History Literature / IT

* CreepyCircusMusic: Stan hears a calliope playing "Camptown Races" during his encounter with It at the Derry standpipe. When he finally senses the danger and struggles to open the building's door, the music takes louder and more menacing tone as It gets closer.

* CreepyCircusMusic: Stan hears a calliope playing "Campton Races" during his encounter with It at the Derry standpipe. When he finally senses the danger and struggles to open the building's door, the music takes louder and more menacing tone as It gets closer.

* CreepyBasement: Georgie Denbrough hates going down to the cellar. He should have been more worried about the drains ...

Not to be confused with [[Film/{{It 1927}} the 1927 silent film of the same name]], which introduced the phrase "It Girl" to the world. Or 1958's ''Film/ItTheTerrorFromBeyondSpace''. Or the debut album by Music/{{Pulp}}. Or the BigBad of ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime''. Or the Psammead of ''Literature/FiveChildrenAndIt''. Or [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Cousin Itt]]. Or [[Film/ItFollows "It", the deadliest STD ever]]. Or the guys down in the sub-basement who (we hope) run the [[Tropers/TheAdvertisementServer TV Tropes Server]]. [[OverlyLongGag Or the pronoun]].

* ArtisticLicenseHistory

* AuthorAvatar: In this case, Bill (tall, redhead, stutter, horror writer) the author is not Stephen King but Creator/PeterStraub.

* AuthorTract: One occurs a few chapters in: we're given details about Bill's struggle in a college writing class, particularly with the instructor. Essentially, the professor feels that writing [[[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic should be an art form to exclusively express political opinions]] (and is incapable of seeing outside of that lens), whereas Bill is interested in writing stories for their own sake. On a whim, Bill submits one of his works -- one which the teacher had flunked (had, in fact, scribbled "'''PULP CRAP'''" across the front page of) to a horror fiction magazine and gets high praise and a reasonably good cheque; he pins a copy of the acceptance letter to the cork board on the door of the instructor's office. This is the start of a nasty falling out which ends with Bill dropping out of college and going on to become a success anyway.

* {{Bathos}}: It is a monster from beyond space and time that will feast upon your fear and your flesh...and it wants to know if you have Prince Albert in a can.

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Adrian Mellon's]] death is a prime example of Bury Your Gays. There is plenty of speculation that [[spoiler: Eddie Kaspbrak is gay as well, making his death a bury Your Gays situation.]]

* CallToAdventure: The 1985 storyline begins when Mike Hanlon telephones his six childhood friends and and reminds them of their promise to return to Derry and fight IT again if IT resurfaced.

** [[NotQuiteDead Pennywise]] appears in other Creator/StephenKing novels featuring Derry, and is even mentioned in Franchise/TheDarkTower saga.

* ChekhovsGun: Lots of past events that are mentioned fairly in the story -- like the 1931 execution of the Bradley gang or the fire at the Black Spot -- are returned to and expanded later on.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The Losers use their childlike beliefs as weapons, so that IT can be damaged by things such as silver bullets or an aspirator. Also pretty brutally (if subtly) deconstructed: the ability of beliefs to change the real world works both ways. The kids can use belief to fight back against IT, but the things they believe about their day-to-day lives (which are not so pleasant) become more and more true as time goes on. It's most noticeable with Eddie, whose mother has convinced him he has asthma to the point where he carries a placebo inhaler. Bill's parents are deeply grieving for their murdered younger son, but the more Bill ''wants'' them to come around, the more he ''believes'' they've stopped loving him altogether, and the more distant his parents become. The returning of Ben's scar, too; it didn't come back until he remembered getting it.

-->''"You're...not...real," Eddie choked, but clouds of grayness were closing in now, and he realized faintly that it was real enough, this Creature. It was, after all, killing him.''

* CosmicHorrorStory: The monster is perceived as a GiantSpider by the protagonists, because this was the closest analogue that their rational minds could find for Its appearance. Attempting to fight It can result one's mind being flung beyond the edge of the universe, then being driven mad by the Deadlights (which It is merely an appendage of). [[spoiler:After the protagonists succeed in killing It, they [[LaserGuidedAmnesia magically forget]] about the entire incident; apparently this was the only way they could have lived a normal life afterward.]] The novel could also be seen as LovecraftLite: [[spoiler: The Turtle may be an EldritchAbomination and [[GodIsDead may have died]] in the years between the 1958 and 1986 but it is strongly implied that there is ''something'' that still wants them to destroy It once and for all.]]

