While playing on the playground, for instance, the topiary animals chase Danny back to the hotel.Įventually, the hotel takes control of Jack. What were once mere visions slowly become more real, leading to terrifying, hallucinatory events. The hotel is able to use Danny’s power to grow stronger if it can kill Danny, he will be imprisoned there forever with the other ghosts. The hotel has a terrible past filled with murders, suicide, Mafia activity, and all forms of debauchery. Once the Torrances are at the Overlook, trouble begins. Later, Danny-whose middle name is Anthony-learns that Tony is a version of himself from the future, who is always trying to warn him of impending violence.

A figure named Tony-whom Danny describes as a little boy that lives in his mouth-shows Danny the visions. Sometimes the visions are horrible images that only scare him, but sometimes they are premonitions of things yet to occur. He sees visions and can read people’s thoughts if he tries. This brought Wendy to the brink of divorcing Jack and leaving with Danny.ĭanny is a serious, troubled boy with psychic powers that Dick Hallorann-the cook at the Overlook who also has physic abilities-calls “The Shining.” The boy has the strongest “shine” Hallorann has ever seen. Once, when his son Danny spilled beer on his papers, Jack accidentally broke Danny’s arm while pulling him away. His temper-and alcoholism-have plagued Jack’s life. Jack and Al were drinking friends, but both are now sober. Shockley is a near-majority stakeholder in the Overlook.

He receives a job as a caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado as an act of charity from his friend Al Shockley. Jack Torrance is a writer who hopes to finish a play over the winter. In 2013, Stephen King published Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining, which features an adult version of Danny who continues to struggle with his past.Ĭontent warning: this guide contains references to alcohol addiction and domestic abuse. It was adapted into a 1980 film directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson, released to critical acclaim. The Shining was Stephen King’s third novel and his first hardback bestseller. It deals with themes of parenthood, isolation, addiction, and the bonds of family. It tells the story of Jack, Wendy, and Danny Torrance during an isolated winter in which Jack becomes the caretaker of Colorado’s Overlook Hotel.

The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King.

The shining novel