Stephen King and eye injuries

[Flayer]

Has anyone else noticed that one of the most commonly reoccuring things in Stephen King's novels is someone losing an eye? I'm wondering if that's just a personal horror of Stephen's or something.



-George Stark stabs a cop through the eye in The Dark Half
-Alice gets an eye knocked out when a cinderblock is thrown at her head in Cell
-Cujo the dog gets stabbed through the eye with that broken bat
-The woman Pam in Rose Madder accidentally impales her eye on a coathook running from Norman
-I'm pretty sure Rogette Whitmore loses an eye when her face gets slammed on the dock in Bag of Bones
-Rachel Creed gets stabbed through the eye in Pet Sematary
-Tick Tock Man gets an eye scratched out by Oy in The Wastelands
-Crimson King gets an eye stabbed out by Ralph Roberts in Insomnia
-Randall Flagg is made to pull out his own eyes by Mordred
-Cuthbert gets shot in the eye by Flagg with an arrow
-Flagg gets shot in the eye with an arrow in Eyes of the Dragon
-Traschan Man loses an eye to radiation poisoning at the end of The Stand
-Nick Andros gets an eye gouged in the Stand and has to wear an eyepatch
-Lloyd's partner Poke gets an eye shot out at the beginning of the Stand
-I think Evan McCone loses an eye when Richards shoots his head in Running Man
-Ralph Carver loses his eyes to Tak in eagle form at the end of Desperation
-A girl in Regulators loses an eye in a shotgun blast
-A test subject in Firestarter claws out his eyes under the influence of drugs
-John Rainbird in Firestarter lost an eye in the Vietnam War
-A couple of the Tommyknockers have there eyes explode due to odd effects of the spaceship
-In Green Mile there was a kid who lost an eye when a dog bit his face

[Sugar Marie]

I think SK knows he hits a nerve in the "ewww" response of his readers.

There's nothing that makes me squirm more than something awful happening to someones eye/eyes.

[Mr Nobody]

I think eye trauma strikes a nerve in everyone. Part of it would be the fear of becoming blind, and then there's the squirm factor to be had out of creating a specific mental image.
At a guess, I'd say most women and a fair few men find what happens to Lisey Landon tough to read. And then there's the bit in Gerald's Game.

Some might say it's a bit of a cheap shot, going for the easy 'scare'...but if not done right, it can become ridiculous. In fact, IMO, it takes a lot of skill to write 'eyeball' segments properly.

[pepino]

Well, SK has macular degeneration so he obviously incorporates his own fears of blindness in his writing.

[staropeace]

Mr.King failing sight may have something to do with it. Then again,it could only be a coincidence.

[PatInTheHat]

Well hell, if those characters had bothered to read his books themselves (you know, before the uhh, unfortunate incident), I believe they might consider themselves quite lucky all things considering.
(Just thought I'd throw that out there)

[Nero]

I think this one is kind of like the "dog cruelty" question... putting in something horrible and shocking.

Basically, other than my ... wang... the eye is the next least place I would want to take serious injury.

[Drewzor]

Don't forget Flagg getting shot in the eye with the great arrow Foehammer in The Eyes of the Dragon.

[Srbo]

I think SK knows he hits a nerve in the "ewww" response of his readers.

There's nothing that makes me squirm more than something awful happening to someones eye/eyes.

Ditto.

[tillyn]

I know when i see anything happen to an eye/eyes in movies or reading about it, it always makes me want to ralph.