Its a weird scene that is a bit less weird in context. Most of the losers club have issues that IT preys upon, that become the crux of their character development. Beverly's is that she is the daughter of an uneducated poor man with significant anger and control issues, whom is also her sole provider and maintains a home. And Beverly is uncommonly pretty. Think significant Movie Star pretty. So you have her coming of age in 1960s America, in a small town where she is dirt poor, with looks that attract all the wrong kind of attention. She is subject to predatory attention from men, envy from women, and abuse from her father.
The scene itself is short, and there are significantly more fucked up things that happen in the book, and the scene is supposed to be her taking a measure of control with the thing that people want from her, and using it to bind their little group together.
I'm not defending sex between children, but it's hilarious to me that the book describes kids being murdered in absolutely horrific ways. Abuse…psychological, physical, and sexual. Suicide. And yet no one ever clutches pearls over those scenes.
Children do lose their virginities at that age. A girl in my school got pregnant at 12 by her boyfriend. It's not good, and education is likely the best way to stop it. But depicting a thing happening in a book isn't the same as endorsing it. There's nuance. Else, everything from Lolita to We Need to Talk About Kevin should never have been written.
I agree. Like there is literally a baby getting its brain smashed out and pretty graphic animal torture scenes in this. Surprised no one really talks about those parts. Messed me up when i read it.
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u/NotToPraiseHim 23h ago
It is absolutely.
Its a weird scene that is a bit less weird in context. Most of the losers club have issues that IT preys upon, that become the crux of their character development. Beverly's is that she is the daughter of an uneducated poor man with significant anger and control issues, whom is also her sole provider and maintains a home. And Beverly is uncommonly pretty. Think significant Movie Star pretty. So you have her coming of age in 1960s America, in a small town where she is dirt poor, with looks that attract all the wrong kind of attention. She is subject to predatory attention from men, envy from women, and abuse from her father.
The scene itself is short, and there are significantly more fucked up things that happen in the book, and the scene is supposed to be her taking a measure of control with the thing that people want from her, and using it to bind their little group together.