It: Chapter 13 Summary & Analysis

Bill is the first member of the group at the library, watching as Mike deals with the last of the patrons. Bill thinks of Silver, leaning against the wall of Mike’s garage. He remembers on July 3, 1958 when the Losers’ Club goes deeper into the Barrens. Bill wants to tell them what to do next, how to proceed, but he does not know how. He remembers only music and darts of light.

In the memory, Richie hangs his transistor radio over the lowermost branch of a tree against which he is leaning. The sun bounces off the radio’s chrome, prompting Bill to ask him to take it down. Richie obeys and also turns the radio off, which Bill wishes that he did not do, for the silence suddenly seems very loud. He sees that his friends are waiting for him to tell them what to do because he is the idea-man and has lost a brother but mainly because he has become “Big Bill.” Bill tells the group that they cannot go to the police. Bill suggests that Richie go to his parents and tell them about what the group has been witnessing, but Richie thinks that his parents would not understand or believe him.

Ben, Richie, Stanley, and Bill all believe that Henry Bowers hates them the most, but Henry hates all four of them equally. However, “the number one on Henry’s personal hate parade” is not in the Losers’ Club at this time. It is Mike Hanlon. Henry gets this hatred from his father, “Butch” Bowers, who associates the Hanlons with all of his failures. He tells Henry that Will Hanlon lied about Butch killing his chickens to get insurance money. Butch tells his son that while “all niggers are stupid, some were cunning as well” and all of them hate white men and want to go to bed with white women. Butch thinks that Hanlon got “a bunch of nigger-lovers” in town to lie for him because Butch is only “a man who fought the Japs for his country” while Hanlon is the only black man in town.

All Henry Bowers hears from his father is how everything is Will Hanlon’s fault. When the Bowers family becomes poor in 1956, Henry is ten years old. Remembering how, according to his father, everything is Hanlon’s fault, Henry begins to feed the Hanlon dog, Mr. Chips. At first, he gives the dog old stew bones and potato chips, then he feeds the dog meat laced with poison. When the pains start, Henry ties the dog to a tree with a clothesline and watches Mr. Chips die.

When the dog dies, Henry Bowers removes the clothesline and tells his father what he has done. Oscar “Butch” Bowers is extremely crazy by this time and his wife will leave him a year later after he nearly beats her to death. Butch claps Henry on the back with pride and offers Henry his first beer. He later associates its taste with his father’s love. As far as Henry knows, the Hanlons never figure out who killed their dog, but he hopes that they do.

Jessica Hanlon is a devout Baptist, so she sends Mike to the Neibolt Street Church School where things are okay, but Mike still feels that he is a bit of an outcast because he is brown. Still, Mike thinks that he will be treated well as long as he treats others the same way. Henry Bowers is an exception to this rule of conduct. Mike is somewhat tall and agile and goes to a different school from Henry. These facts save him from some beatings. However, one spring, Henry is hiding in the bushes and emerges while Mike is walking to the library.

While running from Henry, Mike slips in some mud which Henry then rubs all over Mike, calling him “nigger.” Henry then tells Mike that he killed Mr. Chips and kicks another clot of mud at Mike before turning and leaving. Mike goes home, weeping. When he arrives, his mother, Jessica, is furious. She wants Will Hanlon to call Chief Borton and send him to the Hanlon house before sundown. Will listens but does not do what his wife asks because he knows that Chief Borton is not like Chief Sullivan and will not be sympathetic. Jessica asks if Will thinks that they should “just let it go.” Will says that racism is just something that Mike is going to have to learn how to deal with.

The following day, Will Hanlon calls Mike out to the barn and warns him to stay out of Henry’s way. He tells him that “Butch” Bowers is crazy and Mike says that he thinks that Henry is crazy, too. Indeed, because of his close association with his father, Henry is going crazy. Will is careful to say that he does not want Mike to “make a career out of running away,” but he is going to be harassed a lot due to being black. Will also says that Mike must ask himself if Henry Bowers is worth the trouble. Mike does not think so, but he will change his mind on July 3, 1958.

