discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

[PatInTheHat]

I thought it was written as a tragic tale told by a very lucid, and matter of fact kinda feller to me...though he did sound as if he would have preferred being totally over the edge insane, rather than actually be in his surreal reality.
Which of course reeealy sucked in my opinion by the way, and I mean gee whiz, who wouldn't rather have been Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, you know, especially if he could have chased down and glued back on that farm fresh milk nozzle that is.

[guido tkp]

3.5 (somewhere in betwix)

either way, it's all kinda poe-esque...kinda lovecraftian: in the end, it doesn't matter, but you takes with it what you feel

personally, i kinda think it might be more terrifying if his dead wife did take over & send the rats after him...real kinda e.c. comics: is it live or is it memorex

[Anna Rose]

i like the idea of number 2, but i think 3 is more realistic...but then again, this is Stephen King we are talking about, and his books aren't exactly what i would call "realistic"...i really loved the news paper clip on the last page though, it was a good way to end the story and it gives you a view from another perspective. also, i love that the rats ate the papers so that they couldn't read what he really did. Great Story

[Lucky Rathen]

I would say number 2.... to me it was a horror story, albeit not as gruesome as some of his others. If the haunting didn't happen, how did he know in such detail what had happened to his son? (Though he could have imagined all that as well I suppose)

[Neil W]

Decide for yourself - it's allowed!

[Becks19]

Door number 3 for me as well.....The repercussions of what he did, drove him insane.

[Warwick]

I'm meaning no offence against any particular poster here. But, seriously. Why would you read Stephen King if you didn't believe anything supernatural would happen? No story would ever be scary if you keep imagining that everything the characters are put up against is a result of delusions or bad dreams.

My vote goes for option #4; Arlette entered the house and told him about her prophecies. And the rats killed him in the end of the story.

[LindainLondon]

It would be interesting if the paper and police only thought he must have chewed up his own life, but really the rats did it. The 'common sense' answer is the official response, but the supernatural is the reality. But, if he had son that did all Hank was 'known' by him to have done, and it was not that long after Hank's death (a few years), would not any newspaper worth their name have made that connection?

[Spade]

Well, if anybody else was writing it, it would be #3... but this is THE Stephen King we're talking about, so #2 isn't out of the question. I prefer to think that's it's all of the above.

[BethicaJ]

It was written beautifully and I lean more towards #3. Haven't we all been crazy enough to chew our ankles and blame it on something else?? lol