On Living: A Postscript by Stephen King - Literature Essay Example

On living: a postscript is the last chapter of Kings memoir On Writing. It contains eighteen moving pages of Kings personal experience following an awful sequence of being struck by a van near his home, his emergency medical treatment and long rehabilitation, his struggle to live, his collaboration with his wife and finally his survival back to writing. In the summer of June 1999, King together with his children were walking down a fairly deserted road on the Maine State Route 5. All over a sudden, a driver ran out of control and bumped into King thereby injuring him severely. He lost his lower part of the leg, one of his knees was split almost directly down the middle, his spine chipped in eight places, his ribs were broken, his hip smashed, his scalp torn open, and his collarbone went missing (King 262). Only multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation would save his life and make him walk again. The central theme of this narration is perseverance. King vividly describes the unfolding of the events leading to the accident now that he missed death by a whisker. Kings story is a long, horrifying experience characterized by a painful recovery. At first, he was reluctant to go back to writing, but his wife Tabby encouraged him to start writing again (King 266).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

King uses allusions in describing his writing experience. He postulates that Writing is cleansing, writing is cathartic, writing is happiness and writing are immortality. Through these illusions, King brings out the notion that writing is about the style and shape and length of the work involved. For one to excel in writing, on has to read and write a lot. He says in a quote some of this book has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. King also used imagery when he postulated that Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. The essence of using imagery is this case is to motivate young aspiring and future writers that if indeed they have a passion for writing, they should not be discouraged! Many books are never published just because the authors are too afraid to publish them.

The purpose of using the story of his personal narration of the accident is to encourage aspiring writers that despite the challenges and encumbrances the may face, they should not despair but take heart and keep moving forward. Stephen kings story is a life testimony having encountered a near death encounter. Nevertheless, he did not despair. He persevered. Despite the fact that King had all the reasons to justify why he should not go back to writing, he did not give up. Ideally, King's story is a great motivation to scholars who sometimes face myriad challenges as they try to make their way through in writing. King encourages the reader to be brave and start writing and practice a lot in order to perfect one's skills.

King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. New York, NY: Scribner, 2010. Print.