TY Extended Essay: Shan, King, Baker.

The latest TY Extended Essay we're posting is by Thomas Emmet, and examines violence in three works of fiction: Bec by Darren Shan, The Shining by Stephen King (famously made into a film starring Jack Nicholson), and a radio play, The Shepherd by Garrett Baker, which last week won the 'Drama of the Year' for RTE Radio 1 at the PPI Radio Awards.

Thomas writes, about the central figures of the latter two books:-

These two violent characters are incredibly well written. Both Garret Baker and Stephen King write them as very complex characters but in completely different ways. Anyone who has read a Stephen King novel knows that no character he writes is without a tragic backstory or some kind of mental disorder. This is not a bad thing. Fragmented characters are far more interesting then the one dimensional heroes that many pulp writers create. Jack Torrance is no different. He is one of the best-written Stephen King characters as we see his journey from father with a second chance to raving lunatic, and still have sympathy for him. Stephen King says in his introduction "a man who tries to kill his family partly because of his father’s influence over him... now that's scary”, which is a perfect description of what he creates. This is a very real monster, a creation of what we all have the potential to do.

Read the full Extended Essay here.