It: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

Clippings from the Derry News chronicle fears about Edward Corcoran, who has gone missing. His younger brother, Dorsey Corcoran, has recently died “of what were reported to be accidental causes.” His stepfather, Richard P. Macklin, takes him to the hospital, saying that Dorsey was playing at the top of a ladder in the garage and fell, losing consciousness. Dorsey dies three days after falling into a coma. By the end of June, Macklin is arrested for murdering his stepson. Both of the Corcoran boys suffer abuse at home, which is noticed by their teachers. Edward’s teacher is warned against reporting it, out of fears that reports of abuse will hurt the school during tax appropriation season. Monica Macklin, the boys’ mother, refuses to believe that Richard has ever beaten the boys.

Richard Macklin is later charged with Dorsey’s murder and confesses to bludgeoning the boy to death with a retractable hammer. He recalls Dorsey begging Richard to stop beating him, telling Richard how much he loves him. Edward Corcoran remains missing and Macklin has no idea where the elder boy is, but his wife, Monica Macklin, who has started divorce proceedings, does not believe him. Richard has been sent to Shawshank State Prison and has become a Catholic. His priest testifies to Richard’s contrition for what he did to Dorsey and thinks that Richard’s hands are clean in regard to Edward.

The police later find a badly decomposed body, which they believe belongs to Edward Corcoran, but it is not him after all. In 1967, Richard Macklin commits suicide shortly after being paroled from prison. His suicide note reveals a “confused state of mind.” Meanwhile, Monica Macklin has Edward Corcoran declared legally dead and inherits Edward’s savings account, which contains sixteen dollars.

Edward Corcoran dies on the night of June 19th and it is true that his stepfather, Richard Macklin, does not kill him. Bill Denbrough, Ben Hanscom, Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier, Beverly Marsh, Mike Hanlon, and Stanley Uris—the members of the future Losers’ Club—are all in their own homes and doing different things. However, they all look up at the same moment that Eddie Corcoran dies, “as if hearing some distant cry.”

Earlier that day, Edward Corcoran receives his report card and knows that his poor marks will anger his father. Besides, his parents have been arguing a lot lately. Eddie has never seen Richard Macklin use his fists on Monica—he seems to save that for Eddie and Dorsey—but they have regular shouting matches around the time that bills are due. This results in the cops being called and Monica flipping off the officers, daring them to take her in. His father is afraid of the cops but Edward still knows to stay out of Richard’s way, using what happens to Dorsey as a cautionary tale. Two nights earlier, Richard throws a chair at Eddie when he changes the TV channel. One night Richard smears mashed potatoes into Eddie’s hair for no reason at all. When Eddie accidentally slams the door coming in from school, Richard shoves him and sends him reeling backward into the low coat hooks his mother recently mounted.

Edward Corcoran loses consciousness for ten minutes after being shoved into what feel like “hard steel fingers.” He awakes to hear his mother, Monica Macklin, saying that she is going to take him to the hospital and Richard warning her against it, after what happened to Dorsey. Instead, Monica helps Eddie to his room. Eddie comforts himself by taking nips from his stepfather’s whisky, which dulls the pain, though he pees blood for two weeks.

Eddie is not a stupid boy but has missed a lot of school since his mother’s remarriage, which explains his poor marks. He thinks that Richard Macklin used the recoilless hammer, which has disappeared, on his brother, Dorsey, then buried it in the family garden. Eddie thinks of this while walking toward the Canal. Eddie likes the park and thinks it is a peaceful place, despite its seedy reputation after sundown. He has thought, more than once, about walking beside the Canal with his stepfather, then giving the man one great big push, in revenge for what happened to Dorsey.

Suddenly, a hand closes around Edward Corcoran’s foot. He looks down and his mouth drops open. It is Dorsey. Dorsey is grinning and croaks Eddie’s name. Eddie wants to scream, but he cannot manage to produce the sound. He feels the hand slide away momentarily and thinks that the thing is not his brother. Eddie walks away, looking everywhere at once. The breeze seems to call his name. Something is following him. He can hear feet behind him, but they are not Dorsey’s; they belong to the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Green fluid drips from vertical gashes in its cheeks. Its webbed fingers are tipped with claws. It has “green-black lips” that wrinkle back to reveal large fangs. The thing chases Eddie, with the intention of taking him into the Canal.

