ENG4U1
MODEL ESSAY TEST ANSWERS
KING’S “WHY WE CRAVE HORROR MOVIES”
STRUCTURE AND STRATEGY
1. a) This essay exemplifies the causal analysis essay pattern. The
purpose of this type of pattern is to examine the causes and effects of
something; to answer the question “what causes” or “why.”
b) I can tell that King is using the causal analysis organizational
pattern by looking at the use of the word ‘why’. Starting with the
title itself, “Why We Crave Horror Movies” followed by “Why?”
(para. 3) and then “Why bother?” (para. 13). King’s word choice in
paragraph 3, “Some of the reasons are simple and obvious” leads me
to identify King’s essay as causal analysis because he is exploring
what causes us to have a desire to watch horror movies.
2. Stephen King’s thesis is that people enjoy watching horror movies
because they help to keep our inherently insane human nature from
getting out of control by satisfying our need for the scary, sick, and
gruesome.
3.
Paragraph
8
10
Example(s) Used
Jack the Ripper or
Cleveland Torso
Murderer
Adults reward
hugging and kissing
our “little puke of a
sister”
Point Reinforced
Insanity is a matter
of degree
Society encourages
positive actions
(showing love and
care)
11
Jokes about
truckload of
bowling balls/dead
babies
We need to exercise
our uncivilized
emotions and urges
4. The tone of King’s essay is humorous and playful. He engages the
reader with humour to prove his point. For example, he shares jokes
like “What’s the difference between a truckload of bowling balls and
a truckload of babies?” (para. 11) and even encourages us to laugh
with him at times by including his own laugh track “heh-heh-heh”
(para. 8). He also provokes a smile when he makes fun of people, as
he does when he refers to “the verses (I don’t dare call it poetry) of
Leonard Nimoy” (para 9).
CONTENT AND PURPOSE
1. a) The three “simple and obvious reasons” why we like horror
movies are: “to show that we are not afraid” (para 3), “to re-establish
our feelings of normality” (para 3), and “to have fun” (para 5).
b) The less obvious reason that King develops in paragraphs 7 – 12
is that we all have uncivilized emotions and urges, deep down within
ourselves, that every once in a while need to be let out. We enjoy
horror films because they fulfill this demand that we have of
temporarily releasing our inner demons, thereby satisfying our
socially unacceptable urges.
2. The analogy that is the basis of paragraph 9 compares emotions to
muscles that make up a body. It reinforces the idea that watching
horror movies is a normal, healthy activity because those films
exercise those uncivilized, fearful emotions that constitute part of the
body. If we don’t exercise those muscles, then we will lose tone and
be unable to keep those emotions in check.
3. a) Personification is giving inanimate objects (non-human things)
human characteristics or abilities.
b) The horror movie is being personified. It “has a dirty job to do.”
A film is being given the human ability to do a job, which it can’t do.
4. The “hungry alligators” referred to in paragraph 12 represent the
insane side of people and uncivilized emotions/urges that King
describes. This is a very effective analogy because alligators are
dangers and vicious just like human insanity can be, and having them
“swimming around” (para 12) implies that they, like our insane sides,
are restless and wanting to get out. “Throwing a basket of raw meat”
is an unpleasant action, much like watching a horror movie can be an
unpleasant process, but it is necessary to keep the gators from getting
out (like insanity). This effectively communicates the nature of
human insanity and the purpose that watching a horror movie serves:
to feed the gators, to satisfy those socially unacceptable cravings for
violence.