What is King's fascination with abusing dogs?

[JAMESTHEKINGFAN]

Just got a copy of The Dead Zone on Sunday from Goodwill. I got to the part where the guy is in the apartment, and he just scared his fellow teacher girlfriend. Then I stopped and realized I just read where a Bible salesman beat and killed a dog for no other reason than the dog being territorial and ripping his pants-cuff.

What is with king using so much animal violence? I understand the points of the horror he uses most of the time, but something about cruelty to animals just seems a bit much to me. Any thoughts, especially thoughts that can give me more insight into why this horrible act happens in the book? So far I like the novel—it is very entertaining as a story.

[Moderator]

He doesn't hate dogs (he has one) but he knows how people react to such events and making people care one way or another about his characters (even the non-human ones) is part of what he's interested in achieving with his writing.

[Sigmund]

I haven't noticed SK using "so much animal violence". I love animals and I think I would have picked up on this. I can't remember specifically that part of The Dead Zone so I can't comment on it. Sometimes things that happen early on in the book will be addressed later on in the book.

[rjt65]

People who perform cruel acts on animals are dirt. A Lot of criminal sociopaths start out torturing defenseless animals and work their way up to humans. If capable of cruelty to animals, not a far stretch on the person's value system being known as bad or psychotic.

So the animal cruelty is the Characters bad fault, not Kings. Capisce?

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Bad people do bad things, and in that one two page section about the dog he tells you everything that you need to know about Greg Stillson.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Patricia A]

Just got a copy of The Dead Zone on Sunday from Goodwill. I got to the part where the guy is in the apartment, and he just scared his fellow teacher girlfriend. Then I stopped and realized I just read where a Bible salesman beat and killed a dog for no other reason than the dog being territorial and ripping his pants-cuff.

What is with king using so much animal violence? I understand the points of the horror he uses most of the time, but something about cruelty to animals just seems a bit much to me. Any thoughts, especially thoughts that can give me more insight into why this horrible act happens in the book? So far I like the novel—it is very entertaining as a story.

I loved The Dead Zone, I hated what happened to the dog but that's the kind of stuff crazy mean people do, so I suppose it just made a huge point of what a whack job this guy was. I think The Dead Zone is one of King's finest. It's a great story and I hope you continue to enjoy it.
You might want to steer clear of Cujo though.... just saying.

[~Ally~]

I guess in Kings book's people AND animals get abused as this is similar to reality.

The salesman basically killed the dog because he could. He felt challenged and exerted his authority in this way as there were no witnesses. Maybe in his head if there was no~one to see it happen, then it didn't really happen? Either way if you continue with the book you will discover the salesman is quite an important character, so it's good to have this earlier insight into his psyche and what makes him tick or explode. Persevere with the story, you will get the answers you are looking for.

[Snaggletooth]

Your post made me stop and think about all of the SK books I've read (and that's all of them except one). Can't say that I see a trend here...Cujo did most of the damage in that book, and even he was afflicted by a non-manmade disease. Other than that, I can't think of any other examples. I hate to see animals abused, whether in print or real life, so I probably would have remembered any other SK scenarios. It sounds like you're over-generalizing here. No biggie.

[dwalters]

I have to admit I have noticed this in several of his books. My thought was that he does it to make you loathe the character in question even more, and from Ms. Mod's post it appears that was correct.

[scarywriter]

Aside from child abuse, there is little that is as offensive to readers as someone hurting a loyal and loving dog. It stirs emotions.