- 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)
Ben Hanscom Takes a Fall
We now enter the "June of 1958" section, which consists of six chapters in the childhood story told in flashback from the adults as they travel to Derry, each one focusing on a separate character and including a Horrific Experience...with one notable exception. Also, the title of this chapter references a recurring sentence motif throughout the book: King keeps using titles like "Stan Uris Takes a Bath" and "Bev Rogan Pays a Call." This does get tiresome after a while; it is reminiscent of the old Dick and Jane books. Get used to it because King is going to keep doing it.
As Adult Ben is on a plane to Derry, he has a flashback. Young Ben gets his report card on the last day of school and hurries to the library, living in fear of Henry Bowers. At this point, we finally meet Henry, who has been mentioned several times. We learn that this is more than just your typical bully: this kid is literally psychotic. We also meet the two sidekicks that make up the core of his gang: the hulk-ish brute Belch Huggins and the reluctant Victor Criss. Eventually, Henry and his gang catch up with Ben and begin to inflict cruelty when Ben fights back, leading to a fall into the Barrens. There Ben is able to outwit them and hides away, having a dream about his Horrific Experience: several weeks earlier, he encountered a Mummy with balloons, who had the face of a clown. Ben wakes up and meets Bill and Eddie, the latter of whom is having an asthma attack.
This is a great chapter and I love that Ben is the one who leads us into the heart of the children's story. It establishes that Ben is a sensitive and caring character, and we love him. We watch as our heroes slowly go about meeting each other, encounter their enemy in Henry, and also deal with their own traumas. The supernatural aspects of this story are still in the background, but are slowly becoming the dominant subject.
As Adult Ben is on a plane to Derry, he has a flashback. Young Ben gets his report card on the last day of school and hurries to the library, living in fear of Henry Bowers. At this point, we finally meet Henry, who has been mentioned several times. We learn that this is more than just your typical bully: this kid is literally psychotic. We also meet the two sidekicks that make up the core of his gang: the hulk-ish brute Belch Huggins and the reluctant Victor Criss. Eventually, Henry and his gang catch up with Ben and begin to inflict cruelty when Ben fights back, leading to a fall into the Barrens. There Ben is able to outwit them and hides away, having a dream about his Horrific Experience: several weeks earlier, he encountered a Mummy with balloons, who had the face of a clown. Ben wakes up and meets Bill and Eddie, the latter of whom is having an asthma attack.
This is a great chapter and I love that Ben is the one who leads us into the heart of the children's story. It establishes that Ben is a sensitive and caring character, and we love him. We watch as our heroes slowly go about meeting each other, encounter their enemy in Henry, and also deal with their own traumas. The supernatural aspects of this story are still in the background, but are slowly becoming the dominant subject.