Silver Symbol in It

“Silver” is the name that Bill Denbrough gives to his oversized, clunky, old gray bicycle. The sight of Bill on the bike is somewhat comic, for it is much too big for him, and the bike’s name makes it sound shinier and newer than it is. Bill takes its name from the horse on the TV show The Lone Ranger. Silver is a symbol of Bill’s heroism and his courage to fight the evil that terrorizes Derry. The bike, which does not really “fit” Bill until he rides it as an adult, is a symbol of the man that he will become—the hero who kills It, another thing that seems too big for Bill to control. While riding Silver, Bill feels heroic and powerful. He outpaces the monsters that chase him, such as the werewolf that Richie Tozier envisions when they flee from the house on 29 Neibolt Street. At the end of novel, Bill and his wife, Audra Phillips, ride away on Silver. He drives away from memory, “but not from desire,” and helps Audra to awaken from her catatonic state. In this instance, Silver helps Bill to take on the more traditional role of the romantic hero, akin to a fairy-tale prince who awakens a sleeping beauty by coming to her rescue.

The color silver also appears elsewhere in the novel. Don Hagarty describes the eyes of Pennywise the Dancing Clown as silver and, when It takes the form of a giant bird that attacks Mike Hanlon in the smokestack at Kitchener Ironworks, Mike notices that It's tongue is silver. King uses silver to connect Bill and It as forces of good and evil, respectively, which are destined to confront each other.

Silver Quotes in It

The It quotes below all refer to the symbol of Silver. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

What a bunch of losers they had been—Stan Uris with his big Jew-boy nose, Bill Denbrough who could say nothing but "Hi-yo, Silver!" without stuttering so badly that it drove you almost dogshit, Beverly Marsh with her bruises and her cigarettes rolled into the sleeve of her blouse, Ben Hanscom who had been so big he looked like a human version of Moby Dick, and Richie Tozier with his thick glasses and his A averages and his wise mouth and his face which just begged to be pounded into new and exciting shapes. Was there a word for what they had been? Oh yes. There always was. Le mot juste. In this case le mot juste was wimps…

Related Characters: William “Stuttering Bill” Denbrough , Ben “Haystack” Hanscom, Richard “Trashmouth” Tozier / Richie , Stanley Uris , Beverly Marsh Rogan, Mike Hanlon

Related Symbols: Silver

Page Number and Citation: 70

Explanation and Analysis:

There was no zipper on the thing's jacket; instead there were big fluffy orange buttons, like pompoms. The other thing was worse. It was the other thing that made him feel as if he might faint, or just give up and let it kill him. A name was stitched on the jacket in gold thread, the kind of thing you could get done down at Machen's for a buck if you wanted it. Stitched on the bloody left breast of the Werewolf's jacket, stained but readable, were the words RICHIE TOZIER.

Related Characters: It / Pennywise the Dancing Clown / Bob Gray, William “Stuttering Bill” Denbrough , Richard “Trashmouth” Tozier / Richie

Related Symbols: Silver

Page Number and Citation: 385

Explanation and Analysis:

He touches his wife's smooth back as she sleeps her warm sleep and dreams her own dreams; he thinks that it is good to be a child, but it is also good to be grownup and able to consider the mystery of childhood…its beliefs and desires, I will write about all of this one day, he thinks, and knows it's just a dawn thought, an after-dreaming thought. But it's nice to think so for awhile in the morning's clean silence, to think that childhood has its own sweet secrets and confirms mortality, and that mortality defines all courage and love. To think that what has looked forward must also look back, and that each life makes its own imitation of immortality: a wheel.

