Annie Wilkes – an analysis of a female monster
I have decided to analyse Annie Wilkes, one of the main characters in the book Misery written by Stephen King. He wrote the book in 1987 and it was filmed by Rob Reiner in 1990 with Kathy Bates and James Caan playing the leading parts. Both the book and the film are very popular and have been read and seen by many people all over the world. Kathy Bates also won an Academy Award for her performance as Wilkes. To start with I will give a summary of Misery and I will then continue with my analysis based on the book, the film and some articles.
Paul Sheldon is a famous writer who has written a series about a 19th century woman called Misery. The books are loved all over America and people run to the store when a new book is published. When the book starts Paul has just finished his last Misery-novel and it ends with her death. He is fed up with Misery and wants to write other novels. Paul is in Colorado and has just finished his latest book and while he is driving back home there is a snowstorm. He loses control over his car and he is badly injured but is rescued by a middle-aged former nurse called Annie Wilkes. She takes him to her house and nurses him. Annie lives alone, her house is situated in a depopulated area and the nearest neighbour lives miles away. Both lower parts of Paul's legs are totally crushed and he is in a bad state. Annie has put him in a bed in her guestroom, she has splited his legs, she feeds him, gives him painkillers and medicine and helps him with everything.
This far it seems as if Paul Sheldon has been lucky to be rescued and even luckier that his rescuer is a nurse. But after reading just a few pages of the book or watching the first minutes of the film you realise that Annie Wilkes is not a normal woman and that Paul Sheldon might have been better off if he had just died out in the snowstorm. Annie Wilkes is the evil character of the novel, or as Kim Newman puts it in a review of the book:
“…in Annie Wilkes, he (Stephen King, author´s remark) has created his most monstrous of monsters. Ultimate Evil as Ultimate Banality.” (www.stephenkingnews.com/books/misery.html)
What is it that makes Annie Wilkes a monster? How can a middle-aged nurse who rescues a badly injured man from death be evil? In this analysis I will explain what makes Annie a monster and what it is that makes Paul Sheldon, the readers and the watchers of the film scared of her.
Annie Wilkes is a big fan of the Misery-novels. In the film you get to know that the owner of the local store has to put a copy aside for her every time a new book arrive. She tells Paul that she has read each book several times and she is just obsessed with Misery and her life. The first thing she tells the injured Paul is that: “I’m Annie Wilkes and I’m your biggest fan.” Even though Paul is in a coma in the beginning he still feels that he dislikes when she tries to wake him by doing mouth to mouth. In the book Paul feels like he has been raped by the air she blows into him. Very soon he starts to realise that there is something odd about the woman who has rescued him :
“That prescient part of his mind saw her before he knew he was seeing her, and must surely have understood her before he knew he was understanding her – why else did he associate such dour, ominous images with her? Whenever she came into the room he thought of the graven images worshipped by superstitious African tribes in the novels of H. Rider Haggard, and stones, and doom.” Page 8
This shows that there is something in Annie´s aura that scares Paul and gives him a premonition of what will come. In the book Paul often thinks of Annie as an African goddess but in the film that image is taken away. However, both in the book and in the film, Annie is a big woman with hardly no feminine curves. She wears big cardigans and wool skirts in dull colours. When she works on her farm she wears formless jeans and big flannel shirts. Her hair is brown and quite short, cut in a childish way with fringe. She uses clips to keep her hair in place and that makes her look childish and innocent in a way. She never wears make-up. The way Annie looks is not scary but when you start to realise what she is capable of, her innocent, ordinary looks makes her even more scary. I do not like the idea that someone who looks like your boring aunt or next door neighbour is a crazy murderer. I think Stephen King tries to make his audience even more scared by presenting her like this.
Annie Wilkes gives Paul painkillers and these painkillers are called Novril. They are based on codeine and they help him to cope with his pain. But they are also highly addictive and Paul feels that he needs them. In the book Paul discovers three things almost simultaneously, about ten days after waking from his coma:
“The first was that Annie Wilkes had a great deal of Novril (she had, in fact, a great many drugs of all kinds). The second was that he was hooked on Novril. The third was that Annie Wilkes was dangerously crazy.” Page 10
When Paul understands these things nothing special has happened, it is more a feeling of something being wrong. He thinks that she has nearly killed him once by giving him an accidental overdose of Novril but he can not be sure of this. He is really scared because Annie believes she knows what she is doing but in fact she does not.
In the film Annie is nice in the beginning. The first time the audience sees her she is filmed from below. For a few seconds her face is hard and impregnable. The filming from below gives us a first premonition of what will come. Then the camera changes position, she is filmed from the front and she is smiling. With a soft voice she tells him that she is his number one fan and that he must not tire himself because he almost died. She gives him Novril and tells him that it is for his pain. The following days she takes care of him and helps him with everything, shaves him very gently and feeds him. One day she asks if she can read the manuscript he has in his bag. He flatters her and says that she can help him and come up with a title and she flushes like a schoolgirl: “Like I could do that!”. To be given the responsibility of naming a book written by her idol is a real honour to her and it is a good way of making her in a good mood. Unfortunately it also makes her think very highly of herself and the next time she comes to his room, to feed him soup, she starts criticising his text: Annie: “The swearing Paul. There I said it. It has no nobility!” Paul: “Everybody talks like that.” Annie starts shaking and in the background you can hear music similar to the music in “Jaws” that tells you that something is about to happen, to burst. Annie spills soup on Paul´s bed and all of a sudden she starts screaming: Annie: “Look there! See what you made me do!” Just after this she seems to wake up and she realises that she has driven the matter to far and she tries to excuse herself. Annie: “Oh Paul. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Sometimes I get so worked up. Can you ever forgive me? I love you Paul. Your mind, your creativity. That’s all I meant.” After this she leaves the room very quickly and Paul is left alone. You can see in his face that he is very worried and upset about what has happened and this is when he realises fully that something is not right. The way Annie shifts the blame is very childish and gives the impression of lability and instability. When I watched the film I knew that since it is a Stephen King film scary things would happen and this is the point at which the monster is let out of its cage.
In the book Paul has understood that Annie is crazy before the passage with the soup and the criticism of the book. On one occasion he asks Annie if she has seen his wallet:
“’Where is my wallet, by the way?’ He asked. ‘I’ve kept it safe for you,’ she said. Her smile suddenly collapsed into a narrow watchfulness he didn’t like much – it was like discovering a deep crevasse almost obscured by summer flowers in the midst of a smiling, jocund meadow. ‘Did you think I’d steal something out of it?’ ‘No, of course not. It’s just that –‘... ‘Just what, Mister Man? She persisted, and he saw with alarm that the narrow look was growing blacker and blacker. The crevasse was spreading, as if an earthquake was going on behind her brow.” page 10
This is what happens to Annie when she starts getting upset about something. She might be very happy and then something happens and it is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the nice and calm Annie turns into a person ruled by rage and anger. To call it a crevasse that has an earthquake underneath is a very good metaphor I think. If the crevasse bursts you will not have any time to run or hide. By giving this metaphor King really shows us how dangerous Annie is and that you have to tiptoe to escape her rage. Paul's wallet is the only thing that tells of Paul's identity and to have it makes Annie powerful. He is nothing without his identity and she is everything because she has it. When Annie has read parts of his manuscript she enters his room, feeds him soup and gets upset again, just like in the film. I feel that the adaptation of Misery is very close to the book but Annie is worse in the book, she is more violent and she is meaner. In this sequence you can clearly see this. Annie does not just yell, she also gives him his Novril, which he really needs, and makes him swallow them with rinse-water. When she tells him to do this her voice is tender. She also tells him that he should not throw the pills up because he will not get new until the evening. Before she leaves she asks him if he will make her mad again and when he whispers “No” she kisses him on the cheek and says “I love you”. This is the first time she says this without giving explanations. I think she now feels that she is in charge of the situation. She knows that Paul knows that he is her prisoner and she does not play games anymore.
