Paul Sheldon (character)

Infobox character
name = Paul Sheldon
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first = Misery (novel)
last = Misery (film)
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creator = Stephen King
portrayer = James Caan
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gender = Male
age = 39
born = 1942
death =
specialty =
occupation = Romance Writer
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"Paul Sheldon" is the protagonist and main character of the 1987 horror novel "Misery", by Stephen King.

Personality

In the beginning of the book, Sheldon finishes his new book. He then has a car crash during a snow storm, and is rescued by Annie Wilkes.

In the novel, Sheldon can react angrily sometimes to Annie Wilkes, his captor, in ways such as shouting "You cut off my damn foot you crazy bitch!". In the 1990 film, however, he tries to be a bit more sympathetic, saying things like "Um...See I can't work on this paper."

He is the writer of the romance novel series "Misery". He has written 8 novels, and when the eighth and intended final book is released, "Misery's Child", Annie Wilkes buys the book. But at the end, Misery dies and she goes into a fit of rage. She goes to the store downtown and buys a typewriter and paper and forces Sheldon to write a new novel, called "Misery's Return".

Sheldon is not injured a lot in the film, excluding the hobbling scene, where his ankles are broken by Annie using a sledgehammer. However, in the novel, he is tortured in a lot worse ways, including Annie chopping his left foot off using an axe. He also gets one of his thumbs amputated by Annie, using an electric carving knife.

Revenge

In the end of the book, Sheldon uses lighter fluid and a match to burn the manuscript for his new book "Misery's Return". Annie goes hysterical and Paul, using the typewriter as his weapon, manages to kill Annie. Later, he is rescued by the police, and he is fitted with a prosthetic foot, and the police find Annie's body dead in the barn, her hand wrapped around a chainsaw. He still has drinking problems, and he has nightmares about Annie, but one day he begins to write about his own experiences.

Fast cars

Sheldon wrote a novel before the car crash called "Fast Cars". Annie asks to read the book, and Sheldon allows it. She reads the book, but finds out that there is too much profanity in the novel. She forces Sheldon to burn it. Before burning it, he noticed that she had used a magic marker to scratch out all of the profanity, as far as she had gotten into the book.

Film version

In the 1990 film version, Sheldon is portrayed by actor James Caan. Stephen King later states that he might think about Sheldon being an alter-ego of himself, but he claimed "Paul is definitely not James Caan".