Henry Bowers, Victor Criss, “Belch” Huggins, Peter Gordon, and Steve Sadler are chasing Mike through the trainyard and toward the Barrens when Bill and the rest of the Losers’ Club are still sitting near the Kenduskeag River, pondering their collective nightmare. Bill thinks that It is in the sewers. The sewage system, Zack Denbrough explains to Bill one day, is massive and complex. Bill tells his friends what his father told him about the pipes. Bill also tells them that he went to the library to research what they have been experiencing. It is called a “glamour” in Gaelic and a taelus by the Himalayans. It is a “skin-changer” or a “shape-shifting” creature. The only way to repel It is by performing the Ritual of Chüd, in which the taelus and It’s potential killer take turns telling jokes. If the killer laughs first, he or she dies. If the taelus laughs, It must go away.

After talking about It, the Losers’ Club passes the time by setting off some firecrackers that Stan Uris got from a kid at his synagogue. Meanwhile, “Belch” Huggins and Victor Criss are helping Henry Bowers work on his father’s farm. The boys finish the farm chores and step out onto the road, where they see Mike Hanlon. Henry wants to sneak up on Mike carefully because Mike is fast. Victor asks, somewhat concernedly, what Henry plans to do. He knows that Henry can sometimes go “too far.” Henry has the idea of taking Mike to the coal pit, putting some Black Cat firecrackers in Mike’s loafers, stripping him, and sending him down into the Barrens with the hope that Mike will get into poison ivy. “Belch” also suggests rolling Mike in the coal. Henry remembers that he wants to tell Mike again that he killed Mr. Chips, thinking that Mike did not hear him the first time.

The Losers’ Club is walking through the Barrens. They imagine that they are wading through a jungle and that the Kenduskeag is full of piranhas. They teeter on the rocks to get across the river. Eddie nears the halfway point and almost falls over. Between the flashes of the sun, he actually sees piranhas in the water. The fish look like oversized goldfish. They are as orange as the pompoms that are sometimes on clowns at the circus. Stanley grabs Eddie’s arm to keep him from falling in.

Ben mentions how “creepy” it is where they are walking. Bill leads them up the dry bank into heavy shrubbery. The smell of the dump is “clear and pungent.” Paper caught in the branches waves and flaps. The Losers’ Club gets to the top of the ridge and looks down at the dump. Ben says that they cannot go down because there are rats and Mandy Fazio, the “dumpkeeper” [sic], uses poison to keep the rodents away. Mainly, Mandy does not think that a dump is a place for children to play. Still thinking of a place to play, Bill comes up with the idea of going to a gravel pit at the end of the Barrens by the trainyards. They all agree to go there.

Mike is currently being chased by Henry Bowers, “Belch” Huggins, Victor Criss, Steve Sadler, and Peter Gordon. Henry, “Belch,” and Steve, otherwise known as “Moose,” present no problems; they are quite slow. Victor and Peter, however, are fast, too. Mike sees that the gate to the trainyard is open and slips through, though there is a sign saying that it is private property. He closes the gate behind him. Peter catches up and grabs for the latch but cannot reach it, for the latch is inside. Henry arrives and demands that Mike open up. Mike backs away from the gate, feeling more scared than he ever has before. The bullies line their side of the gate and call him every racist name they can. Henry then lights a cherry-bomb and lobs it over the fence. It lands to Mike’s left. Henry then tells Mike again that he killed Mr. Chips. Mike hears him this time and the awareness ignites a fury within him.

Mike turns and runs across the trainyards. Henry and the other bullies climb the fence. Mike runs but hears his father’s voice, telling him not to get accustomed to running. Mike takes a right toward the gravel-pit. The gravel-pit was used as a coal pit until 1935 or so. As Mike runs toward it, he takes his shirt off. Henry does not see the coal but only a black boy that he thinks he has trapped against a fence. Suddenly, Mike lobs a chunk of coal that lands against Henry’s forehead.

The other bullies skid to a stop. Their faces are fixed in disbelief. Mike lobs another piece of coal that hits Henry in the throat. Henry’s face contorts and is smeared with blood and coal ash. Mike leaps up the fence. He makes it over before one of them strikes his face with a piece of coal. Then, Henry approaches and lights one of his M-80 firecrackers, which he then sends over the fence. For Peter Gordon, things are going too far. Henry pressures Peter to continue over the fence with the other bullies, threatening to come after Peter next if he does not go along. Mike, meanwhile, runs and escapes into the scrub.