* DecoyProtagonist: In the second prologue, when the police are investigating the murder of Adrian Mellon, one of the cops notices that one of the attackers and Mellon's boyfriend both described seeing a clown attack Mellon at the end. The other cops mock him for taking this seriously, but he's sure he's onto something. First-time readers could be forgiven that this cop will play a large role in defeating It. He's never seen again.

** Ben Hanscom and Eddie Kapsbrak's fathers both no longer figure in their lives -- Eddie's dad is definitely dead, making his mother extremely overprotective of him, while it's never specified whether Ben's dad died or just up and left when Ben was little. In the tv series he and his mother live with his aunt and cousins who bully him and say he's lucky they're willing to take him in, and It takes the form of his father and points to a mausoleum saying 'that's my home now', confirming that he's dead.

* DreamSequence

* TheFellowshipHasEnded: [[spoiler:After defeating IT for the first time, all the seven members of the Loser's Club never meet again. Eventually, they all go in their separate ways, and completely forget about each other (except for Mike but he implies that even with desperate efforts to remember, he will forget why he's even carrying out the measures. Specifically he brings up the example that he will write his friends down but the ink itself may fade, and even if he can keeps renewing the ink, he may forget why he's doing it and why these names are even relevant).]] Downplayed in the film as [[spoiler:the forgetting isn't really mentioned and it's confirmed that Ben and Beverly end up together, which was only implied in the book]].

* FoodEatsYou: Certainly how [=IT's=] fights with the Looser Club must seem to IT, though in this case the "food" was always sentient.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: IT scares Beverly in the bathroom and her dad rushes in, demanding what all the screaming was about. Beverly lies and says that she just saw a spider in the drain. [[spoiler:Which is IT's true physical manifestation. They even fight it in the sewer.]]

* HopeSpot: Eddie Corcoran ''almost'' gets away from It...then he trips over a bench, pushed over by vandals that was hidden in the grass.

* LaserGuidedKarma

* LikeParentLikeSpouse: A rather dark example. Beverly had an abusive father, and later went on to marry a man who also abused her. Sadly, this is TruthInTelevision for many real-life abuse victims.

* LousyLoversAreLosers: Kay [=McCall=] (Beverly's feminist friend) had an AwfulWeddedLife with her ex-husband and has nothing good to say about how he was like in the sack.

* ParentalIncest: Implied that this is what Beverly's father wanted to do to her (especially during the scene in which [[spoiler:Mrs. Kersh turns into a witch and then into her father (provided that IT was not just messing with her and was channeling the truth)).]] Earlier on, Beverly's mother asks her if her father ever touched her (which Beverly doesn't understand), and Beverly, as she hits puberty and starts developing curves, notices that her father's attitude towards her is changing in some undefinable and ''very'' uncomfortable way.

* ShapeshifterModeLock: Once Pennywise assumes the shape of its victim's greatest fear, It has to follow all the "rules" of that shape, whether it wants to or not. ''And It cannot change form to something else once everyone who sees it has "agreed" on what it is.'' For example, when Pennywise confronts the kids in the house on Neibolt Street, Richie Tozier screams out that its "THE TEENAGE WEREWOLF!", a movie-monster that he is terrified of. The other kids, who had been seeing Pennywise as various ''other'' monsters, immediately saw it as a werewolf as well. And once it was a werewolf, it became vulnerable to the silver slugs Bev was shooting with the slingshot. When she connects, It feels something It has ''never'' felt before... pain.

* ShoutOut

* ThereAreNoTherapists.

* ToiletHorror: When Beverly Marsh is in the bathroom, the titular monster speaks to her through the sink drain, [[VoiceChangeling mimicking the voices]] of her dead classmates and telling her that she'll be joining them soon.

* TownWithADarkSecret: More like a dark secret shaped like a town. Derry is an example of a town that thrives ''because'' of its dark secret - Derry is a successful, prosperous community, a result of It's supernatural influence and desire to keep her prey fat and happy. It's implied that many of its residents have some level of understanding of this secret, and just pretend not to notice.

* ATruceWhileWeGawk: During the rock fight. All of the kids (RagtagBunchOfMisfits and JerkJock[=s=] alike) stop fighting and turn to watch Victor Criss and Bill Denbrough start a rock-throwing duel, complete with an UnflinchingWalk towards each other. Even ''[[AxCrazy Henry]]'' pauses to watch.

** [[spoiler:Tom Rogan's death]] is treated with almost casual brevity when [[spoiler: He takes one look at IT's true form and drops dead of fright]], so much so that some readers (especially those suffering from mild EndingFatigue) may be left wondering what happened to him.

* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: Mike discovers that despite the children's killings and incidents in which many people die, those news are rarely spoken outside the town of Derry; it's like ''something doesn't want those to be known outside''.

