06 | opinions
April 13, 2016
OPINIONS Humans of Drake Each week, staff writer Rachel Wermager captures stories of students on Drake’s campus
BOOK NOOK
King’s ‘The Dark Half’ successfully portrays the idea of writers having split personalities
Natalie Larimer
Staff Writer natalie.larimer@drake.edu
Moe Giglio • Senior Business Management Major
“Something I am passionate about is doing the right thing for your actions. I think words don’t mean anything unless you can demonstrate that you can do the right thing even in a difficult situation.”
If you’ve never found a reason to terrify yourself at the hands of Stephen King, count this as your sign from the heavens that it’s time. My introduction to Mr. King was through “The Dark Half,” and I don’t think I’ve ever been so entertained by a book before. This book first hit the shelves in late 1989 and first hit my shelf in late 2014. In 1993, it was adapted into a movie, but I haven’t seen it yet. “The Dark Half” takes the idea of writers having split personality disorder and runs with it. The main character, Thad Beaumont, is an author who writes under his own name but also — and more successfully — under the pen name of George Stark. King himself wrote under a pen name, Richard Bachman, for about a decade, and he said that his inspiration for this book was
being “outed” as Bachman. The story begins with Thad and his wife, Liz, flipping through People magazine and seeing a picture of them shaking hands over the (fake) gravestone of George Stark. For an unexplained reason (until further in the book), Thad and Liz had decided to “kill” George, so that Thad could write freely under his own name. Seems harmless, right? In the next few chapters, King reveals that somebody evidentially rose from the fake grave of George Stark, which just so happens to coincide with a town murder. The story develops from there, bringing in supernatural elements and downright gruesome chapters. But if there’s one thing I love, it’s a book I can think about for days and analyze more and more. And this just so happens to be an excellent book for that. There’s so much symbolism here, and I really need to reread this one so I can get more out of it. I’d like to share one of my observations with you, so here’s where I give you a spoiler alert (though it’s really not a spoiler unless you’re incredibly sensitive to these things). Thad’s twin children, Wendy and William, freak me out. Yes, they’re babies, but children in the horror genre tend to scare me. The reason is that there are multiple instances in the book where one twin will do something and the other will react. For instance, Wendy falls at one point and William gets a bruise. Or one will nod off and the other will jerk awake. It’s creepy, and it mirrors
BATTLE OF THE SEXES
This week: Panama Papers Joe thinks the leak of these papers will help the middle class and lower class start a conversation they previously didn’t know how to start and Claire believes the Panama Papers expose true betrayal and how corrupt our government is. Who do you agree with? Tweet us your response @timesdelphic
Joe Herba
Staff Writer joseph.herba@drake.edu
Leaks happen. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. As a person who has honestly never heard of the Panama Papers before a week ago (don’t hate me, I’m a science major and have no life outside the sciences), I think it is obviously a very healthy thing. For those of you that don’t know what they are, these papers are basically a record of many major corporations’ and wealthy individuals’ financial dealings that were meant to be kept secretive in Panama from public scrutiny. That means that if they moved their money outside to avoid to taxes or invested in shady things, the public would definitely know about it, or quickly learned about each individual’s or company’s money movement. Obviously, most people would see this is a good thing because money concentration in the top one percent is as prevalent as ever, and seeing where this money is going and why it is leaving the country where it was made is a huge question that needs to be addressed. These papers are one of the best ways to start a discussion that middle class and poor families really don’t know
how to start. I recently learned that jumping up a socioeconomic class has about the same odds as being struck by lighting, and it is for the reason of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. If the money is not in the U.S., then it is clearly not circulating in the U.S. Second, I think this should also be considered on the same level of the hack that was set free by Edward Snowden. Before people get upset with me, hear me out. Edward Snowden, while betraying the country, gave the people things that the government was trying to hide. I know that with the leak of information to the people, you also risk leaking the information to those that despise the U.S., but many if not all of the articles leaked were not detrimental to the U.S. No pertinent information was let out about the military, and it helps keep the people updated on what the government needs to be clearer about. I fully understand that breaching secret government files is an act of treason, however it was something that I feel the public needed more clarification about. So, whether it is money accounts or the rich overseas with the right information, leaks aren’t all that bad.
Claire Franksen
Staff Writer claire.franksen@drake.edu
David Cameron is a big, fat hypocrite. The thing about rich people is they don’t want to tell you just how rich they are. They hide their money away in cozy little tax havens like the Cayman Islands ,as if they were packrats hoarding scraps of garbage. We expect this from the fat cats on Wall Street and the slumlords of the third world, but our world leaders are above this practice, right? Nope. A number of documents recently came to light, implicating numerous world leaders in this type of shady dealing. The Panama Papers are a group of millions of documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm. They expose numerous world leaders and other prominent figures who have been using offshore shell companies to hide their ostentatious fortunes. Amongst those under fire because of the documents are Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron and numerous top party officials in China. Most of the accounts belong to close family members or associates but suggest the
involvement of these world leaders to a sufficient degree. One of the most immediate impacts of the documents’ release was the resignation of Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, the now-former prime minister of Iceland. To be fair, this practice isn’t illegal. There are some legitimate reasons for establishing offshore shell companies. These companies can be used by noncitizens to purchase property in foreign countries, but it becomes very easy to reap the benefits of a little tax evasion. A company headquartered in the United Kingdom could avoid the restrictive tax laws of its home country by establishing an offshore shell company and hiding its rapidly growing wealth where tax officials cannot reach it. Now, here comes the part that doesn’t make sense. British Prime Minister David Cameron, who promised to close loopholes and crack down on those individuals and companies evading their taxes, is among the people exposed in the Panama Papers. This revelation resembles what you feel when your mom hands you what she says is chocolate chip banana bread but turns out to be zucchini bread when you bite into it — betrayal. Cameron gained his trust from his “promises” on tax evasion. I feel like we always casually say that our government is corrupt without really truly meaning it or knowing what we’re talking about. But this is actual proof that our government is corrupt — or at least our world leaders are. Here’s to more corrupt leaders hiding their wealth from the rest of the world!
Thad and George’s relationship a bit too much for my liking. Regardless, please read this book. It’s an excellent introduction to King’s work, of which I am a huge fan. I also highly recommend following him on Twitter (@StephenKing), where he often tweets about his dog Molly, “aka The Thing of Evil,” and how she brings terror on his life. He also tweets book reviews and recommendations, as well as political commentary (my weak spot). Basically he’s a shining star of a human being with an incredibly ability to flat out terrify people.
KING’S terrifying novel “The Dark Half” was first published in 1989 and was made into a movie in 1993. COURTESY FROM STEPHENKING.COM