Horror Book Review : The Shining By Stephen King

Stephen King is a very famous author, he is mostly known for his scary movies and novels. Scary wouldn’t be scary without him. To start off, he was born in September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine. His childhood wasn’t very good after his parents separated when he was just a toddler. For a short while, Stephen lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana where his dad moved after his divorce. Then after the “short while” they moved back to Durham, Maine where they finally settled for good and he was eleven. He went to Lisbon High School and went to University of Maine, where he graduated from. He then started out small by writing his first short story, “The Glass Floor.”

The Shining is about the Torrance family having to stay at the Overlook hotel for five months. Having that said, the family was completely isolated in such a big place over the winter. The hotel had horrific history of a murder done by Charles Grady who had committed suicide after killing his two girls and wife with an axe. The shocking information given to Jack did not bother him at all and he even said that his wife, Wendy would enjoy a good scary story. The film proceeds into a story that would seem calm and full of tranquility but this would not be the case since it soon enough turns out into something more horrifying. After a month has gone by, one can clearly notice the difference between the old Jack to the new Jack. This has to do with his personality and how he is acting by himself and towards others. His attitude changes to wanting to spend more time alone and not caring to do the work for the hotel, which he was hired to do in the first place. Danny is the young son of Jack who has psychic powers which at times confuses him but most of the time frightens the young boy. Danny encounters the two young girls that were killed in the hotel. Danny tries to avoid the girls as much as possible and tries to stay away from room 237 but it attracted Danny’s attention.

Young children are often told by their parents to ’not judge a book by its cover’. The Shining Houses by Alice Munro explores the idea that it is unessential to conform to societal standards especially when they stand in the way of equality. The theme responsibility towards our community is prevalent throughout the story and we see that despite the popular opinion of everyone else we have a responsibility towards the wellbeing of our community members. Through the character of Mary, we see the importance of helping one another. Most of the people who lived on Mrs. Fullerton’s street were not fond of her because of the way he home looked however, Mary overlooked this and enjoyed spending time with her. She befriended Mrs. Fullerton because

First and foremost, The Shining uses setting as a main factor to help portray America and its instability. The film starts out with a deep winding road along with the Rocky Mountains that can be taken to pursue the idea of the struggle that lay ahead for the characters in the film or for the Natives that this film tries to implicitly show. The scenery can represent America and as it is shown in a continuous shot, it also displays the endless opportunities America is known for, however as the camera continuously pans for a few more seconds, a sense of despair comes across you and the long twisty road suggests the impossibility of escape. The manager of the Overlook, Ullman suggests that the Hotel is haunted which ties in with the fact that the Hotel and America has had a very aggressive history that may still haunt us today. Reporter Bill Blakemore pointed out in Room 237 that Kubrick’s team had to research the town and hotel’s history, which showed Navajo tribe tensions with the the white men in the early 1900s. Blackmore also writes about how the name of the hotel connects with the fact that this film addresses the fact that America overlooks the Native American genocide or even the racism in the country.

Walter Dean Myers was born in august 12, 1937 in Martinsburg while in school, he played Harlem basketball. Mr. Myers lived in New York, New Jersey, and Martinsburg etc. Dean Myers wrote tons of books like Bad Boy, Fallen Angle, and Monster. He wrote all types of books in different kind of genres.

For many, isolation is a terrible thing and can lead to madness. Dictatorships prosecute individuals who do not agree with the government and sentence them to imprisonment in solitary confinement. Isolation is a form of torture and it causes insanity. The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is a truly interesting case study of human psychology and how the descent of an individual into the depths of insanity can cause them to experience creepy and vivid ghostly encounters, which do not actually physically occur but rather originate from within the depths of the person’s psyche. Examples of such hallucinated encounters surround the main character, Jack Torrance, who, as the movie progresses, transfigures into the deranged antagonist the persons see at the end of the movie chasing his family with an axe. Jack’s psyche and subconscious mind produce visions and ghostly apparitions, all of which embody Jack’s deep violent desires. Jack seems to suffer from a split personality disorder, which is intensified by his loneliness, emotional instability, and feelings of isolation. Jack’s mind is literally falling apart.

Steven King did an incredible job creating “The Shining”. Using a real life issue as damaging as alcoholism and allowing the reader to sympathize and even relate with the main characters was truly a remarkable idea. This thriller is, in no doubt, a masterpiece that will stay a treasure for years to come.

