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Firestarter
The two main protagonists of the book Firestarter are Charlie, a seven year old girl with the power of pyrokinesis, or the ability to set things on fire, and her father Andy, who has the power to make people believe things that are not true. They both are being hunted by a branch of the government described as “The Shop,” because of their powers. They wish to use Charlie as a biological weapon, and eliminate Andy. Charlie can use her powers at will without any repercussions, yet is frightened of using them. Andy can only use his powers to an extent, and then starts to feel negative drawbacks. Charlie and Andy are traveling about the state of New York by hitchhiking.

Soon, the narrative changes to The Shop’s point of view. The main antagonist, Cap, the leader of The Shop, is just entering his office complex. As he enters, his secretary, Josie, tells him that he is late, and as a result, sends Cap into his office to rifle through Charlie’s personal files. A little bit later, a business associate named Al enters the room to show Cap evidence, a one dollar bill. The five hundred dollar that the taxi driver supposedly received is only a one dollar bill that has been tampered with to give the illusion that it actually was a five hundred dollar bill. Some time later, Cap decides to talk to Doctor Wantless, a professor who suffered from a seizure, and is specifically interested in Charlie. Wantless describes Charlie as a threat that should be eliminated as soon as possible, for he hypothesized that she has the power to tear the world in half. Instead, Cap becomes more interested in Charlie’s powers, and starts to plot on how he would catch the girl. Once Wantless leaves, he calls in his trusted hitman, John Rainbird. He tells him to capture Charlie alive, and kill Andy, and Rainbird agrees, secretly plotting to kill Charlie. The narrative shifts back to Charlie and Andy, who are walking along a highway, trying to avoid The Shop. They travel along the highway, and encounter a man who gives them a ride to a motel, where they rest up for a new day.

A little ways off, a group of Shop agents are looking for the duo, and start to approach the motel. Five minutes away, the car tires pop, so one shop agent stays to fix it while the other goes to investigate the motel. Back at the motel, Charlie and Andy are attempting to hitchhike, when the truck pulls up. The driver lets them in, and the three characters start to engage in conversation. We soon know that the person driving the truck is named Irv Manders. The truck pulls away, just as the Shop agent reaches the motel, at which point, the agents realize that the duo were hitchhiking, and then they start to track the truck that picked up Andy and Charlie.

On the highway, the truck driver asks if he can serve them lunch, to which both agree. The trio arrive at an isolated farm belonging to Irv. Irv is greeted by his wife, Mandy, and then Mandy starts to prepare lunch for the four of them. She needed to feed the chickens, and Charlie asks if she could come, to which everybody agrees. As Irv and Andy send Charlie out with Mandy, Irv starts to question Andy. Andy had been going under a pseudonym, as was Charlie, and soon, Irv gets suspicious. Andy then opens up to Irv, and tells him their true identity. Soon after the characters finish their revelation, the shop finds the house that they are hiding out in. Andy, Irv, and Charlie walk onto the front porch, to encounter about one dozen Shop agents, Al being a part of them. Irv, equipped with a shotgun, orders to see a permit. When Al says that they don’t need one, Irv orders again. At which point, a shop agent shoots him, and as a result, cripples him, angering Charlie. She looks at Al, and then sets him on fire. In the process, she explodes multiple cars, burns the Manders house, and a few shop agents, one being impaled on a gardening post. Once tending to Irv’s wounds, the Manders give Andy and Charlie a buggy to get where they are attempting to go. Once the two have gotten the buggy, they ask for directions, which Irv gives them, and then Andy and Charlie go about their way.

In an isolated hotel, Rainbird is planning on killing Dr. Wantless though his reasons for doing so are unclear. He also begins to obsess over Charlie’s death. Rainbird waits till almost dawn, then proceeds up to Dr. Wantless’s room. He begins to strangle him, and then is described as saying that if Wantless gives information about Charlie to him, he will let him live. If not, he will kill him. Wantless then goes on a lecture about Charlie’s destructive abilities, and soon, inadvertently repeats himself. This results in the death of Wantless.

Charlie and Andy go through the wilderness in the buggy, and soon reach Andy’s grandfather's Cabin. On arrival, they start to settle down, and Andy starts wondering if they can get their story published by The New York Times. Some time later, The Shop captures and separates Andy and Charlie from each other. Andy becomes an overweight drug addict and seemingly loses his power, and is eventually deemed useless by the Shop. Charlie is experimented on by the shop, but refuses to cooperate, until Rainbird, dressed as a janitor, befriends her, and unravels the extent of her powers, which have become extremely powerful.

By pretending to still be powerless and addicted, Andy manages to gain crucial information by pushing his psychiatrist. Under Rainbird's guidance, Charlie begins to demonstrate her power, which has grown to fearsome levels. After making his psychiatrist commit suicide, Andy is able to meet and manipulate Cap, using him to plan his and Charlie's escape from the facility, as well as finally communicating with Charlie. Rainbird discovers Andy's plan, however, and decides to use it to his advantage.

