THE SHINING

Presented by: Josie Heard

4th Period Reading

MAIN CHARACTERS

• Jack Torrance
• Wendy Torrance
• Danny Torrance
• Dick Halloran

Jack Torrance:
Jack is an extremely sympathetic character. His power as a protagonist lies in his deep desire, and great potential, to be a good person – a good father, a good husband, and a good writer.

Wendy Torrance:
Wendy is a brave, courageous woman whose heroics help save her son, herself, and Dick Halloran.

Danny Torrance:
Danny is every parent's dream. He's intelligent, patient, loving, adventuresome, forgiving, and kind.

Dick Halloran:
Nearly loses his life trying to save Danny and Wendy. Heroic person in the book.

SUB CHARACTERS

• Mark Anthony Torrance
• Jack's Mother

Mark Anthony Torrance:
Mark is Jack's abusive, alcoholic father, with whom Jack had a love-hate relationship. Although he's dead, Mark is very much alive in the mind of his son.

Jack's Mother:
Jack's mother isn't named, and Jack doesn't express love for her. She was regularly abused by Jack's father. When Jack was nine, he watched his father beat her with a cane at the dinner table.

Setting:
Hotel up in the secluded mountains of Colorado.

Plot:
Jack Torrance, his son and wife become the winter caretakers of an isolated hotel where Danny, the son, sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as "The Shining". Under stress and isolation, Jack loses his insanity. Things begin to take a turn for the worse.

Literary Element:
Jack's father's cane is the ultimate symbol of Jack's childhood trauma. Although the cane isn't used on Jack, his father quite nearly beats Jack's mother to death with it. The roque mallet becomes Jack's version of his father's cane. He echoes the horror he witnessed so long ago when he beats Wendy with the mallet.

Literary Element:
The fire extinguishers are a further symbol of the hotel's perversity, where things which are supposed to protect (like fathers, for example) are twisted to do the opposite.

My Opinion:
I think this book is good for people who want to read a good scare. It has good details about the characters and setting. Gives you chills when you read it.