The Shining

By Stephen King

Author:

Stephen King was born on the 21^st of September, 1947 in Portland, Maine. When King was two years old, his father left the family. King won a scholarship award to the University of Maine and later taught English, while his wife, Tabitha, got her degree.

The publication of his first novel "Carrie" and its subsequent film adaptation set him on his way to his present position as the perhaps best - selling author of the world. He lives with his wife and their three children in Bangor, Maine, his home state and the place where he feels he really belongs.

Summary:

The story is about Danny Torrance, a five year old boy who is a "shiner". He is able to sense feelings and thoughts of others. When he moves to the Overlook Hotel with his parents Jack and Wendy, where his father is hired as a caretaker, he has a lot of nightmares and visions and in certain rooms he sees horrible things. His "invisible playmate", Tony, warns him of this place. The hotel takes possession of Jack Torrance and persuades him to kill his family. But when Danny feels the danger, he calls Dick Hallorann, a friend, via thoughts for help. Dick really receives his message, he finally arrives to help them and the family is able to flee. The Overlook Hotel explodes because Jack has forgotten to dumb the pressure gauge of the boiler heating. He dies in this explosion together with the hotel's evil spirits. Wendy and Danny begin a new life.

Characters:

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.

Jack Torrance was once a teacher in one of the finest schools in town, but he lost his job because of beating up a pupil who had cut the tyres of Jack's car. Since then he was always looking for a job. He had a severe drinking problem, and when the family moved to another town he gave up drinking, which, in the beginning, was not to difficult, as he also got away from his friends he had used to drink with. On the other hand this was a problem all the same, as he felt isolated, "locked up" with his family, and alone. Jack is looking forward as he will spend the winter at the Overlook Hotel, where he is supposed to take care of the boiler that heats the house, although the family will be alone the whole winter, and additionally the snow will close them in for some weeks or even months. Nevertheless, his hope is that up there in the mountains he will not feel the need for a drink so much. When the evil spirits of the hotel take control of his thoughts and deeds, he only sees the negative sides of his family: how they bug at him and what the best solution will be to get rid of them.

Wendy Torrance is a very beautiful women, 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. She is also concerned about Danny and his talking to Tony, so she hopes he could find things to do, maybe he could learn to read, maybe she could make him thinking of something else.

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 like to read Stephen King's books because they are written in a thrilling way. They are exciting to read, though I do not like King's speciality so much: to use supernatural things for plots in his books.