-->'''Kay:''' Two pumps a tickle and a squirt, that was ole Sammy's motto. The only time he could [[SpeedSex keep it up for longer than seventy seconds]] was when he was [[ADateWithRosiePalms pulling off in the tub]].

* SpeedSex: Beverly's friend, Kay [=McCall=] (a feminist writer) says this about [[GoldDigger her ex-husband]]: "Two pumps a tickle and a squirt, that was ole Sammy's motto. The only time he could keep it up for longer than seventy seconds was when he was [[ADateWithRosiePalms pulling off in the tub]]."

In 1990, the novel was loosely adapted into [[Film/It1990 a television movie]] featuring Creator/TimCurry in the title role. In 2009, Creator/WarnerBros (who owned Creator/{{Lorimar}} when the original TV adaption was made, but was folded into Warner Bros. TV in 1993) announced that a theatrical remake of ''It'' was being planned, with Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Doug Davison tabbed to produce. However, the project spent some time in DevelopmentHell until Creator/AndresMuschietti, director of ''Film/{{Mama}}'', was attached and production began in summer 2016, with Creator/BillSkarsgard as Pennywise. The story was split into two chapters -- the [[Film/It2017 first]] was released in 2017 (27 years after the 1990 adaptation, funnily enough), and the [[Film/ItChapterTwo second]] was released in 2019.

* CoitusEnsues: Two examples.
** [[spoiler:[[{{Squick}} As an eleven year old, Beverly has sex with all of her friends in the sewer]] after defeating It. This is in order to revive their sense of camaraderie and unite the group long enough to escape the sewers of Derry. This is also possibly done as a TakeThat to her father who has already expressed his belief that she is having sex with them. Obviously it was not a scene they could replicate in the movie.]]
** [[spoiler:In the present, Bill and Beverly try to hop in the sack together when staying at the Derry Inn. Both of them are severely traumatized by the memory of the above scene; Bill goes back to his wife Audra and Bev is implied to get together with Ben. Bill and Bev's encounter is never mentioned after that.]]

''It'' is a 1986 horror novel by American author Creator/StephenKing. The story is about seven children being terrorized by a malevolent, [[EldritchAbomination primordial monster]] -- known only as It -- that shapeshifts to take the form of their deepest fears, but primarily appears in the guise of [[MonsterClown "Pennywise the Dancing Clown"]]. The novel features a nonlinear narrative which alternates between two different time periods (1958 and 1985) and shifts among the different perspectives and stories of its seven protagonists. It deals with themes which would eventually become King staples: the power of memory, childhood trauma and the ugliness lurking behind a small-town façade.

One of the most popular of Stephen King’s novels and widely regarded as a horror classic, ''It'' is also one of the darkest and most frightening, its subject matter being a child-killing supernatural monster with AdultsAreUseless in effect for at least half the story. And yet weirdly enough, there are some really uplifting moments. Along with ''Literature/TheStand'' it is one of the stories that cemented King's reputation as the premier modern horror writer, and like ''The Stand'', it is one of the few examples of an ''epic horror novel'' in literature at over a thousand pages.

In 1990, the novel was loosely adapted into a television movie featuring Creator/TimCurry in the title role. See [[Film/It1990 its page]] for that. In 2009, Creator/WarnerBros (who owned Creator/{{Lorimar}} when the original TV adaption was made, but was folded into Warner Bros. TV in 1993) announced that a theatrical remake of ''It'' was being planned, with Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Doug Davison tabbed to produce. However, the project spent some time in DevelopmentHell until Creator/AndresMuschietti, director of ''Film/{{Mama}}'', was attached and production began in summer 2016, with Creator/BillSkarsgard as Pennywise. The story was split in two chapters -- the [[Film/It2017 first]] was released in 2017 (27 years after the 1990 adaptation, funnily enough) and the [[Film/ItChapterTwo second]] was released in 2019.

Not to be confused with [[Film/{{It 1927}} the 1927 silent film of the same name]], which introduced the phrase "It Girl" to the world. Or 1958's ''Film/ItTheTerrorFromBeyondSpace''. Or the debut album by Music/{{Pulp}}. Or the BigBad of ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime''. Or the Psammead of ''Literature/FiveChildrenAndIt''. Or [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Cousin Itt]]. Or [[Film/ItFollows "It", the deadliest STD ever.]] Or the guys down in the sub-basement who (we hope) run the [[Tropers/TheAdvertisementServer TV Tropes Server]]. [[OverlyLongGag Or the pronoun]].

->“You don’t have to look back to see those children; part of your mind will see them forever, live with them forever, love with them forever. They are not necessarily the best part of you, but they were once the repository of all you could become.”

