- After the Flood (1957)
- After the Carnival (1984)
- Six Phone Calls (1985)
- Derry: The First Interlude
- Ben Hanscom Takes a Fall
- Bill Denbrough Beats the Devil (I)
- One of the Missing: A Tale From the Summer of '58
- The Dam In the Barrens
- Georgie's Room and the House On Neibolt Street
- Cleaning Up
- Derry: The Second Interlude
- The Reunion
- Walking Tours
- Three Uninvited Guests
- Derry: The Third Interlude
- The Apocalyptic Rockfight
- The Album
- The Smoke-Hole
- Eddie's Bad Break
- Another One of the Missing: The Death of Patrick Hockstetter
- The Bullseye
- Derry: The Fourth Interlude
- In the Watches of the Night
- The Circle Closes
- Under the City
- The Ritual of Chud
- Out
- Derry: The Final Interlude
- Epilogue: Bill Denbrough Beats the Devil (II)
In the Watches of the Night
The final section of the novel, "The Ritual of Chud," is a classical third act. Everything we have built up this far, every path we've trotted, now comes to its conclusion as the stage is set for the final showdown! Throughout the next five chapters, we continuously cut back and forth between the two plotlines, often in alternating sections. Each section will end in the middle of a sentence and the next section begins with its continuation. This adds a certain dream-feel to the flow of events, and also adds a sense of climax...we've spent this whole novel cutting back and forth between two plotlines and now they are finally meeting in the middle. "In the Watches of the Night" remains my favorite chapter in this climax because it juggles so many events, and various running threads reach their crescendos: Henry & Butch's relationship, Beverly & Al's relationship, Ben's crush on Beverly, Beverly's crush on Bill, and the fate of the clubhouse.
In 1958, Henry awakens to find a package has arrived on his door...from Pennywise! It is a switchblade knife. Almost in a drugged daze, he goes and murders his father, who is still asleep and surrounded by beer cans. At first, this seems a bit random; Henry has never shown any inclination of wanting to kill his father before. But it also represents a final threshold for Henry: his father, though abusive, was at least some symbol of structure in Henry's life; now even that's gone and Henry has crossed over into insanity. He calls up his two sidekicks, ready to make the kill!
Meanwhile, Beverly comes home to find her enraged father ready to attack her; he has seen her playing with all the boys and immediately accuses her of being a slut, and then wants to "check something." His intense jealousy, though controlled by Pennywise, is obviously stemmed from incestuous lust. Beverly finally stands up to him in a scene reminiscent of how she will stand up to Tom, then runs for her life through a wild chase through Derry, even going under a dumpster. She eventually escapes her father only to be attacked by Henry, Belch, and Victor. When an old lady in a car pulls over to interfere, Henry psychotically attacks the car and kicks out the taillights, leaving the old lady to drive away scared! Beverly escapes and runs to Ben. As they talk, she admits she knows that he sent her the haiku and admits to loving all of them. However, the bullies discover the clubhouse and so the the Losers have to regroup.
As Eddie chats with Richie and Stan, they have a lighthearted conversation about religions: Eddie is amazed by some of the dietary rules in Stan's Judaism, and then in Richie's Catholicism. All of them conclude that none of it really makes sense and Richie points out Hitler was a Catholic. It's a short little exchange that shows our heroes are naive to some things but still make very good points. All religion is strange and confusing, and so is the supernatural evil of the real world. Once the Losers all unite and learn from Beverly and Ben what is going on, Bill leads them to what they all know will be the final showdown. They run through the Barrens and enter the Standpipe, then climb down into the sewers. Walking together, the seven of them head off to confront and kill It, followed by Henry, Belch, and Victor.
In 1985, the Losers leave the library, their memories fully restored. Beverly opens up to Bill and, once they get to his hotel room, they make love and she recalls having made love to all six of them that day. Meanwhile, Mike is still at the library when he is attacked by the adult Henry. Mike is brutally wounded and left for dead. He calls the police and, despite only hearing Pennywise's taunt over the phone, is still able to summon help as Henry flees into the night. It is worth noting that, although Mike survives to the end of this novel, his role in the story is essentially over. He is to be only an observer from now on. The other five Losers are all on their own!
