Houston Southard

Stephen King - Rage

Lord of the flies meets Catcher in the Rye meets Columbine. A potboiler discourse on groupthink, rebellion, torment and angst-induced loneliness. A hostage situation turned stockholm kumbaya circle, after shooting his algebra teacher, Charlie Decker forces his classmates to justify their existence and look at the influences affecting their hormone-ruled personalities. Unsurprisingly, you won't find a copy unless you pillage it online or break your bank for an original copy (guilty and guilty).

In '66, King writes this, his very first story. '77, it's published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman, a tactic to circumvent notoriety he'd drummed up with his earlier nihilistic works like 'Cain Rose Up'. '88 and '89, California and Kentucky classrooms are held hostage in attempts to act out the book. Washington '96, a Rage-inspired teen kills his Algebra teacher and two peers. Kentucky '97, the Prayer Slayer kills three students, a copy of Rage in his locker. '98, King removes Rage from publishing, relenting that although his words weren't cause for the massacres, they may have accelerated the motivations of those already on the brink who found the book validating.

This is a story about the socially-weak usurping command. An allegory about what people feel when they're stripped of power and autonomy. This country will never examine Rage as it now does the once-banned Fahrenheit 451, and outside of the obvious reasons, that's okay. It's riddled with the same dimestore philosophy and indignation innate to teenage writing, but is still a notable piece of history from the mind of the world's most prolific wordslinger.

What King teaches us is that if we spent more time unpacking the ugly thoughts we're so eager to box up, our youth would have less rage. Until then we'll stay willfully ignorant denying the monsters we're responsible for making.