King has numerous connections to dark romantics. In The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, she creates a structure of hope and fear for Trisha to carry the game forward. The book is set in baseball innings and focuses on the baseball-themed experience Trisha has in the woods. Until the end everything seems to go against Trisha, she has to face things that most people are terrified of, or in other words, their worst fears. Throughout the book he argues for “spiritual facts” that “lie behind the appearances of nature, but can be dangerous.” (Holt 149). Trisha has numerous instances where she fears for her life and searches for something to comfort her. In The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Trisha turns to God or the "Subaudible" (King 66). He gives her this to give her character an outlet, an escape from the evil that surrounds her. He does it with absolute perfection: “A road! It's a road! I found a way! Thank you, God! Thank you, God! Thanks for this path! (King 184), she screamed when she finally found the possible way to be saved. Her knowledge that she could have been saved allows the conclusion that she wants the reader to know that someone can be a sinner or not in complete faith in a god and be saved. He also does this by giving her a God figure to confide in, Tom Gordon. The Dark Romantics believed that the Puritan faith was limiting and unfair to the reality of sin and nature. In turn, he supports “anti-transcendentalist” (Holt 148) views on the world. “If there is one theme that runs through my work, it would be living by the truth and trying to be courageous” – Stephen King (Cahill). The Dark Romantics also had strong views on human existence and the use of symbolism. God, in The Girl Who Loved T...... middle of paper ...... h character. This causes the character to become stressed, distressed, and even psychotic. “The black robe paid no attention. It…………..” (King 144). Therefore, research confirms that dark romantics influenced Stephen King in his writings. In many ways, he became one himself by using the same dark ideas they instilled in their writings. They share many of the same beliefs about the world and its ability to be unpredictable. Anything can happen to anyone at any time, supporting the battle between good and evil. Therefore, he writes dark stories of obsession, revenge, shame and madness. He fills his stories with killer sewer clowns, rabid St. Bernards, and a Man in Black to stand in the way of gunslingers seeking the universal truth (Cahill). Then: “A breeze through the leaves flapped the pages. The hairs on my arms stood on end. The story began” (Cahill)