Can’t sleep – Atropos’ll eat me
Ralph reflected for a moment on the similarities between loneliness and insomnia – how they were both insidious, cumulative, and divisive, the friends of despair and the enemies of love – and then pushed those thoughts aside and kissed her.
Stephen King, Insomnia
Talking about Insomnia is a difficult thing, in that it isn’t about one single thing, nor does it have something easy to hook into. In some ways, it is a sort of sequel to It, but the similarity in themes are from the opposite end; in other ways, it’s a discussion about not only abortion, but the effect this kind of politics has on life; it’s a Dark Tower book, but almost filled entirely with elements not actually introduced in that series yet. King has called this book one of his ‘stiff, trying-too-hard novels,’ which is a both true and unfair description of the book itself.
Having only just recently ditched Castle Rock in Needful Things, returning to Derry may seem like a case of Buyer’s Remorse on King’s part and an attempt to recapture the magic of It, but I think that’s too simplistic a take on it. In revisiting Derry, King deliberately invokes the themes of that book in this one, inviting them in but playing with them too. Where It was about the magic of childhood and the journey through to adulthood, with Ralph and Lois as his more elderly leads King is able to look at what it means to get older from characters who have already lived their lives. Both Ralph and Lois have lost romantic partners, and at the novel’s start are dancing around their obvious feelings for each other burdened by their long pasts. But once they admit their feelings (as well as share their recent spooky experiences too), they are literally rejuvenated by the love they have for each other. King is fascinated by the power of love in his stories, and this is a different, heartwarming take on events.
Another element of It that Insomnia plays with is the idea of what it is we owe to each other. In It, the children of the story are failed by the adults, and so have to take it upon themselves to save their friends, family and town. As adults, the Losers have that same responsibility, but they owe nothing to a town that has failed them; and yet they still do the right thing. Ralph and Lois have lived their lives, and still nearly sacrifice everything in order so that generations younger than them still have a chance to save the world, not only with Patrick Danville (who is fated to save the Tower), but those like little Natalie Deepneau. Those that try to manipulate Ralph and Lois treat their actions as an obligation to save lives. Ralph and Lois explicitly reject that – it is their duty to save those lives.
Which is where the abortion element comes into play. Now, while I know a thing or two about abortion, the main thing (as this novel makes abundantly clear) is that in some quarters, it is quite the controversial topic. Though I get the feeling that King is on the side of pro-choice (as am I, for the record), he still mostly treats the opposing side of the argument with humanity. Yes, in the main, the pro-lifers in Insomnia are insane, abusive, murdering terrorists, but those are the villains of the piece, and it’s not like Pennywise pauses halfway through gutting a child and says he’s pro-choice in It. But there is the brief scene with Ralph and Lois in the diner with the pro-life waitress where she plainly states her reasons for opposition. I don’t agree with her, nor do I think King does, but she isn’t a sputtering monster. As someone who has been firmly pro-choice his entire life, I can’t ever get into the mindset of someone who is pro-life, so I admire King’s effort to at least present one non-insane, abusive murdering terrorist viewpoint on the matter.
But that in itself is a recurring theme of the book. We try to understand the other side, but sometimes these things irreconcilable. Just as much as if I tried to have a reasoned discussion with a pro-lifer, or tried to sway them to my point of view, the bald doctors cannot comprehend the lives of the ‘short-timers,’ nor can we fully grasp the wider universe of the Dark Tower from the perspective of someone on the fringes of that world. Labelling them as universal constants called the Purpose and the Random seems like King’s fun way of viewing almost any kind of argument, and you get to decide which side of the debate is which. It’s interesting that the auras present throughout the book never come down on a particular side, reflecting not the truth of the situation (because ultimately it’s a moral issue we have to live with) but the truth about ourselves and how these arguments affect us.
The waitress is a good example. Her aura shows her generally healthy, except an incipient illness in her gut. That’s not a reflection of her political standpoint, rather a fact of her health. If anything, she is nothing but polite to Ralph and Lois, and even apologises to them for getting aggravated when describing her position. It’s even revealed that she has had a child and gave it up for adoption, so we know she means what she says. Ed Deepneau is, in a term I’m sure King would agree with, bugfuck crazy and nowadays would be a QAnon believer. And though he may have always had these pro-life views, it is the influence of the Crimson King and Atropos who have driven him to his kamikaze mission. Both sides are simplistic in their depiction, but I think King is instead using this debate to speak on wider themes of choice, life, death, fate, age… In any case, the argument spills over into real consequences for Derry of fire and brimstone beyond just rhetoric, delivered by the pro-lifer (an interesting elemental contrast to Derry’s previous flooding disaster).
In reality, Maine has an interesting history to abortion. At the time King was writing, Roe v. Wade was considered settled law, and it’s even highlighted in the book that there was never any chance of the Derry civic centre losing its abortion clinic. (On a side note, it’s hilarious that Derry, a town that has a high missing child and death rate, is the one that gets so upset about unborn clumps of cells; another clue to King’s position I think). By 1992, the number of abortion clinics in Maine had gone down from 39 in 1982 to 17; today, there are only four. Yet in 2018, the state has protected the right to abortion. What will happen now after Roe v. Wade was struck down in 2022, the rights to abortion in Maine (and the USA in general) are more unknown. But something that could have slipped more into the background of the book is now more prominent than ever.
