It’s a little weird but I believe the best part of this story is the irony of Todd’s appearance to his interests. Todd’s an American boy, obsessed with very non-American horrors. King purposefully takes the entire first page to describe Todd as, “the total all-American kid...” “thirteen years old, five-feet-eight and a healthy one hundred and forty pounds, hair the color of ripe corn, blue eyes, white even teeth, lightly tanned skin marred by not even the first shadow of adolescent acne” (111). This buildup of descriptions along with Todd’s first dialogue, “Don’t forget your paper Mr. Dussander,”, followed by the threats, evil comments, and overall morbid obsession that takes over Todd, is what made this story chilling and brilliant. The two sides to Todd, the apt pupil and the monster, resemble the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and portrays a new theme by King: it’s some of those who seem most pure whom wear the heaviest masks and society may label you as something but your mind can throw that label away.
The relationship that develops between Todd and Dussander is one of pure madness and parasitism as King builds up with mere threats to heavy blackmail. King also shows his writer’s talent by having Dussander tell stories that seem horrific, to making the actual lives of the characters a horror story.
