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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: Mrs. Underwood, who he shoots on purpose, and Mr. Vance, who had come into the classroom to tell the kids to leave because there was a fire. The fire was actually started by Charlie in his locker as a diversion. Charlie says that he honestly does not know why he has chosen to do this and claims that if he did know, he probably wouldn't be doing it. From there, he takes Mrs. Underwood's students 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. He is shot at one point in the book, but escapes death thanks to a padlock that he put in his pocket.
Connections to actual school shootings
The novel's plot resembles 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. *
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
1977 novels | Novels by Richard Bachman | Novels by Stephen King
Amok (roman) | Amok (Stephen King) | Rage (Stephen King) | Ossessione (libro) | Rage
"Rage (novel)"