Anne Wilkes in Stephen King's Misery

A detailed Summary of Anne Wilkes in Stephen King's Misery

What does it take to frighten an author of best-selling horror novels? In Misery, Stephen King embodies a writer's fears about himself as a writer and about the continuation of his creativity in a richly elaborated and horrifi-cally psychotic woman, Annie Wilkes. In the novel, Annie represents a mother figure, a goddess, and a "constant reader". In reality, however, An-nie merely represents a creative part of King's mind.

Annie Wilkes is a proud mother of two children--a historical-romance novelist, Paul Sheldon, and his extremely popular heroine Misery Chastain. Annie must nurse and educate Paul. Gottschalk elaborates, "Annie views Paul in a madly maternal way. Early in her custody of Paul, she brings him pills for his excruciating pain, but he must suck them off her fingers in a grotesque parody of a nursing child" (125). If she leaves him untended too long, Paul wets his bed, and she must change his sheets and clothes. When he is tired or frustrated, he weeps like a small child. Annie ensures his childlike dependence on her and an ""expression of maternal love" (King 159) with his addiction to pain killing-drugs. Annie's disciplinary actions contribute to her mother figure, also. Gottschalk writes, "When he has been

Annie represents a constant reader. Annie and her obsession with Sheldon's romance novels reflect the demands of an expectant audience. As Badley writes, "Sheldon's writing is like Annie's reading-an addiction, linked with the pain-killing drugs she alternately offers and withholds" (Badley 178). Annie, therefore, is a direct result of Paul's success in at-tracting and addicting readers. In fact, Annie comes to embody all that Sheldon's heroine Misery's name suggests. Annie must also be recognized as, "the disparaging remarks of academic critics and reviewers-that seek to confine the art of Sheldon...into reductive and therefore safe categories" (Magistrale 126). Annie dictates the course of Sheldon's newest book. Anything less than perfect receives harsh criticism at the least. Badley re-flects Annie's representation as an audience, "the novel is about being cut to fit fan expectations" (Badley 175). Sheldon receives direct feedback from his 'readers' and is therefore able to produce his best Misery novel, ever. Annie's destructiveness takes 'constructive criticism' to a whole new meaning. In the long run, Sheldon needs the terrible Annie more than he de-feats her. However, one question remains: If Annie is an image of King's readership,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Misery Annie, Paul Gottschalk, Misery Chastain, Annie Wilkes, Paul Annie, Wilkes Annie, Stephen King, Paul's Misery's, Rider Haggard, Annie Gottschalk, misery chastain, self-enclosed world, misery's return, annie wilkes, novel annie's destructiveness, mother figure, annie represents, constant reader, annie's powerful, annie's destructiveness, annie comes embody, comes embody,

Approximate Word count = 847
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.