The All-Too-Real Horrors of 'The Shining'
- zachlaengert
- Jul 15
- 7 min read
Ghosts are the least of anyone's problems in Stephen King's landmark novel
The Overlook Hotel Welcomes You
Over the past couple weeks I listened to The Shining (1977) and its sequel Doctor Sleep (2013) on audiobook – while also attempting to take up running, as though Jack Torrance or Rose the Hat (whose title 'Queen B*tch of Castle Hell' I love a little too much) were on my tail.
I tend to gravitate to the science fiction and fantasy realms of speculative fiction, but as I covered a few weeks ago, horror is also a core part of the genre. I’ve touched on it a bit, mostly in my Vampires series – where I even discussed another King novel in ‘Salem’s Lot – but today I hope to demonstrate the powerful way horror can convey aspects of the human condition.
You might be more familiar with Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) film than King’s novel, and if so, that knowledge should serve you fine. However, the film does diverge in various ways (many of which King famously disliked), so don’t be surprised if some aspects are unfamiliar.
I find it fascinating that, when tasked with directing the film adaptation of Doctor Sleep (2019), Mike Flanagan chose to make a sequel to both King and Kubrick’s stories by carefully weaving together elements from each.
So, spoilers ahead for all four of these works (but mostly the two novels).
Generations & Cycles of Abuse
At the beginning of Kubrick's 1980 film, Jack Torrance (hauntingly portrayed by Jack Nicholson) is a man already at least halfway down the road to his monstrous transformation. The novel depicts a much more sympathetic figure, in no small part because we spend most of the novel inside Jack's head.
One of the most harrowing parts of these books is how King portrays generational cycles of trauma, abuse and other behaviours. We learn from Jack's memories in The Shining that his own father was an incredibly abusive alcoholic, and see him wrestling with that part of himself throughout the book – prompted by the evil Overlook Hotel itself, looking for the emotional lever that will transform Jack into its weapon. When he later stalks the halls, calling his son a "pup" who "needs to take his medicine", he is directly mimicking his own father and simultaneously perpetuating the abuse Jack and his own mother suffered.
Part of what makes Doctor Sleep (2013) such a successful sequel is that it shows adult Dan Torrance – who survived the Overlook and his father's rampage at the age of five – now struggling with many of the same issues Jack faced. We see Dan at rock bottom as an alcoholic, getting in fights and occasionally hearing Jack's threatening voice in his head. He steals from Deenie and her toddler son Tommy and ultimately leaves them to die, inverting the role of the protective father figure just like Jack does.
At the end of the novel, Rose the Hat pushes on the evil in Dan to have him kill Abra, just as the Overlook pushed on it in Jack to have him kill Dan:
Now it’s the morning after and I need to take my medicine. It’s what you wanted to do when you woke up next to that drunken whore in Wilmington, what you would have done if you’d had any balls, and her useless whelp of a son for good measure. Your father knew how to deal with stupid, disobedient women, and his father before him. Sometimes a woman just needs to take her medicine. – Stephen King, Doctor Sleep
But Dan resists, rejecting the cycle of hate and abuse: "MY FATHER KNEW NOTHING!" What allowed him to break free more meaningfully than Jack? Any number of things, I think: being educated about his Shining, having Abra and Billy nearby to help him, and most of all his twelve years with Alcoholics Anonymous.
Living with Addiction
I've lately realized that the novels I've read about addiction (Demon Copperhead, The Goldfinch, Martyr!, and Family Meal to name a few others) have been consistently more engaging and interesting to me than the average. Likely there's some bias involved – popular novels recommended to me vs. random sci-fi/fantasy I pick up – but I also tend to believe that these stories are strengthened by inherently sympathetic but flawed protagonists, the looming threat of relapse and the interpersonal connections that make up both a character's support structure and scars of their troubled past.
It's worth noting that in addition to genetic tendency toward addiction, the Torrance men both likely find solace in alcohol's ability to mute their innate Shining. (This is confirmed for Dan and speculation about Jack, who almost certainly unknowingly possessed the same abilities and sensitivities to some degree in order for the Overlook to be able to influence him at all.)