Andy's plan succeeds, and he and Charlie are reunited for the first time in six months. Rainbird then interrupts the meeting at a barn, planning to kill them both. A distraction is provided by Cap, who is losing his mind from a side effect of being pushed. Andy pushes Rainbird into leaping from the upper level of a barn, breaking his leg. Rainbird then shoots Andy in the head. Directly after this, Rainbird fires another shot at Charlie, but she uses her power to melt the bullet in midair and then sets Rainbird and Cap on fire. Andy’s last request is to burn everything, and Charlie does so. She destroys The Shop’s headquarters, killing almost everybody. The Shop eventually regroups, and then starts to search for her. Charlie, alone, decides to visit The New York Times, to tell her story.

There is another story that goes on during the duration of the book that flashbacks from the present to the past. Andy is younger, and signs up to get a drug injected into him. Supposedly, it is just a simple hallucinogen that gets injected into him, but he soon finds that he is able to make people do his whim by mentally pushing them to do so. During these tests, he meets his future wife, Vicki. She has also signed up for the drug tests. During the actual injection, a patient digs their eyes out, and is then carted out of the room. After the test, Andy goes back to the room to investigate the scene, to which he finds a blood stain near the bed the patient who tore his eyes out. The blood stain looked like a comma. He was led to believe the bloodstain and patient were fake, just hallucinogens. After that scenario, he wasn’t so sure.

Later on in Andy’s and Vickie’s parenting years, they give birth to Charlie, and when she got upset, things started to light on fire. Andy tells her to stop using her powers when she lights her teddy bear on fire. When Charlie is older, Her parents show her newspaper clippings of people perceived as pyrokinetics, who have accidentally lit themselves on fire, thus starting Charlie’s dislike at using her powers

Charlie Maggee
Charlie Maggee, the daughter of Andy and Vicky Maggee, has a special ability to set things on fire, and it is referred to as pyrokinesis. She doesn't like using her powers after her father, Andy, scolded her for using them in her younger years. When she uses her powers, she doesn't feel any pain of any sort. Charlie is 11 years old.

Andy Maggee
Father of Charlie Maggee, and wife to Vicky Maggee, Andy has the ability to manipulate enemies minds, making them believe what he wants them to believe. He got injected with a drug that gave him these powers, but unlike Charlie, everytime he uses his powers, he gains a severe headache.

Cap
Cap is the main antagonist in the novel. He is head of The Shop, and is investigating the Maggee family. He brutally murdered Vicky Maggee, and is hunting Charlie and Andy Maggee

Vicky Maggee
Wife of Andy Maggee, and mother of Charlie Maggee, she has the implied power to read people’s thoughts, and to move things she doesn't touch. She has a small part in the novel, but is mentioned quite a bit. Her actual powers are not listed, but merely implied. As it is implied that she has headaches as well when she uses her powers

John Rainbird
A hitman for the agency The Shop, he is sent out to kill Andy, and as a personal sidequest, to kill Charlie. he survived the Vietnam war, but had horrible battle scars. He is a Native American

Dr. Wantless
A doctor suffering from a seizure, he conducted the experiment in the past that Andy participated in, and also informed Cap about Charlie before being strangled to death by Mr. Rainbird

Al/Albert
A shop agent that was sent to kill Charlie, but inadvertently fails, as he lights on fire when Charlie turns her powers against him.

Major themes
The novel Firestarter has multiple themes wrapped inside of it. During the duration of the novel, there have been three recurring themes,according to critics. One major theme, is that the government is a dangerous organization. This has been expressed not just by critics, but from many people who have read the book. For instance, “people were shocked at the brutality and ruthlessness of the government in the book”, Firestarter theme. Another critic points out that this theme has occurred not just in firestarter, but in other books as well, such as Carrie, and describes this scenario as “the boogeyman relying on taxpayers dollars” . Last, Critics have called the antagonists, the shop, a ruthless organization of very dangerous persons. Master of the Macabre. Another theme is that big things come in small packages, for instance, Charley’s destructive ability to “set things on fire with her mind just by [being angry]”. “Viking Press” This also supports a metaphor that was made in the book describing her destructive abilities as breaking the world in two like a china plate. This was stated not only by a character, Wantless, but also by many other critics. Critics wrote that a major recurring theme in the book is that people must do things that make them uncomfortable, or seem wrong. Master of the Macabre, Macabre King, Viking press. Charlie had to face a difficult decision to use her psychic powers to loot payphones of their money, and because of that, she faced a challenge that was morally difficult to her.

Style
King uses very expressive and energetic words and phrases, which adds to the stories suspenseful and thrilling atmosphere. He also uses a multitude of commas, parenthesis, quotation marks, and uppercase letters. These help to set the mood to the story, although they do come about in some of the strangest points in the story, for instance, sometimes in the middle of a sentence, he will cut it off with parenthesize, or capital letters, “almost as if he is listening to [music] while writing” . Master of the Macabre

Background
King was Inspired by Shirley Rackson. Shirley was one of King's relatives that he held dearly, Viking press. Inspiration also came from his previous book, Carrie. Student pick. The two books have such similarities, that it is almost the same book, except that firestarter has a younger protagonist who can light things on fire. Carrie and Firestarter both have young protagonists who are antagonized by the government.

Receptions
King is prone to use smilies that have no relevance to the story, and it sometimes throws the reader off track, for instance, describing Charlies powers to “break the world in two like a china plate in a shooting gallery.”

Adaptions The novel, Firestarter, was adapted into an unsuccessful movie,. The movie had a lot of investments, yet the actors were bad, and the lead star was lacking in emotion,