* TurtlePower: [[spoiler:Hinted at throughout the book. A cosmic force, opposed to It in at least some way, is called the Turtle. It subtly guides the protagonists and, according to It, created the universe when it got sick and threw up.]]

* AdultsAreUseless / InvisibleToAdults: Actually justified, as IT has taken complete control over Derry, and that therefore the adults cannot see what is going on.

* TownWithADarkSecret: More like a dark secret shaped like a town. Derry is an example of a town that thrives ''because'' of its dark secret - Derry is a successful, prosperous community, a result of It's supernatural influence and desire to keep her prey fat and happy.

* AuthorTract: One occurs against a specific style of writing a few chapters in: we're given details about Bill's struggle in a college writing class, particularly with the man who is the instructor and would-be mentor. Whereas Bill is interested in writing stories for their own sake and cultivating his talent, the instructor insists [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic everything must be didactic]] and is more interested in every story being an allegory for a stereotypically left-leaning political or social statement. On a whim, Bill submits one of his works -- one which the teacher had flunked (had, in fact, scribbled "'''PULP CRAP'''" across the front page of) to a horror fiction magazine and gets high praise and a reasonably good cheque; he pins a copy of the acceptance letter to the cork board on the door of the instructor's office. This is the start of a nasty falling out which ends with Bill dropping out of college and going on to become a success anyway.

* NothingIsScarier

* WeaksauceWeakness: It, an EldritchAbomination in the extreme, can be staved off by...a child believing that water in his inhaler is battery acid, or, in one case, Beverly mentioning grackles, a particular kind of bird. It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that It deliberately uses what children fear most to scare them, which has been an effective tactic for centuries. The Losers' Club were the first children to actually ''fight back'', so it's naturally completely unused to the idea of defending Itself. Additionaly, the price of It taking on a physical shape based on someone's fears is to be fully bound by the rules of that shape, including the possibility of true injury.

** [[spoiler: Later books imply that IT survived, though 27 years later [[RealitySubtext no sequel book]] occurred.]]

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: "The Turtle," a BigGood that's heavily implied to be influencing the Losers in 1958. The Turtle may be good, but it also sees no issue with using ''eleven-year-olds'' to fight It.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Eddie Corcoran's stepfather, Richard Macklin, beat his little brother Dorsey to death and then pretended he fell off a ladder. While Richard didn't kill Eddie (that was courtesy of IT as the Creature from the Black Lagoon) he's a prime suspect when Eddie disappears, and the authorities launch an investigation into what ''really'' happened to Dorsey. Richard is found guilty of the murder of both his stepsons, spends years in prison and eventually commits suicide.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: IT scares Beverly in the bathroom and her dad rushes in, demanding what all the screaming was about. Beverly lies and says that she just saw a spider in the drain. [[spoiler:Which is IT's true physical manifestation. They even fight it in the sewer.]] Also, in the last section of the book, when [[spoiler:Al chases Beverly into the Barrens, trying to kill her because he's been possessed by IT]] Lars Theraminius starts crying because he sees Marsh turning into a spider. It gives him nightmares for a week.

** [[spoiler:Tom Rogan's death]] is treated with almost casual brevity, so much so that some readers (especially those suffering from mild EndingFatigue) may be left wondering what happened to him.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: There are plenty of times in the story where It has one of the Losers cornered or alone but doesn't kill them. For that matter, it would be child's play for It to enter the kids' houses through the sewer system and kill them in their sleep. The story implies that It doesn't do this for two reasons: 1) It feeds on their fear, and 2) It has fun coming up with different guises and ways to psychologically torment them.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: "The Turtle," a BigGood that's heavily implied to be influencing the Losers in 1958.

* ParentalIncest: Implied that this is what Beverly's father wanted to do to her (especially during the scene in which [[spoiler:Mrs. Kersh turns into a witch and then into her father (provided that IT was not just messing with her and was channeling the truth)).]] Earlier on, Beverly's mother asks her if her father ever touched her (which Beverly doesn't understand).
* ParentalObliviousness: None of the children's parents are aware of what's happening in Derry.

* WeaksauceWeakness: It, an EldritchAbomination in the extreme, can be staved off by...a child believing that water in his inhaler is battery acid, or, in one case, Beverly mentioning grackles, a particular kind of bird. It's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that It deliberately uses what children fear most to scare them, which has been an effective tactic for centuries. The Losers' Club were the first children to actually ''fight back'', so it's naturally completely unused to the idea of defending Itself.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: One of the major themes in the book is of childhood friends who have long since gone their separate ways but must now come together to defeat the BigBad.

** Noticed on a re-read: Eddie borrows a limo from one of his friends in Boston and drives to Derry. What happened to that car?