Literary Anaysis #2

1.     In Stephen King’s book, The Shining, it’s about Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, and their son Danny. Jack who is a former alcoholic gets a job as a winter care taker of an isolated hotel named Overlook, down in the Colorado Mountains. He takes Wendy and Danny with him, thinking he could start his life anew to get away from his alcoholic and abusive past. Danny who’s clairvoyant and has telepathic powers, sees dark things inside the haunted hotel. The hotel influences people in a bad way; Jack is no exception. Throughout the story you see Jack lose his mind and jeopardize his family, and himself.

2.    The theme of this book is about malevolent spirit, because the spirit terrorizing the hotel killed his family and himself. Then tries to recreate the horrific event with Jack and his family.

3.    I chose this book because I’ve read books by Stephen King before and I thought they were well written so I bought the book thinking it would also be good. What appealed to me at first was the cover, it had a door room 217 with light shining out and I thought it looked interesting. Nothing about the book made me want to keep reading, I found it tedious and not chilling like the reviews had said it was, but I still finished to say I finished it.

4.    I didn’t find it realistic because, I don’t believe a malevolent spirit would invade a body just to recreate the same violence it did before. I didn’t make any connections from the book to my life since I don’t know any alcoholic writers, nor do I know any children who are clairvoyant.  

5.    The author’s tone is suspenseful and dark.

-Suspense is showed on p.538 “…but she had never envisioned herself prowling halls and staircases like a nervous felon, with a knife clasped in one hand to use against Jack”

-Suspense comes up again on p.539 “Heart thumping, she went to the open ballroom doors and looked in”

-Dark can be observed on p.12 “He killed them, Mr. Torrance then committed suicide”

6.    The literary elements I found were the following:

-Allusion, p.370 “Those were properly Byzantine, as benefitted the royalty…And capos who had stayed there over the years” it refers to the ancient Roman empire Byzantine.

- When Hallorann asks again “Are you sure you don’t want to go to Florida with me?” that’s Foreshadowing something bad to come, by him asking many times if he wanted to leave the hotel shown on p.125.

- “Not real! False face....Take off your mask” says Danny on p.624. That is a metaphor because the person he yelled it at wasn’t wearing a mask, but he wasn’t acting like himself”

- Imagery can be seen on p.226 “It was rich and creamy, dominated by a raised engraving of the overlook with every window alight”

- On p.125 “Yes he said, thinking of the story of Bluebeard” that is an Allusion to the book Bluebeard.

-An Allusion is shown when The Masque of the Red Death is referenced. “The red death held sway over all” p.227

-On p. 183 Figurative Language is used “But Wendy felt a cold finger touch her heart”.

- “Could you be expected to behave as a thinking human being when your hand was being impaled on red-hot darning needles” p.157 that shows Imagery.

-  “Your nose is running like a fire hose” p.145 which demonstrates a Simile.

-“They felt like rocks on the end of his arms" p.394 demonstrating a simile.

Characterization

1.    -Direct characterization- p. 12 “Wendy is an extraordinary person” Jack states. Someone is directly saying how Wendy is.

-Direct Characterization p.344 “That all come back to this she and her drunkard husband” it’s directly saying Wendy’s husband is a drunk.

-Indirect characterization p.544 “God looks after drunks and little children” that’s indirectly talking about Jack.

-Indirect characterization “oh you dirty liar” Wendy thinks to herself about her husband. She’s not directly saying it aloud but to herself.

2.    Yes, the author changes tone when speaking of different characters. When speaking of Jack he speaks negatively, and curses a lot. Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick. When speaking as Wendy he speaks in a depressed matter, and a lot of times scared. He doesn’t speak of Danny in any certain way.

3.    The protagonist is Jack a dynamic flat character, because Jack is always angry and abusive and even though he may have a short moment of remorse.

4.    I didn’t feel like I read or met a person in the story clearly.

 

Enduring Memory

One thing I will remember from reading this book is how Jack was a tortured angry man. Whether he was influenced by a malevolent spirit, effected by the alcoholism, or damaged by his past abusive childhood. The fact remains he was messed up.