Eddie Corcoran runs as fast as he can. He becomes overwhelmed by a stink all around him. He trips over a park bench that some kids had pushed earlier in the evening. The edge of the seat smacks Eddie in the shins. The creature bears down on him and Eddie sees its eyes, which are like poached eggs. He crawls as the creature grabs hold of Eddie’s neck. Eddie tries to assure himself that the creature is not real. Still, the claws go into Eddie’s neck and puncture his carotid artery. Eddie gropes at the creature’s back, feeling for a zipper. His hands fall away only after the creature tears Eddie’s head from his shoulders “with a satisfied grunt.” Then, Eddie’s image of It fades and It turns into something else.

Unable to sleep, Mike Hanlon rises soon after dawn on the first full day of summer vacation. He dresses and has breakfast. He then hops on his bike and heads to town. He enters Bassey Park. On the ground, he spots “a cheap two-blade pocket knife.” The initials E.C. are scratched on the side. He sees blood, too, but chalks it up to a dogfight. Still, he follows the grooves in the grass, wondering if they were caused by something else.

Each April and May, the Hanlon farm becomes active again. Will Hanlon tries to get his old Ford, which he scrounged from the city dump, running again. The year’s work begins with a rock harvest. After the rock harvest, Will parks the Ford in the tall grass and drive the tractor out of the barn. Then comes the planting and hoeing. In July, there is picking and more hoeing. First come the peas and radishes, then the lettuce and tomatoes. Corn and beans arrive in August and September, then pumpkins and squash. New potatoes also arrive in the midst of other harvests.

Will Hanlon leaves his son, Mike, notes about what chores to perform around the farm. On one or two schooldays a week, there is no note or a note that says “No chores,” and Mike can do what he wants, such as go fishing or look at trolley tracks. One day he and his father go to the Courthouse and look at the old tramp-chair. One day, Mike rides his bike out to Pasture Road and comes home late for dinner, causing his mother, Jessica, to become hysterical. She chases him with a dishrag and admonishes him for scaring her.

One day, Mike goes over to the old Kitchener Ironworks. He peers inside of the old smokestack. He thinks that he sees a bird staring back at him. Mike pulls away, shaking. He walks down in the smokestack, exploring further. He decides to take something—a seven-inch gear-toothed wheel—as a souvenir and prepares to leave quickly. Mike cannot resist looking down into the “cellarhold” [sic] and sees the bird looking up. Suddenly, the ground shifts and he begins to slide. He scrambles to his knees and sees the bird rising out of the cellarhold.

Mike starts to run. The bird screams, and he hears its fluttering wings. Its black eyes are fixed on Mike, and its talons close around Mike’s forearm. He feels himself being pulled upward. The bird tries to force itself into the mouth of the stack. Mike falls to the curved floor of the smokestack and spreads his hands wide, feeling around. He finds a piece of broken tile and chucks it at the bird. Mike throws another piece of tile and hits the bird in the eye. He sees that the bird’s tongue is silver with orange puffs, like tumbleweed. For a moment, Mike can see the bird’s reptilian talons. Then, its wings flap and It is gone.

Mike waits to see what will happen next. He has gathered a stack of broken tile to use as ammo. The bird comes back, its wings flapping, and Mike throws more tiles at It, demanding that It go away. He then steps out of the smokestack, looking around. He is sure that he will see the bird, but it’s no longer there.

When Mike gets home, his father, Will Hanlon, is changing the plugs on the tractor. Mike explains his dusty appearance by saying that he swerved on his bike to avoid hitting a pothole. He shows his father the gear-wheel from the smokestack. His father says that he doesn’t want Mike to go back to Kitchener Ironworks—at least not until the killer is found. Old places like that, he says, can be dangerous. Mike agrees then goes to get cleaned up for dinner.

Mike releases himself from this memory and looks again at the blood beside the Canal. He throws the pocketknife that he finds into the water. He hears something coming, like dragging footsteps. When he sees the headline in the paper the next day about a missing boy, he thinks of the pocketknife and the grooves that stop at the edge of the Canal.