The Shining

The Shining is a very interesting story of possession and violence. In class, we were able to come up with comparisons between Poe’s narrators and Jack. For example one comparison we made was their sanity within insanity. The narrators of Poe’s stories claimed they were sane, yet had some very insane obsessions and actions. Their obsessions were with bodily objects such as eyes, teeth and the heart whereas Jack was more obsessed with his father’s past and correcting and disciplining. Both the narrators of Poe and Jack felt a sort of isolation and both stories showed what that isolation does to the characters. It also showed how the characters reacted to trauma in their lives.


Jack can be seen in many different lights. For example he can be seen as a victim and a product of an abusive father and a passive mother. “He had reddened Jack's behind…and then blacked his eye. And when his father had gone into the house, Jack had come upon a stray dog and kicked it into the gutter.” He can also be seen as a man possessed and a man of addiction. “He was still an alcoholic, always would be, perhaps had been since Sophomore year in high school when he took his first drink. It had nothing to do with willpower, or the morality of drinking, or the weakness or strength of his own character. There was a broken switch inside, or a circuit breaker that didn't work.” (120) Jack could also be seen as a madman. He is seen as a very violent man throughout his life. When he is younger, he is violent to animals and is involved in many fights in school. He abused his son and wife and even broke his son’s arm.

Jack thinks that he is just a nice guy that is struggling. “He felt that he had unwittingly stuck his hand in The Great Wasps' Nest of Life.” He makes many excuses and thinks he shouldn’t be held accountable when he loses him temper.

This story brings up interesting ideas about the family dynamic and what it was in Jack’s family. Jack as the head of the household wanted to give him family security. He was the sole provider, and believed that he was in charge and others should be submissive to him. It was a sort of master-servant relationship. He would say things like “father knows best.” Wendy is first seen as meek and submissive to her husband. She thought about divorcing him, but felt as if she was stuck because she had nowhere else to go and no way to support herself and Danny. She also believed Jack when he would ask for another chance and think that this would be the last time. After they move to the hotel, she is seen as stronger. Even the hotel says that “she is stronger than we thought.” She grew stronger because the need was there for her to protect herself and Danny. Someone in class made the reference to a “momma bear” and the kind of fight a mom will put up to protect her young. The hotel was a sort of catalyst for her and it helped to make her stronger.

For Danny his life is a family nightmare. The scariest thing for him is the idea of his parent’s divorce or separation. “The greatest terror of Danny's life was DIVORCE, a word that always appeared in his mind as a sign painted in red letters which were covered in hissing, poisonous snakes." He was completely aware of the fact that his parents were unhappy and thinking about a separation or divorce. Because of his shine, he was robbed of his childhood and can see more than what his parents realize he sees. Halloran tries to explain to Danny about his shine and tells him “What you got, son, I call it shinin on, the Bible calls it having visions, and there's scientists call it precognition. They all mean seeing the future." Danny is afraid of losing his family as well as going crazy from his gift.

In class, we discussed the idea of the hotel being a character in the book. "The manager," Grady said."The hotel, sir. Surely you realize who hired you, sir." The hotel is sarcastic when it is speaking to Hallorann in a mocking manner. The hotel is also very manipulative and deceiving. Another word used to describe the hotel as a character was parasitic. I thought that was a very interesting word and it is true.
Another thing we wanted to do in our facilitation was discuss the book vs. the movie and what similarities were made between the two. We wanted to do this because we figured that most people have seen the movie and we thought it would be an interesting comparison. The movie is actually not close to what King wrote in his book. One difference from the movie to the book was the change in some of the characters. For example Jack is portrayed as a good man who is protective of his family but struggling with alcoholism. In the movie he is seen as a man that it is irritated by his family. Ullman’s character was also changed. In the book he is seen as condescending and tells Jack that if it were up to him he wouldn’t have hired Jack because he didn’t like him. In the movie, Ullman seems pleasant and genuine. Wendy is also portrayed very differently from the book to the movie. In the book she has a kind of strength when she needs it at the hotel. In the movie she is seen as passive, and weak. She even defends Jack when he breaks Danny’s arm. She reacts differently to Jacks madness in the movie as well. She breaks down and becomes hysterical. In the book she finds an inner strength and tries to protect herself and her son.
The kind of possession that Jack experiences has occurred to others in history. In a small town in Illinois called Watseka, a girl named Lurancy Vennum was possessed by the spirit of a dead girl named Mary Roff. She fell into excruciating pain and would fall into trances. She would speak of seeing angels and heaven. When questioned she was able to give details about the Roff house, where she had never visited before. When among Mary’s family and friends, they were convinced that she was a reincarnated version of Mary who had died 12 years earlier. She began being possessed when she was 13. Her possession in 1877 was called “America’s first documented case of spiritual possession.” “As documented by an eyewitness account and later retold in the 1977 novel "Watseka," Mary died suddenly in 1865 at age 19, only to come back 12 years later to possess the body of 14-year-old Lurancy Vennu.” There are many books written about Lurancy and her possession on called Watseka by Dr. E. W. Stevens. He was one of Lurancy’s doctors and was an eye witness to her story. Another book written about her is The Possessed by Troy Taylor.


Question:
Do you think that spirit possesion is real and if so why do you think the spirits pick the people that they do?

Source:
Taylor, Troy. Possession History & Horror of the Watseka Wonder. Whitechapel Productions, 2007.