Misery Themes

Misery follows protagonist Paul, a successful author who suffers a serious car accident and is abducted, held hostage, and tortured by a former nurse named Annie. Throughout Misery, Paul’s dependence on Annie acts as an overarching metaphor for addiction. Early on, Paul realizes he has developed a literal addiction to the opioid painkiller Novril while under Annie’s care. His craving for the pills goes beyond their painkilling properties, to the extent that…

As an author, Paul frequently views the world and his circumstances through the lens of fiction. His mind keeps up a near constant stream of narration, and his imagination frequently runs through hypothetical scenarios in vivid detail. When he first escapes from Annie’s guest room, Paul imagines a sportscaster narrating his actions as if he were competing in an athletic event, perhaps as a way of coping with the terrible pain of that experience…

Misery, as a novel about a man, Paul, who is held hostage for months, explores various forms of entrapment. Long before he’s in a car accident and Annie kidnaps him, Paul feels trapped and as though his life is out of his control. This is because Paul, an author, wants to write “real” literature—but he’s famous for a series of pulpy romance novels, and nobody reads his more literary works. Paul believes he’s…