The Boogeyman
This story by Stephen King explores one of the greatest fears of many young children as they go to bed: the fact that some sort of evil creature may be hiding under their bed, behind the curtains, or in their closet. In the story, a man with serious mental problems blames himself for the death of his three children. He thinks a monster from his childhood killed them, and that it is now coming after him. Readers are left to wonder who or what this boogeyman really is. Themes include fear, imagination, paranoia, mental illness, filicide, guilt.
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Major themes of this humorous story by Minh Quan include alienation, indoctrination, insecurity, obsession and motherhood. An orphaned Vietnamese girl grows up constantly being told that, because she was brought up on an animal (cow milk) based baby formula, she will grow into a barbarous woman devoid of human sentiment. This and many other evils, her uncle says, is all the fault of the French. The comments not only reinforce her lowest in the household childhood inferiority complex, but also lead to an unhealthy obsession with her breasts and breast-feeding when she has her own children.
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