Mr. Bob Gray

[ronnieatomic]

I'm currently reading IT for the first time after being a fan of the movie for years. Something struck me while reading the other day.

When Pennywise first appears he introduces himself as Mr. Bob Gray. I've seen other discussions on this topic as to the origin of the name but none of them mention what I saw in the name.

Bob Gray is an anagram for Grab Boy, which is exactly what pennywise does to Georgie at this point in the novel. I wonder if this was intentional or just coincidence.

I'm new to the forum and apologize if this is common knowledge, just thought it was interesting.

[Robert Gray]

I'm currently reading IT for the first time after being a fan of the movie for years. Something struck me while reading the other day.

When Pennywise first appears he introduces himself as Mr. Bob Gray. I've seen other discussions on this topic as to the origin of the name but none of them mention what I saw in the name.

Bob Gray is an anagram for Grab Boy, which is exactly what pennywise does to Georgie at this point in the novel. I wonder if this was intentional or just coincidence.

I'm new to the forum and apologize if this is common knowledge, just thought it was interesting.

I had noticed the anagram but I wrote that off as a coincidence, largely because he does use the name with other people too (like Bev) which would seem to indicate he isn't just using anagrams for his various faces. I suspect that perhaps the name was supposed to have a greater meaning when the novel started but as the story evolved, was chipped from the stone it became apparent that the name wasn't special. The name was merely convenient, i.e.

Show Spoiler

one of the countless faces it uses on a regular basis. The monster that haunts Derry is a creature of habit. The clown disguise was adopted as a way to get close to children, not to scare them. It learns certain shapes and lazily uses them over and over again when it isn't pulling an image directly from the mind of a victim.

In short, It isn't a clown. It isn't Robert Gray. It isn't even really a spider. By the end of the book the importance of the name is zero. The only name that really applies is the one the Losers gave it, i.e. IT.

[GNTLGNT]

...I knew OUR Bob Gray was hiding somethin'!......