Related Characters: William “Stuttering Bill” Denbrough , Audra Phillips

Related Symbols: Silver

Page Number and Citation: 1152

Explanation and Analysis:

Silver Symbol Timeline in It

The timeline below shows where the symbol Silver appears in It. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...takes two more big swallows from the stein. Ben then offers Ricky the “three cartwheel silver dollars” that his father left him when he died. Ben was four when his father... (full context)

...in the pocket of his vest and wishes that he had kept one of his silver dollars that he gave Ricky Lee. Ben then closes his eyes and imagines that he... (full context)

Fear and the Power of Fantasy Theme Icon

...frozen over. He walks southwest, toward the Barrens, and sees a figure dressed in “a white-silver clown suit.” In one hand, the figure holds balloons that seem to float toward Ben.... (full context)

Bill remembers the bike he rode in 1958: Silver. He names it after the horse on The Lone Ranger. He buys it for twenty-four... (full context)

Bill flashes back to a memory of speeding down Kansas Street on Silver. As for Henry Bowers, “Belch” Huggins, and Victor Criss, Bill has only minor problems with... (full context)

Ben stays with Eddie while Bill speeds away on Silver. He dangerously passes a bus, causing the driver to shake his fist at Bill. He... (full context)

...tile and hits the bird in the eye. He sees that the bird’s tongue is silver with orange puffs, like tumbleweed. For a moment, Mike can see the bird’s reptilian talons.... (full context)

...Eddie knows that he is just scared. He looks in the dashboard and finds some silver dollars to pay for tolls. He remembers how one of his old friends used a... (full context)

...ring.” It shoots a hand through the broken window pane. The hobo is wearing a silvery suit and introduces himself as Bob Gray. One of Its hands reaches Eddie’s shoulder and... (full context)

Later, Bill and Richie are walking up Witcham Street. Bill is pushing Silver. Richie has the idea that the boys should go to Bill’s house and look around... (full context)

Bill and Richie mount Silver and ride away. Richie is sure that they will crash. They turn onto Neibolt Street,... (full context)

...in wonder until Bill pulls him away. The werewolf is still coming, “snarling and slobbering.” Silver is leaning against a tree. (full context)

...its jacket. Stitched on the left breast of its jacket is the name “Richie Tozier.” Silver begins to move, but much too slowly. The werewolf comes closer and grabs at Richie... (full context)

...too, sees the clown wearing a Derry High jacket with pompoms for buttons. Bill rides Silver toward the intersection of Neibolt Street and Route 2. The street is empty. Nearly too... (full context)

...Bill. Ben walks up Kansas Street, but to nowhere in particular. He vaguely recalls his silver dollar and how Beverly saved their lives with it. He looks down and thinks that... (full context)

...as guitars, old records, and bunches of plastic flowers in dirty vases. Suddenly, he sees Silver in the righthand window. (full context)

The sight of Silver causes tears to run down Bill’s cheeks. Bill notices that the shop smells musty with... (full context)

...and asks if he can store it at Mike’s house. Mike asks if it is Silver; Bill tells him it is. (full context)

...adult hands grip the handlebars. He stops for a moment to wonder what happened to Silver. Did he sell it? Did he lose it? All he can remember is part of... (full context)

Mike makes burgers after he and Bill finish working on Silver. Mike’s house is a neat little, white Cape Cod with green trim. Mike has recently... (full context)

...of Koontz, who rushes in and sees Bowers standing next to a thing in a slivery clown suit. Koontz is so shocked that he drops the roll of quarters. He takes... (full context)

...the library, watching as Mike deals with the last of the patrons. Bill thinks of Silver, leaning against the wall of Mike’s garage. He remembers on July 3, 1958 when the... (full context)

...George Denbrough’s old album. Ben then says that he remembers what happened to the extra silver dollar. He tells his old friends how he gave the other three to Ricky Lee... (full context)

...at the bottom of the refrigerator. Then, the head opens its eyes. It reveals the “silver-bright eyes of Pennywise the Clown.” (full context)

...the trombone with his school band in a parade. He describes it as wearing a silver suit, white makeup, and a big red smile that looks like it were smeared on... (full context)

...Ben and Richie ask Bill what they should do. He suggests that they use a silver bullet to kill the bird. He learned this from the movies, which say that silver... (full context)