Doctor Sleep confirms that Jack Torrance never went to AA, though Dan reflects that it might have done him good – potentially even saving him from the Overlook. Instead, Jack's arc reminds me more of the film Another Round (2020), with he and his drinking friend Al simply deciding to reign things in after a single rock-bottom moment, without seeking any external help. (King confirmed that Dan's rock-bottom scene with Deenie and Tommy intentionally mirrors Jack's). When Al – Jack's only support outside his family – turns on him, it makes it all the easier for Jack to relapse.
Of course, Jack's relapse shouldn't be possible regardless: the Overlook has been emptied of alcohol, and the long roads to any liquor store are buried beneath meters of snow. To me, the scariest supernatural part of the story is the Overlook conjuring alcohol out of thin air in order to coax Jack's worst self back out of the shadows. And it doesn't feel at all like a reach, or a moment of the story breaking reality, because of how well King establishes the deep, bacchanalian corruption of the hotel.
Dan Torrance, on the other hand, reaches out for help and finds it. His journey isn't easy by any means – Stephen King himself has been sober since the '80s and is certainly writing from experience – but he learns to live with the horrors of the world on his own terms and with a healthy support network around him. As such, he's ultimately able to be there for his niece when she needs it, rather than turning on her like Jack turned on him.
Toxic Relationships
I think Wendy's story is often overlooked in discussion of The Shining, possibly because of how little of it is portrayed in the film. I spent close to an hour trying to find access to a book called The Shining Reader (1991, edited by Anthony Magistrale), which features a number of essays on the book including some on Wendy, but had no luck. Please get in touch if you have access to it!
Wendy's story is of a woman perpetually questioning her marriage, weighing the difficulties of a divorce against the strain and trauma of living with Jack for both Danny and herself. Informing her judgment are her complex experiences and relationship with her own divorced parents: Wendy's mom actively blames her for breaking apart their own marriage, while simultaneously seeming to dislike Jack's presence in Wendy and Danny's lives.
It's again fascinating that things genuinely seem to be on the path to working out for the family before they take up residence at the Overlook: Jack has quit drinking and their marriage has found a patch of stability. Yet the supernatural evil of the hotel re-opens each and every wound it can find, with alcohol and misunderstanding and isolation.
Jack's struggle with alcohol and rage is a gripping character arc, and so is Wendy's struggle for her marriage and the wellbeing of herself and her son. These are the human, relatable issues that make The Shining such a compelling, devastating story – and the supernatural only serves to heighten its tension and tragedy.
Doing Right by Yourself and Others
Ultimately, these books impart a message about doing your best: for you, and for everyone around you. Reaching out for help, whether regarding addiction or abuse. Helping others where you can, as Dan does by ensuring people pass on peacefully at the hospice and by coming to Abra's aid against Rose and the True Knot. Recognizing the evil in yourself and in the world, and doing your best to protect the next generation from it.
The generational trauma, addiction and abuse inherent to the Torrance family are a central pillar of these two books, so it's masterful to see King end the story by having Dan caution Abra (Jack's granddaughter by another woman) against the same issues he's faced. Thankfully, because Dan helped himself, he will now be there to help Abra – very much unlike either Dan or Jack had when they needed it.
A couple final notes I didn't find a place for earlier:
In Doctor Sleep, Dan reflects that he experienced his father's alcoholism through the Shining and that he "spent a lot of years trying to quench that thirst"; implying a third layer to why Dan picked up the bottle.
Though Dick Hallorann teaches Dan to trap the Overlook's ghosts away in mental lockboxes, Dan says he was unable to do the same for his alcoholism – I found this a very clever reflection of how we can distance ourselves from external/past trauma but must deal with internal/current issues head on.
Mike Flanagan, who directed Doctor Sleep, certainly also took inspiration from these books for his miniseries Midnight Mass, which I love to no end. Both deal with addiction and relationships, and you don't have to squint too hard to see the True Knot as vampires either. Check out the series (and the film) if you haven't!
That's all for now! Thanks for reading and until next time <3
Comentarios