Quitters, Inc.
[2] The plot follows Dick Morrison's discovery of the brutal enforcement methods used by Quitters, Inc., the firm which he enlists to aid him quit smoking.
[6] Richard "Dick" Morrison, a middle-aged smoker, is at John F. Kennedy International Airport when he encounters Jimmy McCann, his old college roommate and advertisement agency coworker.
McCann, who had been a heavy smoker in college, credits a firm called Quitters, Inc. for helping him give it up and recommends that Dick try their services.
Donatti tells the history of Quitters, Inc., that it was founded by a New Jersey mob boss who had been a heavy smoker and realized, before he died of lung cancer, that he must aid others in quitting.
Although Donatti assures Morrison that Quitters, Inc. holds clients' personal information in the strictest confidence, Dick is disgusted and shocked at what has been discovered.
Donatti says Morrison's greatest problem will probably be temptation as a result of availability, as there is a newspaper stand in the lobby of the very building Quitters, Inc. is situated, and they sell all cigarette brands.
Stephen King connects his classic horror style with humor in "Quitters, Inc.", as he tells the story of how the threat of radical punishment can curb smoking addiction quickly.
[8] Dr. Katherine Hawley says that through the tale, Stephen King questions how social accountability strategies raise ethical dilemmas around self-control.
[11] She writes that outright promises and contracts generate new moral obligations, and when we put other people's interests on the line, we must be realistic about our prospects of success.
[13] Tony Magistrale says that King's fiction is largely satirical in nature, that "reveals a collective cultural fears and fantasies which go unspoken in everyday life.
[17] As a result of this lifelong struggle, addiction was a key theme that appeared in several of King's works, notably Misery (1987)[19] and "Quitters, Inc." (1978).
[20] "Quitters, Inc." was adapted onto the big screen in the 1985 anthology horror film Cat’s Eye,[6] alongside "The Ledge" and "General".
This dramatization features James Woods as Dick Morrison, and Alan King as Dr. Vincent Donatti, produced by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group.
[21] The film opens in New York with a cat having escaped and is captured by an agent for Quitters, Inc.[22] The main difference between the adaptation is the replacement of the rabbit from the original text with a cat, which like the rabbit, is later electrocuted to disturb Morrison The film ends just like the text, with the threat that if Morrison compensates for smoking with overeating, his wife's little finger will be cut off.
Moving onto Atlantic City, the cat is adopted by Cressner, a gangster who has just become aware of his wife's affair (the beginning of "The Ledge")[22] In Cat’s Eye, Morrison's attempt to smoke secretly leads to a chain of horror clichés; thunder and lightning, creeping around the house at night, a shocking glimpse in his own reflection and a golf bag that jumps out at Morrison from a wardrobe.
The final scene, in which we get a close-up of Jerry's wife's missing finger, is when we receive confirmation that Morrison's experiences were real, Mark Browning says.
