REDRUM The Shining
written by Stephen King
You've heard of this. If you haven't read the book OR seen the movie you still have heard of The Shining. You know of the Overlook hotel, "Here's Johnny!", twin girls speaking in unison, room 217, and redrum. Stephen King is the master of suspense, and this book is just that. The movie that was based off of this book is one of the most famous scary movies in existence. The movie is in the top ten best horror/suspense movies not because it is the most terrifying, but because it is both terrifying and brilliant. I have only read the book. The story follows Jack, the newly hired caretaker of the Overlook hotel. Jack is tasked with taking care of the hotel during the winter when no one stays and no one can get to or from the hotel because of its wintery location in the mountains. Jack's job is to stay there with his wife,Winifred or Wendy, and his five-year old son Danny. It is meant to be simple. All they have to do is to stay with Jack while he watches the boiler and finishes writing his play. It will be a relaxed stay and a chance for them to have some family time. The hotel, however, has other ideas. There is a significant amount of suspense, but the terror doesn't commence until the poor characters get snowed in. So, the book is somewhat divided into two parts; the non-scary part and the scary part.
The Non-Scary Part Before the famous hotel scenes occur the back-stories of Jack, Wendy, and Danny are explored through flashbacks. The characters don't arrive at the hotel until halfway through the book, but that doesn't mean it's not exciting. The reader discovers Jack's rocky past as a recovering alcoholic. Psychologists would argue that Jack's reliance on alcohol is due to his abusive drunk father and his own temper. Jack's alcoholism soon gets him into trouble when he breaks his sons arm in a fit of rage. Also he was fired from his teaching job when a run in with a stuttering student turns into a heated assault. Now Jack has no job, a wife that will never forget him breaking Danny's arm and since his break up with alcohol, an itch for a drink. Wendy loves Jack. she has tried to make it work with him through thick and thin, and there has been a lot of thick. Through his days of doing "The Bad Thing" she has stayed by him, but the sound of Danny's arm breaking will sound forever in her mind. Danny is afraid his parents will get divorced. The prospect of divorce has never been uttered between them, but the word circles in their minds like a fly that can't escape a room. Danny knows this because... well, he doesn't know how he knows this, but he can hear their thoughts and see things when he thinks hard. When he meets the hotel's cook Halloran he gets an answer. Halloran tells Danny that he has something that he calls "the shining". This is where the title comes from. Halloran also has a "shine", but he says that Danny has the strongest "shine" he has ever encountered. They are able to converse without uttering a word. To have "the shining" and a strong one at that means that Danny can read some people's thoughts along with seeing things that others don't and a strong intuition. Danny accidentally heard a thought from a woman leaving the hotel who was being helped by a man carrying her bags. Danny didn't know what she meant when she thought that she would like to get into that man's pants. When Danny asked Halloran what this thought meant Halloran laughed along with the reader. I should state right now that Halloran is the ultimate "bro" because he explains Danny's gift and because of what he does during "the scary part". Along with Danny's gift he has times where he has visions of a sort. In these visions he sees things he doesn't understand like the word "redrum" and also of a figure named Tony who warns him about the Overlook hotel. Tony used to show Danny nice things like birthday cake, but now evil things are coming. (Foreshadowing) Halloran also warns Danny about the hotel. He says that sometimes Danny will see things that might scare him, but he should think of them as pictures that can't hurt you. If he sees a "picture" he should just look away for a second and it will be gone. Now, with the kitchen fully stocked, the family moves into the hotel.
The Scary Part While the family is given a tour Danny sees his first "picture"; blood and brain filled gore forming a grotesque picture splattered on a wall in the Presidential suite. This hotel has a violent history, and each occurrence left a ghostly scar. The real fun doesn't start until the snow traps them. The wasps that attacked Danny were frightening because the Bug Bomb should have killed them, but here comes the snow. Many frightening things happen, and because there are so many I will discuss a few big ones. I'm prioritizing, so if you want to here more scary stuff read the book. Redrum Tony keeps showing Danny this word flashing in red letters, but Danny is frightened not because of its message but because he can't figure out what it means. However through looking at the word reflected in his vision he finds the meaning finally; REDRUM=MURDER.
