End of 'Salem's Lot

I just finished reading Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. My Lit X paper focuses on fear and I figured starting with a horror novel would be the best, easiest place to start. Throughout the book, fear is a feeling that builds. It is often referred to as a growing feeling, an overwhelming sensation, or an undefinable nervousness and aprehension toward the unknown.
What I found to be most interesting in terms of plot progression was that fear was mentioned so much around the middle of the book where the plot was still growing, but very little at the end when the climax actually occured. I think this has something to do with the fact that King has to be descriptive while the story is being explained, but when fear is felt in extreme circumstances, like in the end, it almost disappears and is sidelined by adrenaline.

fear in 'Salem's Lot

"She had always consciously or subconsciously formed fear into a simple equation: fears = unknown. And to solve the equation, one simply reduced the problem to simple algebraic terms, thus: unknown = creaky board (or whatever), creaky board = nothing to be afriad of. In the modern world all terrors could be gutted by simple use of the transitive axiom of equality. Some fears were justified, or course... but until now she had not believed that some fears were larger than comprehension, apocalyptic and nearly paralyzing... insoluble." (306)

Susan Norton perfectly explains fear and preconceived notions of fear that many people associate with the feeling. Fear can be explained so logically and linearly when in a calm setting. Even reminiscing about fear does not allow a person to feel the extreme, paralyzing, larger than comprehension affect that Susan puts into words in this section of 'Salem's Lot.

I think this quote will be very helpful for me in my lit x paper because whether or not i use this quote, it allows me to get passed my preconceived notions that I associate with fear. It is so easy to look for fear in text or even to feel fear, but it is extremely difficult to explain or define the feeling. Throughout Stephen King's novel, fear is constantly referred to: a rising emotion "overpsilling logic" (284), "oppresive weight" "welling into her consciousness from a part of her brain that was usually silent" (282), "shaken fear" (225), etc.

Where to go from here? I am going to finish the book this weekend and then make a list of all of the quotes having to do with fear or fright. I want to look at trends and figure out what i want to read next and see if the paper starts to take shape on its own.