Chicago

Chicago is the city where Beverly Marsh, later Beverly Rogan, builds her adult life as a fashion designer and endures a violent marriage to Tom Rogan. It is the place from which she flees after receiving Mike Hanlon's phone call, and its geography—from the singles bar where she met Tom to the airport she escapes through—marks the stages of her entrapment and liberation.

Beverly's Life and Career in Chicago

Beverly works as an assistant designer at Delia Fashions, a company located in the Standard Brands Building in downtown Chicago. Her talent is immediately recognized by Tom Rogan, who sees her drawings of casual dresses and blouses as "a money-machine of almost scary potential." Tom, who works for King & Landry, Public Relations on the forty-second floor of the same building, meets Beverly at a downtown singles bar. He quickly identifies her as both desirable and vulnerable, and within a month recognizes her professional talent. Under Tom's management, Beverly's simple sewing talent is transformed into a successful dress business, Beverly Fashions, Inc., of which Tom becomes president and general manager. The couple lives in a house in a Chicago suburb, and Beverly drives a Volvo while Tom drives a Mercedes diesel. Their home is set "tastefully back behind low yew hedges," a symbol of the middle-class success that masks the violence within.

The Abusive Marriage and Escape

Tom Rogan's abuse of Beverly is systematic and brutal. He enforces a strict code of behavior, punishing her for smoking, for working late, or for any perceived defiance. The abuse escalates after Mike Hanlon's phone call on the night of May 28th, 1985. When Tom discovers Beverly packing a suitcase and smoking a cigarette, he retrieves a leather belt from the closet and attacks her, intending to give her a "whuppin." Beverly fights back, throwing cosmetics at him, tipping a vanity table onto him, and finally striking him across the mouth with the belt, breaking his lips and knocking out a tooth. She delivers a final blow to his groin, then flees the house barefoot, with a cut foot and torn fingernails. She walks three blocks before realizing she has no money, no shoes, and no clear destination. She calls her friend Kay McCall from a Seven-Eleven, and Kay pays for her cab to Kay's townhouse. From there, Beverly takes a Greyhound bus north to Milwaukee to avoid Tom's potential surveillance at O'Hare, then flies to Boston and on to Derry.

Chicago as a Site of Contrast

Chicago functions in the narrative as a place of both professional success and personal horror. Beverly's career flourishes there, but her marriage is a prison. The city's geography—the Standard Brands Building, the singles bar, the suburban house, O'Hare Airport—traces the arc of her relationship with Tom from meeting to escape. Her flight from Chicago is a decisive break, and she never looks back. The city represents the adult world of compromise and danger that she must leave behind to return to the childhood promise of the Losers' Club.