Inspiration for Junior

[ocroheskc]

I'm not much of a Stephen King fan and had never read one of his full-length novels before Under the Dome. I zipped through it on an e-reader and found it to be a quick and quite enjoyable read.

Some slight spoiler material follows...

One thing that I'm wondering is if the character Junior might have been inspired in part by the infamous Charles Whitman, known as the "UT tower sniper," who had an abusive father and ended up being abusive to his wife and eventually killing her, his mother, and then ultimately wreaking a death toll of 14 killed and 32 wounded in a hail of sniper bullets from a University of Texas tower.

Whitman suffered from a glioblastoma (a type of glioma, which Rusty diagnoses Junior with) found postmortem, and also suffered from increasing headaches and "unusual and irrational thoughts" towards the end.

It's possible that the similarities are coincidental and there are plenty of other instances of violence related to brain tumors, but what do you folks think? Any relation? I know the book credits a Russ Dorr as providing medical consultation for the book.

[schmandace]

Wow, nice catch. I just did a little research on Whitman...could be!

[GNTLGNT]

I think you're spot on, coz it wouldn't be the first allusion Uncle Stevie has made to that particular brand of home grown psycho...

[Haunted]

I'm not much of a Stephen King fan and had never read one of his full-length novels before Under the Dome. I zipped through it on an e-reader and found it to be a quick and quite enjoyable read.

Some slight spoiler material follows...

One thing that I'm wondering is if the character Junior might have been inspired in part by the infamous Charles Whitman, known as the "UT tower sniper," who had an abusive father and ended up being abusive to his wife and eventually killing her, his mother, and then ultimately wreaking a death toll of 14 killed and 32 wounded in a hail of sniper bullets from a University of Texas tower.

Whitman suffered from a glioblastoma (a type of glioma, which Rusty diagnoses Junior with) found postmortem, and also suffered from increasing headaches and "unusual and irrational thoughts" towards the end.

It's possible that the similarities are coincidental and there are plenty of other instances of violence related to brain tumors, but what do you folks think? Any relation? I know the book credits a Russ Dorr as providing medical consultation for the book.

Is Mr. King trying to tell us that people (and animals, think Cujo) may have an underlying (pathological) reason for their murderous behavior? Is this to invoke sympathy for the character? Or do we reject the character regardless?

[Bryan James]

Possible. There was that one short story about a somewhat normal college kid that went all dormsniper.....

[Bryan James]

And...wasn't the Dark Half also related to a "sort" of brain tumor?

King seems to be plagued/enamored with cancer themes. I can understand that. My father had it at 17. Then at 38...terminal...6 months. Now he's pushing 70 instead of daisies, but he has a third round that recently started.

"The third time's the charm," he often says with his scarthroaty pirate's voice.

Life is a terminal disease.

~BJS

[JohnDalglish]

Life is a terminal disease.

~BJS

Hi,

Indeed, the only 100% fatal sexually transmitted disease.

Wasn't Dreamcatcher originally supposed to be called Cancer?

Long days and pleasant nights

[Haunted]

And...wasn't the Dark Half also related to a "sort" of brain tumor?

King seems to be plagued/enamored with cancer themes. I can understand that. My father had it at 17. Then at 38...terminal...6 months. Now he's pushing 70 instead of daisies, but he has a third round that recently started.

"The third time's the charm," he often says with his scarthroaty pirate's voice.

Life is a terminal disease.

~BJS

Prayers for your Dad.

[wally wonder]

whilst rereading the stand, there's this, early on in the story: ‘his eyes had been turned into magnifying glasses, and soon the sun would shine through them long enough to set his brains on fire…” ...'bout larry....inspiration?....inspiration for larry?...or just another way of looking?....compare the passage 'bout larry to the one 'bout junior, page nineteen, may it do ya, in utd....'bout his migraines: all junior knew was that they hurt like the end of the world, and bright light made them worse, especially when they were hatching......when one of his headaches was hatching, his brain was the anthill and his eyes turned into twin magnifying glasses.....'

i suspect there may be other images in other sk stories....anyone?

[Sigmund]

Glioblastoma multiforms (GBM) do not cause violence or aggression. Most (if any) brain tumors don't cause violence/aggression. It's the part of the brain that they are located on or "pushing" on that can provoke violence/aggression. Frontol lobe tumors, despite the type of tumor, can cause personality changes and/or mood disorders.