Gramma- Playing on Our Fears

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Gramma- Playing On Our Fears It has been said that all we have to fear is fear itself yet what really frightens us is what Stephen King has learned to tap into. His " consummate skill" is that " he knows how to press the buttons that release the demons we all struggle to keep hidden"(M.Live). In this story of Gramma he has done just that. He has put you into the story and played on your emotions and created a fear so real that you feel you're in the story by the use of his magic descriptive words. The setting of Gramma is in Castle Rock, Maine. Maine is actually where Stephen King lives and most of his stories take place around that area. Castel Rock is a fictitious town that appears in many of King's stories Cujo, Needful Things and The Dark Half(Wikipedia). The scene of the story is set in a small farm house in October, two miles down a dirt road and nineteen miles from town. King sets these distant parameters to let you know just how alone our protagonist was which actually heightens the intensity of the drama and fear through his words. Gramma is a short fiction story about a boy left alone at home to care for his gramma while is mother is away in town on an emergency with his brother. The protagonist in the story is George an eleven year old boy which we will soon learn has many fears. The antagonist is Gramma, an elderly sick woman who George is fearful of. There is a history of possible witch craft and in the end she is possessed. Stephen King uses such graphic words to describe her that you feel repulsed by the grotesque sight of her. King has said that he writes many of his stories " to pass on what frightens me to you"(M.Live). It is well documented that King has ten phobias(Yoda Archives) five of which are exposed in the story. Right away, Kings fear of others is played out. When Gramma arrives at the house she calls George over for a
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