In one of the creepiest and most unnerving scenes of the novel, Henry staggers outside until he is picked up by a ghostly car, driven by the corpse of Belch Huggins. He apologizes to Belch for leaving him to die, and in his thoughts we get the only real explanation we'll ever get of what exactly happened to them down in the sewers. Henry is driven all the way to The Derry Town House, then given the room numbers of the remaining five. He goes to Eddie's room first and prepares to attack, but Eddie is able to fight back. A violent scuffle ensues and Eddie triumphantly kills Henry in self-defense! What incredible irony that Henry Bowers, the cruelest schoolyard bully to ever live, would be killed by the meekest of all the children he victimized! Yet it also seals Eddie's fate: before our tale ends, he will pay for the life he has taken with his own! He quickly calls Bill's room for help, much to the chagrin of the desk clerk.
The chapter ends with our child heroes in the sewers, ready to confront the evil, and our adult heroes not quite there yet. But no worries: the next chapter will give allow them to catch up.
In 1958, Henry awakens to find a package has arrived on his door...from Pennywise! It is a switchblade knife. Almost in a drugged daze, he goes and murders his father, who is still asleep and surrounded by beer cans. At first, this seems a bit random; Henry has never shown any inclination of wanting to kill his father before. But it also represents a final threshold for Henry: his father, though abusive, was at least some symbol of structure in Henry's life; now even that's gone and Henry has crossed over into insanity. He calls up his two sidekicks, ready to make the kill!
Meanwhile, Beverly comes home to find her enraged father ready to attack her; he has seen her playing with all the boys and immediately accuses her of being a slut, and then wants to "check something." His intense jealousy, though controlled by Pennywise, is obviously stemmed from incestuous lust. Beverly finally stands up to him in a scene reminiscent of how she will stand up to Tom, then runs for her life through a wild chase through Derry, even going under a dumpster. She eventually escapes her father only to be attacked by Henry, Belch, and Victor. When an old lady in a car pulls over to interfere, Henry psychotically attacks the car and kicks out the taillights, leaving the old lady to drive away scared! Beverly escapes and runs to Ben. As they talk, she admits she knows that he sent her the haiku and admits to loving all of them. However, the bullies discover the clubhouse and so the the Losers have to regroup.
As Eddie chats with Richie and Stan, they have a lighthearted conversation about religions: Eddie is amazed by some of the dietary rules in Stan's Judaism, and then in Richie's Catholicism. All of them conclude that none of it really makes sense and Richie points out Hitler was a Catholic. It's a short little exchange that shows our heroes are naive to some things but still make very good points. All religion is strange and confusing, and so is the supernatural evil of the real world. Once the Losers all unite and learn from Beverly and Ben what is going on, Bill leads them to what they all know will be the final showdown. They run through the Barrens and enter the Standpipe, then climb down into the sewers. Walking together, the seven of them head off to confront and kill It, followed by Henry, Belch, and Victor.
In 1985, the Losers leave the library, their memories fully restored. Beverly opens up to Bill and, once they get to his hotel room, they make love and she recalls having made love to all six of them that day. Meanwhile, Mike is still at the library when he is attacked by the adult Henry. Mike is brutally wounded and left for dead. He calls the police and, despite only hearing Pennywise's taunt over the phone, is still able to summon help as Henry flees into the night. It is worth noting that, although Mike survives to the end of this novel, his role in the story is essentially over. He is to be only an observer from now on. The other five Losers are all on their own!
In one of the creepiest and most unnerving scenes of the novel, Henry staggers outside until he is picked up by a ghostly car, driven by the corpse of Belch Huggins. He apologizes to Belch for leaving him to die, and in his thoughts we get the only real explanation we'll ever get of what exactly happened to them down in the sewers. Henry is driven all the way to The Derry Town House, then given the room numbers of the remaining five. He goes to Eddie's room first and prepares to attack, but Eddie is able to fight back. A violent scuffle ensues and Eddie triumphantly kills Henry in self-defense! What incredible irony that Henry Bowers, the cruelest schoolyard bully to ever live, would be killed by the meekest of all the children he victimized! Yet it also seals Eddie's fate: before our tale ends, he will pay for the life he has taken with his own! He quickly calls Bill's room for help, much to the chagrin of the desk clerk.
The chapter ends with our child heroes in the sewers, ready to confront the evil, and our adult heroes not quite there yet. But no worries: the next chapter will give allow them to catch up.