Stephen King Why We Crave Horror Analysis

It is the end of a long week at school. The toppling pile of homework on your bedroom desk is not getting any shorter, while your stress is going through the roof. Everybody at school seems to be testing your patience and you feel like a meltdown is right around the corner. What’s the best way to relieve all this stress? Well, according to the king of horror himself, Stephen King, the best reliever is horror. In King’s essay,”Why We Crave Horror.” he states that the human condition requires this release of energy, and this release is best performed through horror. Although King may be correct in his idea of catharsis, his downfall comes when he claims that horror is the best release for everyone. In spite of his shortcomings, King made many valid points about catharsis. King states,”The potential lyncher is in

He states things like,”If we are all insane, thyen sanity becomes a matter of degree”(2). While statements like this could just be attention grabbing devices, he continues to restate and expand upon ideas like this, and he is highly incorrect in these ideas. King is mistaking the human condition with mental illness. We are all different and have different coping mechanisms. I don’t think picking your nose or having a twitch is an indication of mental illness so it is unfair to identify it as such. Throughout King’s essay, he speaks about how “fun” and “cathartic” horror is. King says,”And we go to have fun”(1). A common theme throughout this essay is King’s constant display of bias and opinion which vastly outshines his use of facts and real evidence. This essay would have a much greater quality if he used facts and evidence from a study or real people other than himself. You cannot base a essay entirely off of opinion. While, yes he does have extensive experience in the field of horror, he is just one person. King does use a quote but it does not have any evidence of his claim, just more