THE SHINING

By Stephen KING

Biography

Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947 at the Maine

General Hospital in Portland Maine. His parents were Donald Edwin King and Ruth Pillsbury King. Stephen was the only natural born child in the family and his older brother David had been adopted at birth two years earlier.

The Kings were the typical family until one night Donald was stepping out and never come back again. Then the whole family travelled through many states and came 1958 back to Maine.

Stephen King began his actual writing career in January of 1959 when David King and Stephen decided to publish their own local town newspaper named Dave's Rag.

During his first year at college, King completed his first full-length novel, 'The Long Walk.' Stephen King made his first small sale with his story 'The Glass Floor' for the amount of thirty-five dollars.

Then he began to earn money for his writings by submitting his short stories do men's magazines such as Cavalier. On January 2, 1971, Tabitha Jane Spruce and Stephen were married.

After he had quite his job at school, King has had numerous short stories and novels published and movies created from his work. Stephen King has also played roles in some of his movies. He is called the 'Master of Horror'.  His books have been translated into 33 different languages, published in over 35 different countries. There are over 300 million copies of his novels in publication. Stephen Edwin King is one of today's most popular and best selling writers. He continues to live in Bangor, Maine with his wife and his three children, where he writes out of his home.

King combines the elements of psychological thrillers, science fiction, the paranormal, and detective themes into his stories.

So the American Dream comes true

Form the dishwasher

To the millionaire

Some of his most famous books:

Salem's Lot (Brennen muss Salem, 1979)

The Shining (Shining, 1982)

Firestarter (Feuerkind

Pet Cemetery (Friedhof der Kuscheltiere

Thinner (Der Fluch

It (Es, 1986, ungekürzte Neuausgabe

Bare Bones (Angst, 1989)

Nightmares and Dreamscapes (collection of stories)

The Green Mile

Summary

John Torrance has lost his job at school because he has been an alcoholic. After some time he gets a job from Mr. Ullman. He would be a caretaker at the Overlook hotel in the Rocky Mountains. Mr Torrance takes this job because his family needs money. He has to stay in the hotel over the winter because he has to heat the house. He takes his wife Wendy and his five-year-old son Danny with him.

First everything is fine and they have great fun. Danny knew also that his parents are happy. Danny is a shiner. He is able to sense feelings and thoughts of others.

In the cellar John Torrance finds old newspapers and so he knows that many people were killed in the Overlook hotel.

But after some time his father becomes very nervous and wants a drink. Danny becomes nightmares and visions and in certain rooms he sees horrible things.

His father becomes more aggressive and Danny is wounded after such a vision. Wendy thinks that John had hit the boy and so they have a row. After this Danny is telling his mom that he has horrible visions and that he thinks that the evil spirit is in the hotel. But then the father becomes also visions and sees people in the Overlook who are already dead or in an other town. But the house and the evil spirit are so strong that they are able to get John Torrance drunk although there is no alcohol in the house. Now the house is able to control John and it says that he should kill his son and wife.

But when Danny feels the danger, he calls Dick Hallorann, a friend, via thoughts for help. Mr. Hallorann is also a shiner and Danny is such a good shiner that he is able to send a message to Florida.

At the same time John gets a baseball bat and go to Danny. He meets his wife and hits her with the bat but she is able to flee. Then John goes over to Danny. Danny knows that this is no his real dead, the evil was in him. He is able to speak to his real dead and he warned him that he should run away.

Mr. Hallorann helps them out and after a short time the boiler explosives. His dad has forgotten to let the steam out of the boiler and so he has to die.

Dick Hallorann brought them to Florida and after some time Wendy and Danny begin a new life.

Characteristic

John Torrance was an alcoholic and he visited the bars with his friend every day. But one day, when he was drunk, he came home and he broke Danny's arm. After this moment he gave drinking up and he became a good dad. He is also a good dad when they are in the Overlook hotel. At first he is very friendly to Danny and he is not thinking about a drink. But after some time the bad spirit comes in him. He becomes aggressive and takes many aspirin. At the end Danny is also able to talk to his real dad and John doesn't want to hurt him. He warns him and says that he should run away. First Danny doesn't want because he loves his daddy very much.

Danny is a five - year old boy who is very intelligent, and he is a shiner, which means that he is able to read other people's thoughts and feelings and to send messages to other shiners using only the strength of his thoughts. He always has a lot of strange dreams and scaring visions. He has got something his parents call an "invisible playmate": Tony, who appears in dreams and visions and shows Danny beautiful or scaring things. From the first time his parents mentioned to move to the Overlook Hotel, Danny was afraid and Tony warned him of this place, but he does not dare to tell it to his parents, because he is able to sense his mother's hopes concerning this hotel. In the course of the action he develops a considerable strength for dealing with this supernatural horror.

Wendy Torrance is a very beautiful woman, who loves her family very much. First she did not want to realize Jack's drinking problem, but soon she was very scared of him and was glad when they moved away from his friends. The thought of spending a whole winter isolated in the mountains alone with her family scares her. She has heard about strange things happening there, people dying or getting killed. Another caretaker of this very same hotel went insane and killed his whole family because he could not stand the isolation. But being a positive thinking woman, Wendy tries to look forward to it and tells herself that maybe it will be a good chance for them all.

Interpretation:

The story deals with "shining", the ability to read other person's thoughts, to experience the feelings of others and to see things that happened or are going to happen. Danny can literally feel his parent's feelings: his father's desire for a drink and his mother's thoughts of a divorce. Danny has a couple of nightmares and scaring visions of the Overlook Hotel but he is afraid to tell his parents because they would probably send him to a doctor. I think that the author wants to express that people should listen on but also tell each other what they think about certain things; it is not good keep all their thoughts, feelings and emotions a secret.

Opinion:

I don't like the story very much because I think it isn't very thrill. Everyone says that Stephen King is the master of horror but I don't think so. The story is more exciting when you are watching the film. I think he also writes too long.

It is not grave to read and so I would say it is worth to read.