Stephen King’s The Shining has maintained its cult status since its release in 1977. The Shining begins with Jack Torrance receiving a position as the winter caretaker for The Overlook Hotel, an isolated hotel in the Colorado Rockies. Jack hopes the stay will be therapeutic and allow him to focus on writing, family, and less on alcohol. As time progresses, unsettling events begin to transpire for Jack, his son Danny, and his wife Wendy. The intensity of the gothic novel came to life by the legendary Stanley Kubrick in 1980. The book was admired by fans, but Kubrick’s reimagining made it the iconic classic that it is today. Stephen King was not as fond of the movie. Although some of Kubrick’s take on The Shining complements the book, King

Born on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine, Stephen King was a surprise to his family. Stephen was raised by a mostly single parent. Stephen’s father “left the house to buy a pack of cigarettes…but never returned. Stephen

Stephen Chbosky was born on January 25, 1970 and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Upper St. Clair, and graduated from the University of Southern California's Filmic Writing Program in 1992, which is where he received his Bachelor of the Fine Arts degree. He is an American novelist, screenwriter and film director.

Both The Shining and The Sixth Sense share a common theme. A theme that is found in both movies is a supernatural theme. When an event occurs that is supernatural, it is most times perceived as a frightening, almost terrifying event. In both movies there were many supernatural occurrences. For instance, in The Shining, when Jack enters room 237 he sees a young woman sitting in the tub, a ghoul. Upon seeing Jack, the ghoul slowly pushes back the curtain and immerges from the tub walking towards Jack. Jack seeing a, sexual invitation, advances towards the women. The women grabs his face and begins kissing him. Jack notices in the mirror that the women is rotting and becomes frightened, and runs away while the ghoul laughs hysterically. This is bizarre for the reason that the only humans in the Overlook hotel are Danny, his mother Wendy, and his father Jack. Therefore it can be concluded that the ghoul is a ghost in the hotel. There are also scenes towards, the end of the movie, that display to the viewer that the hotel is aiding Jack in killing his wife Wendy. For example, when Wendy is escaping the Overlook Hotel towards the end she meets up with the ghost with a bloody hand as a way of stalling her from escaping before her son is killed. Both these instances, along with many more, prove the theme of supernatural in the movie The

A number of strange incidents occur throughout the story. Jack finds a wasps' nest while maintaining the roof, uses an appropriate wasp bomb on it, and puts it in Danny's room. That night, although Jack had checked there were no wasps still in the nest, Danny is stung several times, and when Jack manages to put a bowl over the nest, there are many wasps trapped inside. Then in an almost hypnotic fit after spending too much time going through the hotel's papers in the boiler room, Jack smashes the radio, effectively cutting them off from the rest of the world as snow has fallen heavily, and reaching the nearest town has become impossible except by snowmobile.

Brandon Wright Carol Allen ENG101 37648 Lesson 7: Evaluation Essay The Shining Review One of the most ambivalent films by Stanley Kubrick is “The Shining” – a 1980 horror film, which tells a story of a family that has unknowingly moved into a haunted hotel known as the Overlook. Throughout the movie, a plot develops around the Torrance family: Jack, Wendy, and their son Danny.

In contrast, Manfred in The Castle of Otranto, is stupefied for a time into insane behavior, but then, is brought around to sanity after stabbing his daughter, as shown in this quotation here: “Manfred, waking as from a trance, beat his breast, twisted his hands in his locks…” (100). In this excerpt, Manfred is shown feeling remorse and regret in his actions, confirming his change back to sanity. Kubrick in The Shining however, makes the film much more terrorizing for audiences, as Jack never shows remorse, but instead, continually and purposefully pursues his family with an axe. At this scene in the film, the audience knows that Jack, although at one point a regular family man, is beyond reverting back to his previous sane state, increasing despair within audiences. The expression of Jack’s unperturbed insanity in the film furthermore requires the audience to reflect on their own lives, and realize that within every family is the possibility of

The classic elements were invented by Horace Walpole in 1764 in his novel The Castle Of Qtranto. These elements have been used in a variety of ways in different aspects books films short stories even today. Stephen King uses these elements in his novel The Shining alternating them to fit his needs.