Self-Control And Vengeance In 'They The Big Driver' By Stephen King

There is darkness inside of every one of us that is dying to come out. The choice is up to us on whether or not we want to unleash it. Stephen King writes about the horrors of what will happen when we cannot control our thoughts and actions. His work “deals with human evil, the depravity of which we are capable and the lengths to which we will go to convince ourselves that we are good” (Ulin). Full Dark, No Stars, a New York Times #1 Bestseller, is a collection of four short stories that deals with the topic of self-control and vengeance. The characters in the short stories take justice into their own hands and make matters worse. They do not feel remorse for the crimes they have committed and claims they did it for the greater good. They
Tess is a mystery writer who is invited by Ramona Norville to speak at an event in Massachusetts. Always a sucker for a short cut home, Tess follows Norville advice to not take Interstate 84. She, instead, decides to take Stagg Road. Unfortunately, her ride is cut short when the tires of her car go over the nail-studded pieces of wood. A big guy around 6' 6” offered to help her but he later takes advantage of her vulnerability. He knocks her out and she wakes up to him raping her. He punches her again but this time she pretends to be dead when she regains consciousness. He then hides her body in a culvert. Several minutes later, she discovers the bodies of three other women. She ran to get help but thinks twice about going to the police. She didn’t want her reputation to be tarnished with this scandal. Through some detective work, Tess finds out information on her rapist and that he goes by the name “Big Driver.” To make the situation worse, Norville is the Big Driver’s mother. Tess’s anger then spiked and went to confront Norville about it. She showed up at her door with a .38 revolver. Tess threatens Norville and says, “…Get inside. If you behave yourself and answer my questions, you might still be alive tomorrow morning” (King 298). Tess’s emotional state is not stable and her rape traumatizes her. She will hurt anyone that is cause of her pain. She furthermore expresses her
A man by the name Dave Streeter decides to make a deal with devil to live the perfect life for a price. For him to live cancer free, Streeter has to pay “fifteen percent of [his] income over the next fifteen years…” (King 366). In addition, “[he] has to transfer the weight. [He has] to do the dirty to someone else if the dirty is to be lifted from [him]” (King 368). In other words, he has transfer his misfortunes to someone he loathes. What better candidate is there than his own best friend? According to Streeter, his best friend stabbed him in the back. Tom Goodhugh, the future victim, lives a fancy life while Streeter has to deal with his own hardships. Goodhugh, apparently, had a great academic standing because of Streeter’s help. Not only that but Goodhugh took his best friend’s girl and married her. Everything good going on in Goodhugh’s life is because he treats his friend poorly. Streeter had enough and fights back. His “deal” causes to ruin not only his friend’s life but also his whole family. Goodhugh’s wife and kids were innocent in this yet Streeter did not spare a second glance. The wife has breast cancer and dies in six months. His three children have terrible fates as well. The middle ends up dying by choking on an apple, the oldest becomes depressed after losing her husband, and the youngest gets sent to prison for killing his wife. Even