Richie recalls Bill riding him to Kansas Street on Silver and stowing the bike under the little bridge there. Richie asks when Bill is going... (full context)

...out that they did actually show up). He sees Bill and Richie riding double on Silver. He sees Beverly wearing a green dress, though she never wears dresses. He sees them... (full context)

...solemn when they ask Eddie how he is doing. They still plan to make a silver bullet using one of Ben’s silver dollars. Beverly says that Bill wants her to shoot... (full context)

...one story left for the adults to tell: the tale of how they made the silver slugs in Zack Denbrough’s workshop on July 23rd, and used them on July 25th. Ben... (full context)

In the flashback, Bill insists that Ben make the silver slugs, just as he insists that Beverly hold the slingshot. Ben asks if Bill has... (full context)

...idea of what he is doing. Ben reaches into his pocket and takes out a silver dollar, which he drops into a makeshift crucible. Beverly notes that Ben’s father gave him... (full context)

The others watch as molten silver flows from the shell into the funnel. Not a drop spills. Ben says that he... (full context)

...others at the table where they are playing Monopoly. Stanley wins. Bill moves the little silver shoe that he is using as a marker around the board, and Beverly thinks that,... (full context)

...the morning. They all ride their bikes, though Bill and Richie are riding double on Silver. Stanley thinks that the windows look like eyes. Beverly notes the terrible smell. Bill asks... (full context)

Beverly raises her Bullseye, ready to shoot a silver slug, when something explodes from the pipe. Ben would later only remember seeing “a silvery-orange... (full context)

...is “tall for her age and simply beautiful.” She asks him what should happen next—more silver slugs? Ben thinks that it all comes back to power. He loves Beverly, so she... (full context)

...go home. Later, Ben would still wonder where power, such as the power of the silver slugs comes from. It seems to him that their lives would depend on such questions.... (full context)

When Ben finishes his story about the silver slugs, the group still wants to talk. However, it is 1:15 AM now and Mike... (full context)

...boys play in the Barrens. She asks if it was someone dressed in orange and silver—a clown. She asks if it was a clown. Al tells his daughter to stop, and... (full context)

...to her eleventh year. Beverly is now back in the Barrens and looks to see Silver, but it is not there. Once again, the bullies have caught up with her and... (full context)

...scrawny neck.” Henry keeps the knife there for about five minutes. His finger caresses the silver button on the neck of the knife. Then he hears a voice from the moon... (full context)

...of licks. Stan offers Eddie the rest of his. Bill rolls up to them on Silver, doing about twenty miles per hour, and shouts for them to wait up. Eddie remarks... (full context)

...to indicate that he does. The group goes down the embankment, single-file, and Richie pushes Silver down. When they reach the bottom, Bill puts his bike at its customary place under... (full context)

...Audra.” She asks, “Who’s there?” The television flickers on. She sees a clown in a silvery suit with big orange buttons “capering around on screen.” It has teeth like razors and... (full context)

Richie parks beside the bridge in the Barrens under which Bill used to park Silver. They all go to the clearing where the clubhouse once was, and Ben tells them... (full context)

...body of his brother, George, whose face is as white as cheese. His eyes are silver. George’s teeth gnash together as he comes toward Bill, saying how his death is Bill’s... (full context)

Bill rolls Silver out of Mike’s garage. He oils the chain-and-sprocket and lightly squeezes the horn. Then, he... (full context)

...He starts pedaling faster when he reaches Upper Main Street, then he cries out, “Hi-yo Silver, AWAYYYYY!” Audra’s hands tighten around his middle and he feels her stir. Bill cries out... (full context)

...All the rest is darkness. Someone then calls for Bill to look out. He drags Silver hard to the left to avoid crash barriers. Audra awakens. Up ahead, he strikes a... (full context)

It

Stephen King

Silver Symbol Analysis

Silver Quotes in It

Silver Symbol Timeline in It