Rage (novel)
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- For the film sequel to Carrie, see The Rage: Carrie 2.
Rage (originally titled Getting It On) is the first novel by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Though he began writing it in 1966, before his first published novel, Carrie (1974), it wasn't published until 1977.
Plot summary
Charlie Decker, a high school senior, brings a gun to school one day and shoots two teachers. From there, he takes a classroom hostage, and comes to a stand-off with the police over his actions. He makes the class into a sort of therapy group, making his schoolmates tell embarrassing secrets about themselves and apologize to classmates they hate. A substantial portion of the novel consists of narrative flashbacks to Charlie's own unpleasant childhood and adolescence.
Connections to actual school shootings
The novel's plot is reminiscent of the events of the Columbine High School massacre and other school massacres. After that event happened, the author allowed Rage to go out of print out of fear that it may inspire similar events, as it had already been associated with two previous high school shootings:
- Michael Carneal, who shot three students on December 1 1997 in West Paducah, Kentucky had a copy of Rage in his locker, and
- Barry Loukaitis, who killed two fellow students and his algebra teacher on February 2, 1996, in Moses Lake, Washington, even quoted directly from the book ("This sure beats algebra, doesn't it?") after shooting his teacher. [1]
When King decided to let Rage fall out of print, it was part of a compilation of Richard Bachman books called The Bachman Books. The other novels that appeared in that compilation (The Long Walk, Road Work, and The Running Man) are now published as separate books.
External links
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