonan, whose recently revealed secret life causes her husband, bestselling author Mike Noonan, to doubt his previous complete trust of her. There are numerous other overt connections to du Maurier’s novel—“I have dreamt again of Manderley” is a familiar refrain throughout—as well as more subtle ties, like evoking Max DeWinter by naming a character Max Devore. Other literary connections include Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” (1856); the inclusion of Noonan’s discussion of this short story earlier in the novel provides a poignancy to his words that close the book.
King’s office BETH GWINN
Finally, there is the quote that one of Mike’s college professors attributes to nineteenth-century British novelist Thomas Hardy: “Compared to the dullest human being actually walking about on the face of the earth and casting his shadow there, the most brilliantly drawn character is nothing but a bag of bones.” This quote resonates throughout the novel; it also has a more literal meaning in that a real bag of bones figures in the plot.
The Complete Stephen King Universe Page 14