Title: The Shining
Publication Year: 1977
Plot: Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote…and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.
Miscellaneous: Ten years earlier, King had read Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” and was inspired to someday write a story about a person whose dreams would become real. In 1972, King started a novel entitled Darkshine, which was to be about a psychic boy in a psychic amusement park, but the idea never came to fruition and he abandoned the book. During the night at the Stanley, this story came back to him.
It felt great to be back in Lone Peak discussing literature with some eager readers. We dove right in to the novel. The reader leading the discussion started with a question: Do you think there could be two separate novels: one focusing on the power the Shining and one focusing on the Overlook hotel? He asked this because there is a lot of detail, explanations, and backstories—enough that made him want to read more about the Overlook. As we talked about it, in the novel, the two elements don’t work without the other. They compliment each other. Without the Shining, the story of the Overlook Hotel doesn’t get told. Perhaps they are even pitted against each other, with Danny possessing the Shining and the Overlook trying to overtake Jack.
He then brought up a quote on page 218 where a doctor is talking with Jack and Wendy concerning the “imagination” of Danny. When adults have the imagination that Danny does, they tend to get locked up or put in a strait jacket. But with kids, we always say “they’ll grow out of it,” just like it says in the novel. This sparked quite a discussion with the way doctors tend to over-diagnose people, according to the readers. Many of them had experiences with psychologists, therapists, and other doctors where they felt they were being forced into certain labels or definitions. One reader mentioned when he was struggling with a meth addiction, he felt “possessed” by meth, similar to the way Jack is “possessed” by alcohol. And when this reader would visit therapists, they tend to give him all these other diagnoses, when in his mind he would think, “Honestly, it’s just the meth.” Another reader said psychology just wants to define everything with labels. And it can be problematic when we try to force it.
The scene the leader took us to was at the end (p. 566) where the Overlook did something very tangible…it bolted the door shut. We thought back throughout the novel of times when the novel would do something physical and undeniable (the elevator scene, locking the door) and other times when perhaps it was in Jack’s mind. And this was part of what made the novel really effective—the fact that we got in Jack’s headspace and we weren’t quite sure what was real and what wasn’t, and how terrifying and paranoia-inducing that can be.
We talked about the scariest parts of the novel, and the one that came up the most was the unmasking party. It sent a chill down some of the readers’ spine. And of course, we all enjoyed the scene with the topiary animals, regretting that it was left out of the popular film with Jack Nicholson. Ultimately, people were really drawn to the novel. Stephen King is a master storyteller. The characters in the novel all had flaws, thus making them relatable and engaging. There’s a metaphor that runs through the novel: a wasps’ nest. And Jack is making an excuse for his behavior because he “unwittingly” thrust his hand into a wasps’ nest, causing chaos and disruption. But he had an initial choice. One reader said, “That’s probably how a lot of us feel. That we put our hand into a wasps’ nest and lost a sense of ourselves in a moment of weakness and emotion.” Many of them agreed with this sentiment, saying they tended to rationalize certain behaviors i.e. “I was under so much stress!” But they had a choice. And they wondered about the parallels of the wasps’ nest to the hotel itself. In case you couldn’t tell, we had a great discussion.
Feel free to leave any comments about Stephen King or anything else below.
Next week we’ll be discussing The Haunting of Hill House.
Until next time,
E
If you’d like to purchase The Shining, you may do so here: