Themes
Inhalt
Fear
The theme of fear is central to the short story “The Boogeyman” by Stephen King. The narrative is focused on the fear of Lester and that of his children. It also aims to induce a feeling of fear, or at least unease, in the reader.
The boogeyman is a monster used to scare children into being well-behaved. In the story, it can kill simply by striking fear in its victims, as in the case of Denny and Shirl. There are no signs of violence on Denny’s body, which leads to the official diagnosis of crib death. He is found dead on his back and “white as flour” which suggests that he might have died of fright. Lester remarks when mentioning...
