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RESEARCH
ON
‘The versions of reality and the supernatural in Stephen King's The Shining'

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CONTENTS

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...
Significance of 'The Shining
...
Stephen King's portrayal of human struggle with the supernatural
...
The multiple versions of reality in The Shining
...
Conclusion
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King is currently a New
York Times-bestselling novelist and has had most of his works adapted into films
...

As an accomplished writer Stephen King has received Bram Stoker awards, World Fantasy
awards and British Fantasy Society awards
...
Other than his contributions to the horror genre, Stephen King was
also awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American letters for enriching the
American literary heritage through his works
...
Carrie was adapted into
a movie during 1976 and a remake was later released in 2013
...
Other than
Carrie, Stephen King's The Shining, published in 1977, was also well received and sold around
350 million copies worldwide
...
The shining is King's third horror novel and it tells us the story of the
Torrance family and the unfortunate events that occur in the overlook hotel
...

The Shining pushes the boundaries of reality and pursues the mysteries that lie beyond the wall
of reality
...
Surely even the most malignant ghost is a lonely thing, desperate to be heard
...
Stephen King checked into
room 217 of the Stanley hotel where he began to carefully construct the foundations of The
shining
...
During his stay King walked through the hallways of the
hotel and began to visualize various aspects of the story he was going to write
...
King also adds that the boy's life is threatened by his drunken father
...

Most parts of the novel focus on Danny's ability known as 'the shining' after which the novel has
been named
...
Throughout the story King uses Danny as a means
of connecting to the supernatural in order to bring out different themes such as violence,
isolation, father-son relationship, drugs and alcohol
...

King is not ignorant to the fact that humans are most receptive to all aspects of their environment
during their childhood and makes The Shining a way for readers to look at childhood from a
different perspective
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First of all, King leads the readers through every detail at a steady pace which allows the readers
to easily perceive the type of atmosphere that is present in each part of the story
...
However, Jack's drinking problems bring out a more
reckless image of him which creates a contrast in his character
...

Secondly, Stephen King does not overuse the element of suspense in his writing
...
The
lady in room 217, Danny's visions and the masked hotel guests are perfect examples of King's
ability to bring forth the supernatural and integrate it into the story
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CHAPTER 2 - Significance of 'the
shining'

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The Shining is based on the idea of the human mind's ability or rather Danny's ability to 'shine'
...
Here, King leads the readers into an in-depth analysis of the telepathic
ability of Danny and how this affects the story
...
As far as telepathy is concerned Stephen King shows the readers how it can take
place in a supernatural environment and cause a series of related events to take place
...

It was Frederick W
...
'Tele' meaning distant and 'pathy'
meaning feeling
...
Theories based on
psychoanalysis and dream states have also been proposed by Sigmund Freud and Rupert
Sheldrake
...
(Page- 197, Dreams and
telepathy) Through this statement Freud suggested that it was highly possible that telepathy and
lucid dreaming did not exist because, "there proved to be no external reality corresponding to
them
...
One of the letters enquired about the border that separated dreams
and reality
...
' (Page- 200, Dreams and telepathy) The letter described an unnaturally vivid dream
that the subject had on a regular basis
...
A few days after experiencing these dreams the subject received a letter
from his son-in-law informing him about the birth of twins, a boy and a girl
...
This event led the subject to be inclined towards the idea of a telepathic dream
...
Freud does not
completely avoid the idea of a telepathic dream but is not inclined towards the idea as much as
the subject is
...

In Dreams and telepathy Freud merely pointed out that he has no reason to support the reality of
telepathy in the occult sense but at the same time Freud intended to remain impartial by
suggesting that, if certain dreams did carry telepathic messages then these messages or visions
would be completely unrelated to dreaming
...

As Sigmund Freud suggests, telepathy is an extraordinary phenomena with a scarce amount of
physical evidence
...

The idea or the possibility of a five year old possessing the ability to interact with the

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supernatural realm is beyond human logic and reasoning
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It was Dick Halloran who made Danny aware of his special ability
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And I'm sixty years old this January
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Me, I've always called it shining
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She had it
...
" (Page- 87, The Shining) At this point we learn about the
significance of 'shining' through Dick Halloran
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CHAPTER 3 - Stephen King's portrayal
of human struggle with the supernatural
in The Shining

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Throughout the story of The Shining the Torrance family constantly deals with issues concerning
Jack's alcoholic tendencies, Danny's visions, Wendy's concern for Danny's health and the abuse
that Jack puts his son and wife through
...
Rather, King intends to
show the readers that the evil and various other manifestations in the Overlook hotel are so
powerful that the whole Torrance family act under the influence of different aspects of the
Overlook hotel
...

