Firestarter

Content Warning: This section discusses the sexualization of a child.

The brief Chapter 4 offers a look at Rainbird’s psyche, independent of Cap’s perception. Rainbird is largely free of the stereotypes that haunted his character initially. His cold refinement becomes clear in the controlled, meditative approach he takes toward assassinating Dr. Wanless. King individuates Rainbird further by describing his shoe collection. By introducing Rainbird’s intimate desires, King builds the assassin’s character further while uncovering the unsettling reason Charlie has sparked his interest. Rainbird feels protective of Charlie, even as he plans to murder her.

King shows how Rainbird’s view of Charlie may be sexualized. During his second conversation with Cap, Rainbird says that he wants “to know [Charlie] intimately” (195). This is an exceptionally troubling statement, as she is only eight. Rainbird denies its sexual implications, and King keeps his intent ambiguous throughout the novel. However, Rainbird’s menace pervades his every interaction with Charlie, increasing the tension and sense of foreboding.

King often introduces a tense situation and delays its resolution by detailing the minutia of the present moment, such as when detailing Andy’s search for Charlie. This shows how Andy experiences distress when accessing his abilities, and explores a key theme of the text, The Ethics of Scientific Experimentation on Living Subjects. Andy works himself up to telepathy by seeking access to his deepest emotions. The wrenching between his pleasurable memories of Vicky and his despair at the loss of Charlie foreshadow the physical toll he’ll later face after pushing the Shop agents and saving Charlie.

Through Andy, King creates a sense of foreboding. Andy feels growing anxiety that Charlie’s pyrokinesis, upon reaching adolescence, will become unbearably powerful. He compares Charlie to “thalidomide babies” and children “of mothers who had taken DES” (176). Thalidomide and DES were prescribed to women between the ’50s and the ’70s and, particularly in the case of thalidomide, caused thousands of children to be born with severe birth defects and made them susceptible to diseases such as cancer. These drugs became common bywords for the widespread failure of regulatory bodies. King evokes this examples to underscore Governmental Overreach and the Failure of Authority.