The Topiary This passage scared the devil out of me. Leave it to Stephen King to make animal shaped bushes a symbol of acute terror. I actually read this book this past week and part of that week I was staying at a hotel. When I read about the shrubbery I was about to fall asleep late at night. I was an idiot. I thought I could read a few pages more of The Shining and not be disturbed, but while Jack was trimming the animals he looked away. When he looked back he was puzzled. The bunny he had just trimmed had been lying down. Then why was it now standing? Come to mention it the lions are now blocking the path. He looks away again and when he looks back the lions are closer and snarling. Jack convinces himself that he is hallucinating, but the scrapes Jack gets on his legs from the real/fake animals beg to differ. I am now afraid of animal shaped plants. Stephen King leaves no one immune to his frightening lawn work.
Room 217 Unlike the movie, Jack does not make out with a beautiful woman in this room. That scene is just for the guys. Danny is the first one to enter this room, even though Halloran warned him against that specific room. The story of this room is told in the non-scary part. When Danny enters the room he is drawn to the bathroom and then the bathtub. Quiet fear accompanies both him and the reader as he reaches for the curtain. When he ripped the curtain away an elderly corpse of a woman was rotting in the full tub stark naked. Danny's scream lodges in his throat, and he wets himself when the cadaver’s eyes open and the fleshy face smiles while the rotten heap pulls itself out of the tub. The room is locked, so Danny closes his eyes and thinks, "it's not real, it's not real." His mantra becomes harder to believe when cold bloated hands grab him by the throat. When Danny's parents find their child in shock with bruises they both blame each other until Danny explains about room 217. Jack later investigates and comes back to tell his family that he didn't see anything. He didn’t lie per say, but he heard her footsteps and saw the wet bathroom mat and other signs of the terrifying ghost. It’s after Danny’s parents see the bruises on Danny’s neck that they believe they are in real trouble and that Danny really does have “the shining”.
Crazy Town Don’t get me wrong this isn’t literally a place in the book. However, Jack does eventually become the mayor of Crazy Town. I don’t know how Jack was portrayed in the movie, but my heart broke when he lost himself. It is explained that it wasn’t Jack’s own mind causing his change, but it was the hotel using him to get to Danny. The hotel wants Danny because of his “shine”. The hotel doesn’t want Jack because he has no “shine”, but he is used as a tool to kill Danny. To clarify, the “hotel” somewhat collects the people that have been killed there like an attic that wants ghosts. Included in this conglomerate of spirits are the twin girls killed by Grady, their father, the women in 217, and the party goers. Jack’s descent into insanity, is very well done by Stephen King. The reader slowly feels the change. The writing style changes to reflect Jacks instability falsely diagnosed as cabin fever.
Spoilers Don’t read unless you want to know. Jack eventually goes so mad that he attempts to kill his family with a mallet. Wendy actually gets a hit right in the gut. Danny runs from his father whom he really does love. Halloran, sensing the danger, had told Danny before he left that if Danny was ever in trouble he should send out a mental call to him across the county. Danny calls in his mind, so loud that Halloran gets the message, and rushes to save him. Halloran upon arriving gets hit in the face by Jack with the mallet and gets attacked by the topiary. He and Wendy aren’t dead, but they are out of commission. Now Danny is alone being followed by the thing that has taken over his daddy. Jack has one moment of clarity where he recognizes his son and says, “Run”. He loves his son, but the thing that has possessed him retakes him, and smashes its own face with the mallet. Now Jack’s face is unrecognizable symbolizing his “death”. Then Danny realizes the only thing that could save him. The Boiler. Major Spoiler The boiler creeps up in temperature if it isn’t watched and by this time it is ready to explode. As the “thing” rushes down to stop the hotel from exploding; Danny, Wendy, and Halloran escape to live the rest of their lives. Jack doesn’t freeze to death like in the movie. He does the opposite actually; he explodes along with the hotel. End of Spoilers. Stephen King is the master of suspense and storytelling. He created characters that the reader bonds with, not just people to die in scary ways like in some horror films. This tasteful story will engage your mind. Even if you don’t like scary stories I recommend at least reading the first Non-Scary Part because of its excellence. Warning; Do not read this near animal shaped bushes or bathtubs or snow or in a hotel especially not room 217.
