The Townspeople of Derry in Stephen King's IT: Bystanders and responsibility for evil

Crofts, P

The Townspeople of Derry in Stephen King's IT: Bystanders and responsibility for evil

Crofts, P

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Publisher:: University Press of Mississippi
Publication Type:: Chapter
Citation:: Encountering Pennywise: Critical Perspectives on Stephen King's IT, 2022, pp. 115-134
Issue Date:: 2022-10-31

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Crofts, P https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6018-7159
dc.contributor.editor	May, W
dc.date.accessioned	2022-11-08T04:21:16Z
dc.date.available	2022-11-08T04:21:16Z
dc.date.issued	2022-10-31
dc.identifier.citation	Encountering Pennywise: Critical Perspectives on Stephen King's IT, 2022, pp. 115-134
dc.identifier.isbn	9781496842220
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/163317
dc.description.abstract	Although in Stephen King's IT, Pennywise the evil, supernatural monster is the most obvious and fabulous villain, a great deal of the horror of IT lies in the representation of the complicity of the townspeople of Derry. IT illustrates the ways in which evil flourishes because the bystanders around the perpetrator fail to intervene and therefore are part of a conspiracy of silence. IT offers a meditation on the significance of context in the tolerance of, and failure to prevent, evil. This complicity is all too common. This chapter explores the culpabilty of bystanders, through an analysis of the bystanders in the novel and the individuals and organizations that surrounded and shielded Larry Nassar while he sexually abused American gymnasts for decades with seeming impunity.
dc.format.extent	11
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	University Press of Mississippi
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE180100577
dc.relation.ispartof	Encountering Pennywise: Critical Perspectives on Stephen King's IT
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	The Townspeople of Derry in Stephen King's IT: Bystanders and responsibility for evil
dc.type	Chapter
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2022-11-08T04:21:15Z
pubs.place-of-publication	Mississippi
pubs.publication-status	Published
dc.location	Mississippi

Abstract:

Although in Stephen King's IT, Pennywise the evil, supernatural monster is the most obvious and fabulous villain, a great deal of the horror of IT lies in the representation of the complicity of the townspeople of Derry. IT illustrates the ways in which evil flourishes because the bystanders around the perpetrator fail to intervene and therefore are part of a conspiracy of silence. IT offers a meditation on the significance of context in the tolerance of, and failure to prevent, evil. This complicity is all too common. This chapter explores the culpabilty of bystanders, through an analysis of the bystanders in the novel and the individuals and organizations that surrounded and shielded Larry Nassar while he sexually abused American gymnasts for decades with seeming impunity.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/163317