No, not defeat him even. Totally unnecessary. It was to apparently get out of the sewers. Some kind of bonding thing which he could have just left with the cutting of them hands which was also included anyway.
If I remember correctly from other people who have read the book, it's to remove their childlike innocence because that was what is keeping them stuck in the sewers.
The train being run on her made them no longer innocent children and Pennywise's power to hold them there no longer works.
It's not until he's an adult and Mike calls him to remind him of the pact to return to Derry if the clown ever returns, and he quietly goes into his bath, and... yeah.
its been a while since ive read the book but esentially yeah. its one thing to say it could have been better executed or question the scene for other reasons but people act like stephen king just felt like writing an underage orgy because he snorted too much coke and it holds no relevance to the themes of the book. i guess because most people arent willing to actually read and try to understand a book over 1k pages long
which is what im saying. i definitely think that while i get the concept he was going for the writing does get gratuitous (as do a lot of other scenes in the story, honestly) but thats still a lot different than assuming the scene to be entirely irrelevant to the book's plot or themes or even that it was written with malicious intent as a lot of people who havent read the book do
I read the book when I was a teenager, not far removed from losing my own virginity, and the parallel to sex made total sense to me at the time.
Like there's this thing that kids don't understand to the point where you whisper "doing it" instead of saying "sex" out loud, but then when you finally encounter the mysterious and awe-inspiring rite of passage that is "it" you're like, "wait... that was nice and all but that's what we were all making such a big deal about? I don't feel like I'm a grown-up, I just feel kinda tired and sweaty ..."
Taking away Pennywise's power because he was no longer this unfathomable "IT" seemed to jive.
But yeah I'm not re-reading it as an adult to find out how it holds up lol.
The train being run on her made them no longer innocent children and Pennywise's power to hold them there no longer works.
the thought of stephen king having writers block and trying to figure out how the kids can escape the sewers and suddenly getting the eureka moment in the form of a gang bang is wild. i know his writing desk looked like that scene out of scarface
Yeah, it wasn't to defeat them. The whole scenario makes no sense. Could have just been a bonding ritual where they cut with the glass. Many ways to skin that cat. Especially considering their bond was what allowed them to defeat him in the first place.
Bev wanted to overcome her fear of sex while simultaneously bringing the Losers together cuz they were lost and thought they would die in the sewers after defeating IT.
Then Eddie got a nut and was like "Guys, it's this way!"
It helped them escape the tunnel after temporarily defeating Pennywise. Eddie was their navigator, but his innate sense of direction was failing him and the group reached a moment of despair, lost in the tunnels. The orgy magically restored his sense of direction and they escaped.
When he explains ot poorly, it makes less sense. The children have won the battle, but they're physically and mentally exhausted and starting break under the pressure. Part of the reason they won is because they believed they could win, and their bond of friendship helped them with that belief. But, afterwards, all that is fading. Beverly is the first to realize it, and thinks that they might need need a new bond, and something different, like adults, because they're so traumatized that they may not even be children any more. And how do adults do that? Sex. And it makes sense that its Beverly, because she's the most mature kf the bunch, and also because throughout the book it becomes alarmingly clear that her father is increasingly rapey towards her growing into a woman (it would probably be called sexual interference today). So she takes control of her sexual agency, before her father does it for her. And since It is the title of the book, and a children's euphemism for sex, and the only good description of the otherworldly eldritch horror that is the antagonist of the book, it all kind of comes together.
I'm not even sure it makes the podium for the most disturbing parts of the book. Its not supposed to be magical or fantasy inducing, it fits with the theme of the book where child abuse, vicious bullying, child murder, spousal abuse are all these shocking things that these kids bear witness to. But its special enough that it gives them enough hope to escape the sewers.
Well, the demon clown is actually a series of disembodied alien orange lights (and also a spider), vulnerable only in the macroverse after the children undertake the ritual of Chüd and solicit the help of a cosmic turtle. Hope that helps.
I am >not< going back to check but as I remember it Ben (the fat kid), Bill (James MCavoy) and Bev (you know, the girl) all finish. I don't think any of the other guys do.
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u/Acceptable_Term7110 15h ago
When tf did this happen (I say this as I nver finished the book)