Relationship Between the Occult and Madness in Children of the Corn - Essay Example

? Children of the Corn Stephen King was an eminent figure in the field of literature especially in horror fiction. He had great fascination for horror writings and also exhibited terrific ability to picture his imaginations and vision to reality. Beaham tells, “he is the best writer of horror fiction that America has ever produced” ( Beaham 22). The children of the corn, as film and short story, acclaimed a lot of criticism especially by writers of children’s literature. It reveals the outburst of the fear, anxiety and insecurity in the mind of children especially in the world of adults. The children are never treated as a human being with their own sensation s and wishes by the adults. The suppressed emotions in their minds will come out as evil actions. Some children will become delinquents. Some exhibits minor kinds of fanatic actions . Here in this story ‘Children of the corn’, Stephen King analyses that the children followers are easily subjected to evil influences and due to ignorance and it can go to the excessive end. The supernatural power that tries to influence the children can be figured out as the acute end of the wickedness that the children can demonstrate and it is because they are highly influential. In this story Stephen King uses the occult forces to drain the maximum satanic forces from the children and make them mere devilish. The fictional town Gatlin is now under the grip of a boy preacher named Isaac. He inculcates in the minds of the children of the own with evil thought s of killing the adults. This is to please the demon,’ He who walks Behind the Rows’. In this circumstance the couples Burt and Vicky travels through the interior of the state of Nebraska. On the way they hit a thirteen year old boy. On analyzing the body they find that he had been stabbed by some body. Fearing the consequences they plan to carry the body to the nearest police station. During that ravel they can see the rows of corn fields only. The city is isolated. Burt and Vicky see a church and he decides to search for someone’s help leaving Vicky alone in the car. A kind of undefined and unrecognizable fear hounds her. Burt examines the church and observes many changes .Even the image of the Christ itself makes a bad impression in him. He feels the image like a pagan Christ who wants to save his shepherds by sacrificing their own blood for him. He sees a note book with the scribbling of a child. It is about an incident happened in 1964 in which all the adults were killed young children. Burt turns back to inform Vicky, but only to see her surrounded with the children. Vicky is helpless but plays horn of the car. Before he reaches there the boys stabs her. He takes the knife and kills that boy. Thus he becomes their prey. Going to the corn fields is the only way to escape from them. During the night he observes a wild calmness everywhere. He slowly comes out and sees Vicky’s body , with eyes bulging out and mouth full of corn cobs. Along with her body, the corpse of the police officer and the city priest are also there. He slowly recognizes a demonic figure, supernatural l power or even God’ He who Walks behind the rows’ in the field . The story never offers a horrible description about the context and the place. But repeatedly tells that the place is empty. Vicky tells “the town is empty, there is nobody here but us“. But the words create strangeness in the mind of the reader. After that Burt enters the church to see anyone is there to help him. The place is outlandish. He tries to trace out the things. Slowly a feeling of fear comes out from the heart. The portrait of Christ was an odd.”The Christ was grinning, vulpine ...The Phantom of the Opera.” Now he seems to be convicted by what Vicky half already told him. The nastiness of the children in the story is revealed again when Burt sees the body of Vicky. The presence of a supernatural power is exposed in the words of Isaac, a nine year old boy, “And in my dream the Lord was a shadow that walked behind the rows, and he spoke to me in the words he used our older brother’s years ago. He is much displeased….” . The story is a belief, or a mere myth related to cult. The children are easily twisted because of the less reasoning power. They can go to any extend of cruelty because they are ignorant and are unaware of the consequences . They follow a particular religion because their parents follow it. So in another way, they are made to think in poles apart by adults themselves. Consequently adults are responsible for the crime committed by children. Here Isaac exhibits super human qualities. All other children are submissive to him. He makes the law, he executes it. Children are brainwashed to believe that the adults are to be removed completely from the town for a prosperous future. It is quite common or a must that people should get the support of a supernatural power or a deity like’ He who walks behind the Raw’ to establish their belief. Here the children really want to avoid the presence of adults, who makes laws and rule for them. The deity or, the demon here acts as a supporter or a power that helps to launch their wickedness. Since the leading characters of the story are children, we must study more how they become evil or good. There is a lot of question whether the children are born evil of good. Most of the critics examine it as a horror story. But in different technique Stephen King’s uses the theme of child abuse here in the short story. The adults are the directors of children. If they fail to channelize them they will fall. The story strongly supports the view that children can become the worst creatures like the demonic figure in the story. ‘The deity,’ He Who Walks behind the Row’ is the stubborn devilish side of the corrupted children. Thus the story really offers lots of discussion and debate . Work Cited Beaham , George, The Stephen King Story , A Literary Profile .1992 King, Stephen, Night Shift, 1978 Read More