Through the dark history and bloodshed of the Overlook hotel the readers understand the
magnitude of influence the characters are under
...
King displays the power
of the overlook hotel through Jack Torrance's actions
...
The Shining appears to be the
result of a collision between the natural and the supernatural causing chaos and horror which
creates a separate space for paranormal activity
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And I think I'll start with your plump little cock
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Similar lines that suggest horrific yet sexually predatory behavior succeeds
in establishing fear in the minds of the readers
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By combining the sexual and supernatural elements Stephen King provides several disturbing
scenes that clearly suggest a terrifying struggle that the Torrance family experiences
...
King slowly shows
the readers chapter by chapter that Jack Torrance is slipping away from sanity
...
However, this is not the worst part
...
I'll take care of them
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Jack finally
acknowledges the evil of the Overlook hotel and vows to murder his own family
...

The Shining also focuses mainly on Danny's relationship with Jack in this part of the story
...
All of it led to one
question, will Jack murder his son and fulfill the prophecy? Stephen King makes the readers
understand that despite of all pain Jack put his family through, Danny still believed that his
father was a good man
...

"You're not my daddy, and if there's a little bit of my daddy left inside you, he knows they lie
here
...
Like the loaded dice my daddy got for my Christmas
stocking last Christmas, like the presents they put in the store windows and my daddy says
there's nothing in them, no presents, they're just empty boxes
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You're it, not my daddy
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And when you get what you want, you won't give my
daddy anything because you're selfish
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You had to make him drink

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the Bad Stuff
...
" (Page- 475, The
Shining) Danny's words penetrate the evil of the Overlook and for a few moments manage to
bring back his father to reality
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Jack, barely fighting the evil, tells Danny, "Run away
...
And remember how much I love
you
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The lines towards the last chapters of the novel make Jack a sympathetic character as the readers
are able to see Jack as a victim in this scenario
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Its hands closed around the mallet again, but instead of aiming at Danny, it reversed the
handle, aiming the hard side of the roque mallet at its own face
...
Then the mallet began to rise and descend, destroying the last of Jack Torrance's image
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Blood splattered across the wallpaper
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It was impossible to say just how long it went
on
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What remained
of the face became a strange, shifting composite, many faces mixed imperfectly into one
...
'
(Page- 476, 477, The Shining)
Later, the boiler room explodes destroying the hotel and killing Jack in the process
...
Jack Torrance is no more
...
Despite the events that
take place in the Overlook hotel during the struggle it is safe to say that the supernatural failed in

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completing its mission
...

It is almost as if King suggests that this psychic struggle was meant to end in tragedy, that is,
Jack's death but at the same time King points out that something good came out of this tragedy as
the cycle of death and violence in the Overlook hotel came to an end
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CHAPTER 4 - The multiple versions of
reality in The Shining

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In The Shining, every character in his or her own way searches for the truth
...
When
the characters go through this change in the atmosphere it becomes hard for them to accept and
acknowledge the changes around them
...

King makes it clear that, in the Overlook hotel, the supernatural is reality and in order to accept
the truth that lies in the hotel one needs to accept its reality
...
It seems that
Stephen King is suggesting that the more we fight our inner demons the more vulnerable we
become
...

It is clear that Jack subconsciously struggles with the pain and horror in the Overlook hotel
...
It is also important to understand that a
majority of the people Jack talks with in the hotel are dead people
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Jack's actions therefore create multiple realities
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This is the major reason for Jack's loss of sanity
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On
the other hand, Wendy and Danny also search for the truth in the Overlook hotel but they deal
with it differently as compared to Jack
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Stephen king brings out the theme of love and family in this part of the struggle
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This vulnerability allowed the
different realities that formed in the Overlook hotel to take advantage of Jack
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The Shining pushes the boundaries of reality according to different perspectives and supernatural
elements
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In the eyes of Wendy, Jack was not the man she loved
anymore
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As for Danny, Jack was
still a loving and kind father
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CHAPTER 6 - Conclusion

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Stephen King uses death in The Shining as a messenger
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No matter what path the characters would have chosen
the outcome would have been death
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In Stephen King's version, Jack dies along with the hotel ending the supernatural existence
of evil manifestations
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The most significant
difference would be 'fire and ice'
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This leaves the curse broken in one version and alive in the other
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There are several contrasts between the ending of the novel and deaths of the characters
...
Most importantly Danny's ability to 'shine' is the key factor in
both versions as it allows the plot to develop
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King's development on the 'shine' or telepathy makes the novel unique due to Danny's
perspective on sexuality, alcohol, violence and death
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WORKS CITED

Primary source
The Shining (novel), Doubleday; Stephen King, 1977
The Shining (movie), Stanley Kubrick; Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson, 1980
Secondary source
Dreams and telepath, The Hogarth press limited, Sigmund Freud, 1922
http://www
...
com/Ki-Lo/King-Stephen

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