The A word.

[Tiny]

hello, I am new. I love this forum . I can say with out
any doubt, that 1408 is all about alcoholism. You know SK is an alcoholic. Trust me . The whole thing is a three dimensional metaphor for being a drunk. I my self am a drunk- I know of what I speak. Iv been in AA for 14 years. I know it when I see it. Metaphor or otherwise. I love Stephen King, I can call him a drunk (im allowed). I love him.
I will detail all this, if anyone wants me to. But its hard to explain. The one thing you will all realize is that the guy in the movie is sipping from a bottle through the whole thing, untill the end. He throws it in the fire place.
Has SK ever spken about this? The achie-1408 connection, I mean>?

Anyway, im really glad to be here.:love:

[TBlack]

Glad to have ya Tiny!
Keep comin' back!

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Not as far as I know, but then, he DID choose 1408 for the example at the end of On Writing (which you MUST read, if you haven't already BTW), so you may have something there.

Welcome to the MB, and keep posting!

Long days and pleasant nights

[Selena_Kitt]

If you look, there's a LOT of alcoholism/addiction and recovery in his work. Much of it isn't direct (although some of it us) but it's there.

[Bryan James]

If tobacco is "Indian's Revenge," alcohol is "Judas Juice."

To paraphrase Homer Simpson, "Ah, alcohol. The solution to...and the cause of...all of life's problems."

I'm a functional drinker. I know that it's a slippery slope though. When you slide fast enough you don't hit the bottom and rebound...you just crash through into Hell.

I see loads of alcohol and tobacco references in everything I read. Not because they were intended by the writer, but because my brain is pre-wired for them.

If I don't have a squirrel on my back, I have a couple monkeys perched there.

~BJS

[pathoftheturtle]

Well, King wrote, in "Stephen King Goes To The Movies" that in his story the room would drive people insane with the kind of alien sensations and mental input that are only experienced in fever dreams, or under L.S.D. I think that that's just talking about the effects, tho. To me, the real central meaning of 1408 is deep and cosmological.
I've never been an alcoholic, but I do recognize the influence that King's experience dealing with it has had on other works of his. I just don't really believe that it's the main thrust of this one... if that is what you were trying to say.

[Tiny]

tommyknockers , the shining; are of course all about drunks. there maybe some im forgeting. T.K. really gets detailed about meetings and the meeting lists and everything.
The Shinning was writen before he got sober. what other drunks are in his work? I know im forgeting some, was there a big drunk in IT?

[Cowboy]

Alcoholism??? I thought this thread was going to be about asstronomy.

[kelly7898]

hello, I am new. I love this forum . I can say with out
any doubt, that 1408 is all about alcoholism. You know SK is an alcoholic. Trust me . The whole thing is a three dimensional metaphor for being a drunk. I my self am a drunk- I know of what I speak. Iv been in AA for 14 years. I know it when I see it. Metaphor or otherwise. I love Stephen King, I can call him a drunk (im allowed). I love him.
I will detail all this, if anyone wants me to. But its hard to explain. The one thing you will all realize is that the guy in the movie is sipping from a bottle through the whole thing, untill the end. He throws it in the fire place.
Has SK ever spken about this? The achie-1408 connection, I mean>?

Anyway, im really glad to be here.:love:
Hi , I am a new member of forum. Would a newcomer be warmly welcome here? Good day you guys!!!

[GNTLGNT]

All newcomers are welcome Kelly...and Tiny that's a take on 1408 I blew right past when I read it. I felt at the conclusion, it was a commentary on how fragile sanity is...(Right Harvey? Yes, as a matter of fact I AM talking to a big rabbit!)

[king family fan]

Welcome to the board. Enjoy all thats offered here.

[jcadams]

Wasn't Bev's father an alcoholic? or just an abuser?

[Sigmund]

Zoom! Right over my head (again)!
I saw 1408 as man with issues with his father, then deceased. And his liitle girl, who had died, and he was angry and not believing there is a heaven. In his grief he starts investigating "haunted" places and claims of ghosts and spirits. He writes books debunking the spiritual apparitions. I think he wants to believe that there are or can be spirits that we/he can see and maybe communicate with.
In his quest to prove there are no such things he finds a "room" where there are, "in fact" ghosts, spirits. He even has encounters with his Father where he confronts what ever guilt he had over the circumstances of his Fathers death. Also, he sees his dead daughter and "interacts" with her, again with the guilt that he couldn't save her from her illness.
He was looking for a real haunted place and he found it-and experienced it.
To put a spin on a saying, "Be careful what you seek, you may find it"

[CDennisMoore]

I saw it, the movie version anyway, as a story about faith. Mike doesn't want his wife to fill his daughter with empty hope of a non-existent afterlife, and once his daughter his gone, Enslin's entire life becomes a search for proof there is more after death, in the hopes that just maybe his daughter still exists, somewhere, in some form. In all his searches, he's never found one lick of evidence that anything exists in the world that might be supernatural. That's the last few seconds of the movie when he's replaying the tape, finally he experiences some kind of proof, some reassurance his daughter is still around, and with that, of course, comes hope he'll one day get to see her again.

My daughter was 6 when the movie came out and I don't know what I'd do if anything like that happened to her. I connected emotionally with this movie in a big way on those grounds.

[Tiny]

HI !!!! I'm back, my name is Tiny and i'm still new around here. I am very poor. I didn't have the internet for a long time because i owe A.O.L . --$99.00 DOLLARS US. I'm still a new comer.

After reading all of your posts. I have come to believe that 1408 is multi-layered , its about alcoholism ...but also its about many other things to. as you have all said (above). Does Steven King ever come her>? I wish he would "chime in" on issues such as this. I'm sure he is too busy though
I for got to say that in the alcohol metaphor: whats going on in the book is called a "4th and 5th step" (in the lingo of AA meetings) and the hotel manager (Morgan Freeman) is symbolic of whats called a 'sponsor' . 1408 is about many things (including alcohol) THANK YOU ALL FOR TEACHING ME.
[[Dear Mr King--please chime in]]...LOL

[Tiny]

one more thing to all the people that RE to this thread.:::
YOU say true and I say thank Ye!!!

[Tiny]

** sorry its Samuel L. Jackson, not Morgan Freeman.

[clownshooter]

Welcom Tiny and I second both JohnDalglish and Sigmund's opinions. If you haven't read Mr. King's "On Writing," I suggest you take Mr. JohnDalglish's advice and pick up a copy when you can. It's very enlightening and a very good textbook for those aspiring to write.

[jenniegeo]

Ah I know this is an older thread but here I am. Was glad to stumble upon it as it is often thought about.I know from reading things that mr. K has said, he did have some years of trouble with substances. I feel that I notice generally when the books were written during this period but I could be wrong... to me things like The Dark Half, Salems Lot, cujo, and the earlymid to mid works in general have a substance-induced feverish tone to them. They are more frightening in an in-your-face way? Then I feel that later works have more sensitivity and are chilling in a subtle, terrifying way. Just MO. All I really know is that I love them all and am glad for us(and feel bad for sk) that he is not retired yet!! I got married at 3pm on June 19th of 1999, and remember being terrified that mr. King had gotten hurt so very badly. Felt awful for him and his to be going thru this.Very glad he managed to fight for it.

[motocop]

tommyknockers , the shining; are of course all about drunks. there maybe some im forgeting. T.K. really gets detailed about meetings and the meeting lists and everything.
The Shinning was writen before he got sober. what other drunks are in his work? I know im forgeting some, was there a big drunk in IT?

The Library Policeman from Four Past Midnight speaks quite in depth about alcoholics, their hardships, and AA meetings.