Annie starts getting really nasty when she discovers that her beloved Misery dies in the end of Paul´s last book. In the film she enters Paul´s room in the dark at night, there is background music again and all of a sudden Annie slams the door and suddenly she stands by his bed. She looks calm, evil and resolute. “You dirty bird! How could you? She can’t be dead! Misery Chastain can not be dead! I don’t want her dead! She didn’t just slip away! You did it! You murdered my Misery. I thought you were good but you are not good! You’re just another dirty birdy. And don’t even think anyone coming for you... Because I never called them. And let’s hope nothing happens to me because if I die – you die!” As she speaks she shakes Paul´s bed and then she breaks a flower pedestal and, slams it against the wall and leaves the room. Paul looks scared but you never get to know what he thinks. In the book the episode is quite similar but you also get to know Paul's thoughts. He is terrified, understands what she is capable of and imagines himself dying.
After this Annie disappears for a while and when she comes back she has decided that Paul will burn his manuscript. It is like a ritual. The manuscript is the sacrifice and she forces Paul to be the executioner. This is an extremely mean act, to force the creator to destroy his own work. She has also decided that he shall write a new book about Misery called “Misery’s Return”. Annie has bought him an old typewriter and paper. The typewriter missed an n and in the book Annie is proud when she tells him about the buy:
“’She wanted forty-five dollars but gave me five off. Because of the missing n.’ She offered him a crafty smile. No fool she, it said. He smiled back. ... ‘I told her n was one of the letters in my favorite writer’s name.’ ‘It’s two of the letters in my favorite nurse’s name.’ Her smile became a glow. Incredibly, a blush rose in her solid cheeks. ... ‘You fooler!’ she simpered.” Page 67
Annie demands him to write and Paul understands that he has no choice and he starts writing. Annie reads everything he writes and tells him when he has to correct or rewrite something. By doing so she takes control not only of his body but also of his mind. In one way I also find Annie very human in situations like this, she is good at what she is doing and she knows how she wants things. Especially in the film she can talk about herself and her feelings with Paul and you can actually feel for her. In a review of the book in Publisher’s Weekly it is written:
“Annie is not merely a monster but is subtly and often touchingly portrayed, allowing hostage and keeper a believable, if twisted, relationship.” (www.stephenkingnews.com/books/misery.htm)
Annie is not stupid, she is very structured and she is a skilful nurse. She is also sensible, delicate and easily flattered. She seems to be unaccustomed to flattery and attention. Paul can use this when he wants her in a good mood and he gets better and better at tricking her.
When Annie is out shopping Paul manages to get out of his locked room and he looks around in the house. He finds lots of medicine in a locker and he finds a scrapbook. The scrapbook is full of articles from newspapers and they all deal with Annie in one way or another. The first article is very old, Annie was only 11 years old when four of her neighbours were killed in a fire. They never found out who started the fire but Paul understands that it must have been Annie. The other articles are also about people who have died and the last articles are about a trial involving Annie, the Dragon Lady, who was accused of murdering patients at hospitals where she had worked. When you get to know this you realise that Annie is capable of doing anything you can imagine. Paul seems to understand it too and he hurries and manages to get back to his room before Annie comes back again.
Unfortunately Annie discovers that he has been out of his room and she punishes him. The punishment is worse in the book than it is in the film but in both cases she calls it hobbling. She wants to injure him but not kill him, she wants to be sure that he stays where he is but that he can still do his job. In the film she crushes both his ankles with the back of an axe. In the book she cuts one of his feet of and burns the stump. While doing this she is cold and resolute. She seems to believe that it is the only right thing to do and she does it without letting anything change her plan.
By the end of the story about Paul Sheldon and Annie Wilkes the police have started suspecting Annie and a policeman pays her a visit. She kills him in cold blood and then she understands that when one is dead more will come looking for him. Her plan is then to kill both Paul and herself before they come but Paul comes up with the idea that he should finish the book first, then they can die together and Annie finds it very romantic. This is the only way to fool Annie, to make her feel loved and special and Paul succeeds. When the book is finished she enters his room and she is extremely curious and expectant. To her surprise he starts burning the manuscript and she tries to save Misery from the flames. That is the moment Paul has waited for, the moment when she forgets about him, and he can hit her in the head with the typewriter. After lots of struggle he manages to kill her. At this point I was convinced that Annie was a real monster. I just wanted her dead and I felt happy when she died and did not even pity her. She is a lonely and mentally ill person but she is so scary and unstable that you just want her wiped out.
