Chapter 6 deals with a disturbing subject -- child abuse. It is an uncomfortable read. So long as King is discussing children and monsters, there is at least a little bit of reality that can be suspended. But when he begins to deal with parents, step-parents and all too often abusive relationships, things get painful for the reader..
While the subject itself is terrible, King sharpens the knife in this chapter by choosing to introduce stories of abuse through a series of newspaper articles. The reader knows up front that there is a monster killing children -- but not all the children are killed by a monster called Pennywise. Along with the child abuse itself, King relates the self-loathing a parent involved in something so terrible would feel. Add to this, the mistake the law makes in thinking previously abusive parents must have killed children that Pennywise has killed. This information is vital to keeping the plot real, since the reader is likely to ask at some point, "What will the police say about all these children getting killed?" The answer, King suggests, is simple: Parents aren't always such nice people.
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To soften the blow of this chapter, King gives several rather affectionate sub chapters related to Mike Hanlon.
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Other King books that deal with child abuse are Carrie, The Shining, Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne. My favorite of these, just as child abuse as a subject, is Claiborne because Dolores gets such sweet revenge. Of course, domestic violence is a constant theme worth further consideration in King's novels. I haven't read, but am aware of the domestic violence theme in Rose Madder. Spousal abuse also appears in Salem's Lot.
Great article :)
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