The "N" word

[Mindscribe]

I'm as big a stephen king fan as anyone else, but I find myself asking the same question a lot.

He seems to slip it in even when there's no need.
Even when the book isn't about racism.
And it's not just the dialogue, it's in the narratives as well.
And it's not just his old books, it's his new ones as well. I read duma key last year...which i believe is a 2007-8 novel and it had the word in it a few times. along with some other books.
It frustrates me at times i see it so much. Like dude...you're smart as hell so...can't you bring up a black person without referring to him as an n word?

Like i said...big fan of stephen king but come on...in almost every book?
Original poster has a point.

[Mindscribe]

Major holes in his defense, all im sayin.

[blunthead]

I'm as big a stephen king fan as anyone else, but I find myself asking the same question a lot.

He seems to slip it in even when there's no need.
Even when the book isn't about racism.
And it's not just the dialogue, it's in the narratives as well.
And it's not just his old books, it's his new ones as well. I read duma key last year...which i believe is a 2007-8 novel and it had the word in it a few times. along with some other books.
It frustrates me at times i see it so much. Like dude...you're smart as hell so...can't you bring up a black person without referring to him as an n word?

Like i said...big fan of stephen king but come on...in almost every book?
Original poster has a point.

Maybe sK just doesn't do political correctness.

[Sundrop]

I'm having difficulty finding this particular word in "almost all his novels".... While it is true that I haven't read nearly all of them, I have read a good number, and haven't noticed the extreme frequent use that the OP mentions. When I do find it used on occasion, it is used within the perspective of a particular character, and does not bother me.

[dsurrett]

Dialogue isn't the only place where a character's thoughts and motivations are shown. Most narrative in fiction shows the reader a scene through a particular character's eyes. If you're seeing the scene through the eyes of Henry Bowers in IT, the language will be much different than if the scene is from Bill Denbrough's perspective, for instance. Bowers would use the 'n' word, Denbrough probably wouldn't.
I don't believe it is a word that King throws around haphazardly in his books. He knows he's gonna catch flack for it, but he stays true to what his characters would do or say in different situations.
Check the context of where the word is used and in whose perspective the scene is written. I believe that'll answer a lot of your concerns.

[bobledrew]

@sundrop -- don't feed the trolls!

[Sepia and Dust]

I'm as big a stephen king fan as anyone else, but I find myself asking the same question a lot.

He seems to slip it in even when there's no need.
Even when the book isn't about racism.
And it's not just the dialogue, it's in the narratives as well.
And it's not just his old books, it's his new ones as well. I read duma key last year...which i believe is a 2007-8 novel and it had the word in it a few times. along with some other books.
It frustrates me at times i see it so much. Like dude...you're smart as hell so...can't you bring up a black person without referring to him as an n word?

Like i said...big fan of stephen king but come on...in almost every book?
Original poster has a point.

I can tell that you either don't like realistic dialogue or you don't come from the backwoods. Hell, I can't even talk to anyone in my hometown without somebody using the N-word in it's original context: "Them niggers have ruint that whole part of town," "Let them niggers stay down there and kill each other. They better not come up here."

Of course, that may be better than one guy I used to work for when I was a teenager. I got pissed about something at work, and he told me, "You don't get mad. Natives get mad." I had no idea what a native was. He rolled his eyes, "Y'know... darkies."

That's how some people talk. King's dialogue reflects that, whether you or I like the words or not.

[Hans]

...He seems to slip it in even when there's no need...

Hope you never read 'Just after Sunset'...I can tell you, the 'N' is strong in there.

[Doc Wilson]

hahaha. Honestly, I hadn't noticed it being in every book, and I've read them all. I'll keep an eye out on the next one.

[~Ally~]

I'm having difficulty finding this particular word in "almost all his novels".... While it is true that I haven't read nearly all of them, I have read a good number, and haven't noticed the extreme frequent use that the OP mentions. When I do find it used on occasion, it is used within the perspective of a particular character, and does not bother me.

I have read all of his novels and and haven't noticed this use in "almost all" of them. Which means I'm either a very poor/ignorant reader, or as you stated very well...it is used within the perspective of a particular character, and does not bother me.

If I was one of these readers that is constantly irked by a particular aspect of King's writing--as so many appear to be--I wouldn't bother to read him at all. There are many other writers in the world, I'd explore their writing styles until I found one more suited to my tastes/ideals.