Eva Öhlund has analysed female monsters in her main essay. According to her there are a some stereotypical appearances and qualities that are typical of female monsters. Annie Wilkes fit perfectly into the appearance of the gorgon Medusa: the unattractive female and the quality of Sula: the female with dual personality. Annie Wilkes is a serial murder and she is mad. You do not have to know more about a person than that to call her a monster I think. But when it comes to Annie Wilkes the picture is very complex. Paul Sheldon hates being her prisoner and the only thing he wants is to get away from her and Fiona Webster puts it like this:
“He hates her, he fears her, he wants to kill her; but all the same he is drawn to her power. Annie is probably not the first woman who has seemed hostile and scary to this character – nor the first who (as in the opening pages) breathes life into him – like the ancient pneumos, the breath of fire, that the Goddess is supposed to breathe into Human. Sheldon is obsessed with her: he reads her scrapbook, he continually recreates in his imagination the scenes of her domination of him. He is a feverish, inspired worshipper of his goddess ....” (www.oceanstar.com/horror/misery.htm)
It does not matter that Annie is a murdering maniac because no matter what else she has done, she did save Paul Sheldon’s life. So even though he hates her and is really scared of her, this fact is something he cannot escape from. In one way she is like his mother who has also breathed life into him, or like a goddess, as Fiona Webster writes. Annie feeds him, nurses him and as she says in the film, if she dies, he will also die. This is one of Annie’s great powers and combined with her other qualities it makes her really scary.
Annie is very sensitive and she can burst into anger because she is insecure and suspects that someone thinks that she is not good enough. When Paul asks if she has seen his wallet this is exactly what happens. She is also sensitive when it comes to being flattered. It seems as if she has never been loved and she needs very little attention to be satisfied, just as she needs very little criticism to become crazy with anger. She behaves very much like a child I think. If things do not go her way she sulks. However she is much stronger and cleverer than a child and she does not hesitate to do anything that can hurt and harm other people. When it comes to being flattered she behaves like a 13-year-old schoolgirl. She flushes, simpers and prances. I think this feels scary too, that she who is capable of murdering and torturing becomes a totally different person by a simple compliment. This combined with her discrete looks and boring clothes makes the picture even more complicated. I get confused and scared by her changes in personality. John Katzenbach argues that: "She alternates between childish glee and ax-wielding madness. She hasn´t much depth but remains a single-dimensional hulking horror throughout the book." The woman is a child, a teenager and a middle-aged woman in the same body and she can change between these roles in just a second. Probably she suffers from schizophrenia and would need medication and treatment. When it comes to depth I also agree with Katzenbach. You never get to know Annie Wilkes properly. You just know what she is like but never what kind of a person she is inside and what she thinks. Her behaviour is surprising and scary because since you do not understand her and know her you never know how she will act.
Annie is not stupid at all. She has managed to kill lots of people without getting caught and she knows what she is doing. She has her weaknesses, like the obsession with Misery and that she needs love, but apart from that she is a walking death-machine, a bomb that is very easily detonated. Her different personalities makes her hard to understand and Paul has to be careful to let sleeping logs lie.
Annie is a monster. She is a murderer and a torturer. She lacks sympathy and tenderness and she is very egoistic. She has many different personalities and needs lots of attention. She is clever and can make evil plans that she is also capable of carrying out. To read about Annie Wilkes and to watch her in the movie has given me nightmares because what is most scary about her is that she could be your own neighbour!
By: Helga Boström
Sources: Misery by Stephen King The movie: Misery directed by Rob Reiner Articles: Summer Reading: Sheldon Gets the Ax by John Katzenbach, 8/6 2002, www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/lifetimes/kin-r-misery.html Thoughts on Stephen King´s Misery by Fiona Webster, 24/5 2002, www.oceanstar.com/horror/misery.htm Misery (1987) from “The Complete Stephen King News and Information Website, 24/5 2002, www.stephenkingnews.com/books/misery.html
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