The higher powers don’t always have our best interests at heart. Certainly not those agents of the Random, but even those of the Purpose are singularly-focused on their goal with Patrick Danville, just as those who are set on their arguments on abortion, from Susan Day to Ed Deepneau, are not really concerned with the women but being right. And just as those in real life are focused on power over women rather than helping those same women, the truth of this book is not about the abortion clinic or the bald doctors control over our lives, but the lives we choose to lead instead. Sure, some of us are maybe destined to achieve great things, save a universe or three, die trying to blow up a building. But most of us are going to lead lives of pain and love and mundanity, and I think King’s ultimate message is that we should be content with the things in life we can enjoy, to make things better where we can, and fight against those who would do otherwise. Dorrance’s peaceful rainbow aura comes from being at peace with the universe and reading a bunch of poetry, a message I can wholeheartedly get behind.
But I return to King’s own description of the book. Though there is much to enjoy in the book, it is almost a unanimous opinion by everyone who reads this book that it is a slow read. Something like It cracks along at almost twice the page count, whereas Insomnia is full of ruminations on life, death, fate, abortion, choice… This, coupled with many Dark Tower references that I imagine are impenetrable to anyone who hasn’t read the other books can make this a hard read. It’s a slower, more thoughtful book than King is often given credit for, but for those willing to put in the effort, the result is ultimately a rewarding experience for the Constant Reader.
Long days and pleasant nights.
Observations and Connections
Quite a bit for this one.
The main one is our big return to Derry, which we last saw destroyed and ravaged by a storm in It, though did seem to have recovered somewhat by the time of The Tommyknockers and Secret Window, Secret Garden. The children even held a penny drive to get the police a jaws of life clamp after the flood in ’85. With Derry’s return, there are many locations mentioned that previously appeared, most notably the Derry Public Library and its Head Librarian, Mike Hanlon. Mike was, of course, one of the members of the Losers from It, and it is a delight to see him still doing well. Another Loser, Ben ‘Haystack’ Hanscom, designed the Civic Centre in Derry after the one destroyed in the ’85 flood. Though if the Losers forgot everything, how did big shot architect Ben Hanscom come to design something for Derry? Maybe there are echoes of memory, in the same way Bill’s childhood forms his horror novels. Oscar Bowers, Henry’s father, is mentioned too. There’s another policeman called Nell, though it’s not clear exactly what relation Nell has to the one the Losers encountered as children.
Speaking of locations, Juniper Hill is mentioned as one the mental health hospitals that Charlie Pickering visited. Juniper Hill has been mentioned almost as often as Shawshank is, and also first appeared in It. Haven is mentioned as if people still live there, which considering what state it was in at the close of The Tommyknockers is a miracle. Ludlow, first major appearance in Pet Sematary, is also mentioned. More than that, Gage’s shoe is in Atropos’ lair, hinting Atropos may have had some role to play in Gage’s death that the Sematary (and Random) took advantage of.
As a sort-of sequel to It, there are references to events described in that book too numerous to mention. One worth highlighting though is Adrian Mellon’s murder, with the story of his attackers drowning and tearing chunks out of him. Though it makes sense that Pennywise isn’t common knowledge, the Constant Reader’s knowledge of the reality actually fleshes out King’s world in a similar way to Dolores Claiborne; the supernatural is there, at the edges, but most will never know the truth.
Raymond Andrew Joubert, a character from Stephen King’s book Gerald’s Game, is mentioned. He was the Space Cowboy, if you forgot.
Ralph’s conversation with the bald doctors and what basically amounts to as God has ramifications within the Dark Tower series. The Other, the ultimate agent of the Purpose, maybe, was mentioned in It? Certain moments in It can be read that way, which makes one wonder how long King has been thinking about these ideas. Roland, the lead character of the Dark Tower books, is mentioned, as is descriptions of the Tower in a field of roses, ka (and indeed, -tet) and the phrase ‘other worlds than these.’ The cosmology of the Tower expands with the introduction of the Crimson King (who could be said to have had a presence in previous books – I speculated about one in ‘Salem’s Lot for example). The Crimson King knows about Pennywise, indirectly referencing It. Some think they may be the same character, but considering later, similar monsters of King’s, I don’t think that’s likely. After all Derry (and probably the surrounding towns – Tarker’s Mill, Chamberlain, Chapelwhaite…) are a point of convergence for Weird Shit. The Crimson King is almost certainly a reference to King Crimson. Personally, I prefer Pink Floyd.
And speaking of Dolores, this one is quite a deep cut. Atropos, one of the villains of this story, was briefly mentioned by Dolores Claiborne in her titular book. However, rather than an early bird reference, Atropos there is more likely a reference to the Greek God of myth. Interesting that it crops up there though.
Dorrance mentions many poets throughout the book. Robert Creely comes up a few times, and if the name is familiar it’s because King used one of his poems as a chapter epigraph in Christine.
And finally, time for some fun, if baseless, fan speculation. Could Clotho and Lachesis, as agents of the Purpose, be responsible for other books in King’s canon? Considering how Ralph is affected by the actions of those two, it sounds similar to how Johnny Smith was affected back in The Dead Zone. Maybe Johnny, with his visions from the Purpose, is able to stop Greg Stillson, who is on a mission from the Random? Of all of King’s previous stories, this one seems the most likely for some fun retroactive continuity welding.
UP NEXT: A brush with #E32636 – AKA, Rose Madder.
Deeper Thoughts for the Horror Inclined 