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Tom Griffin

‘The Shining’ by Stephen King
Stephen King’s notorious novel tells story of the Torrance family’s tragic and
horrifying experience at the secluded and reportedly haunted hotel: The Overlook
...


Jack is a middle-aged, middle class, retired alcoholic applying for the job of
caretaker at The Overlook Hotel
...
As the first few chapters develop, we learn of his odious father, who t
physically and verbally abused his whole family in his constant drunken stupor,
Jack included
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And
when his father had gone into the house […], Jack had come upon a stray dog and
kicked it into the gutter
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As well as this, Jack used to go out with his buddy Al Shockley and get heavily
drunk, which led to - in one incident - running over a small child while driving under
the influence
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That, it seemed to him, had ended his marriage
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We blame him for Jack’s reckless, uncontrollable and
unpredictable behaviour, but not once do we think Jack is weak for not being
unable to salvage himself from these despicable habits
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Because of his occasional
uncontrollable rages, Jack punched a student when he was an english teacher; he
also broke his own son Danny’s arm when Danny was just three years old: “Daddy
had punished him for messing up the papers in his study and the doctor had to put
his arm in a cast
...
We can’t help but blame his temper and alcoholism on his loathsome father
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Tom Griffin

King decided to create Jack as being a more realistic character in order to make
the story even scarier
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In spite of the abuse and horrible characteristics Jack possesses, his son still holds
him as a hero, and loves him the most (making Wendy slightly envious at times)
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He's intelligent, patient, loving,
adventuresome, forgiving, and kind
...
Part of Stephen
King's mass appeal is his ability to tap into childhood, to take the child's perspective
on some deep dark matters
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Children often perceive much more of adults' doings
than adults often suspect
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The chef, Dick Halloran, tells Danny that he has something called the ‘shining’, an
ability that allows him to see things others can’t, including his parents
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Although Jack also sees strange and scary things, such as the moving hedge
animals, Dick tells Danny that Jack does not have the “shining”
...
This
emphasises how ‘in the dark’ the whole family is about the situation, making them
more vulnerable and even driving Jack to point of madness, trying to kill his son
and wife
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The brutality of this pointless act gives the reader a certain
foreboding about the winter to come, and begins to make the reader worried and
scared
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It is
eventually revealed that Danny’s middle name is ‘Anthony’, and that ‘Tony’ is
actually the fifteen year old Danny
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Tom Griffin

Mark Torrance is Jack’s monstrous father
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These two parallels are
used by King to further interrogate human and family nature in the sense that we all
have some sort of undying love for those closest to us, however many mistakes
they have made, or will make
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She is beaten, yelled at
and patronised by Mark Torrance
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King made her a quiet, civilised, petite
woman; this further emphasises the brutality and sadism of Mark Torrance
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Not only does she save
both Danny’s and Dick’s lives, she also has the patience and forgiveness that
keeps a (briefly) happy family together
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However, King contradicts
himself when the reader learns about Wendy’s rough (to say the least) relationship
with her mother
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As well as interrogating the confusing concept of family, King explores the effects of
alcohol
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King presents the reader with the question: are the horrible images the family sees
are reality or just fragments of the supernatural? When the reader is questioning
the protagonists, and themselves, they aren't sure what to think, which leads to fear
of what they don't know; King uses this technique to scare the readers further
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Obviously, the family of The Overlook caretaker
knows that the winter will be spent cut off from the rest of the world, which is how
Jack, Danny and Wendy felt
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In addition to
this, King employs a paradox; when the Torrance family is living in civilisation, they
are most alone: both Jack and Wendy are completely disconnected from their
dysfunctional families, neither of them have jobs, and the only friend Danny can find
is his future self

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