The Losers’ Club has reached the far side of the gravel pit by this time. They are preparing to fire off Stanley’s Black Cats. As Stanley unwraps them, they all hear an explosion nearby. Beverly asks if it is dynamite. Stanley asks if they still want to shoot off the firecrackers. Bill tells him to put them away. Stan opens his mouth to say something and hears another, smaller explosion—a cherry-bomb. Bill then prompts everyone to grab rocks as ammo.

Ben and Richie bend to get rocks, as Bill says, then Richie takes off his glasses, folds them, and puts them inside his shirt. Beverly asks why he does that. Richie says that he is not sure why but goes on picking up rocks. Ben suggests that Beverly go back to the dump for a while, but she refuses. Eddie feels a tightening in his throat but also joins in with picking up rocks.

Mike is still running and knows that Henry and the others are gaining on him. Mike falls down the gravel-pit and rolls to the bottom. He sees six other kids there and cries out, instinctively, to the tall boy with the red hair. He tries to tell them that he is being chased by Henry Bowers and his other bullying friends, just when Henry bursts into the pit. The other bullies join Henry at his side. Henry says that he has bones to pick with each member of the Losers’ Club, but today, he is focused on Mike. Bill then steps forward and tells Henry to leave the Barrens because it belongs to the Losers’ Club. Henry’s eyes widen at the challenge. Bill then takes some rocks and throws them at Henry. The first misses its target but the third strikes Henry’s lowered head, which is in the process of charging at Bill.

Soon, the entire Losers’ Club charges the bullies and throws rocks. Henry picks up rocks, too, but they are mostly pebbles. He throws one of the larger ones at Beverly and hits her in the arm, cutting her. This sends Ben into a rage. Ben runs toward Henry and sends him flying upon contact. “Belch” repels Ben by hitting him with a rock the size of a golf ball. Henry gets to his knees but Ben kicks him, scolding him for throwing rocks at a girl. Henry tries to light one of his M-80s, which Ben swats away, back toward Henry. The ashcan explodes, blackening and tearing Henry’s shirt. A moment later, “Moose” Sadler hits Ben, bringing him to his knees.

Bill comes up behind “Moose” Sadler and hits him with rocks. “Moose” calls Bill “a yellowbelly” for hitting him from behind, but the others are unimpressed. After all, he and the other bullies had no problem ganging up on Mike Hanlon. In a kind of revenge, Bill, Richie, Stanley, and Eddie fling rocks at Moose, who howls in fear and pain. “Belch” and Henry get hit again, too, forcing them into submission. Victor does the most damage to the Losers’ Club, due to his being such a good pitcher. He throws a rock at Eddie, which strikes him on the chin. Next, he hits Richie and gets him in the chest. One that he lobs at Bill hits Bill in the cheek and cuts him.

Bill then walks toward Victor and looks him squarely in the eye. Suddenly, as though able to reach each other’s minds, they throw rocks at each other while simultaneously walking toward each other. Victor ducks and bobs but Bill makes no effort to move himself out of the way. Victor runs out of ammunition first. Bill has one rock left—a smooth one about the size and shape of a duck’s egg and shot with quartz. Victor thinks it looks very hard. Bill warns him and the other bullies to leave. If not, the entire group will move in on them and Bill promises to put them in the hospital. Mike joins in on the promised effort. For the first time, Bill sees fear in Henry’s eyes.

Henry, however, still resists the demand to leave and calls Beverly and Mike names. This prompts four rocks to go flying. Henry is helpless and the other bullies do nothing. “Belch” warns that the Losers’ Club will be sorry for crossing Henry. However, the bullies soon leave with their heads down. The apocalyptic rockfight lasts for about four minutes and leaves the seven survivors standing in a semi-circle, each of them bleeding from somewhere. Their silence is broken by Eddie’s wheezing. Ben tries to go to Eddie but suddenly feels ill and heads for the bushes instead, to vomit. Richie and Beverly go to Eddie, and Richie helps Eddie get his aspirator. Beverly then thanks Ben for sticking up for her.

Everyone then turns to look at the new dark-skinned kid. Their look of careful curiosity is familiar to Mike. Bill looks at him, then at everyone else, and senses that their group is somehow complete. Beverly asks Mike what his name is. Stanley then asks him if he wants to shoot off some firecrackers. Mike’s grin is enough of a response.