The Shining

This paper will produce a critical analysis of Jack Torrance character to be supported by mental delusion rather than being influenced by real ghosts. According to Kubrick’s movie entitled ‘The Shining’, Jack Torrance is not being haunted by real ghosts, but the insanity that is being triggered by his delusional mind. The character is a recovering alcoholic who applied for a job in a hotel with the main aim of enhancing his writing career alongside earning a living to support his family. Russel explains Jack’s circumstances by arguing, “Large Governmental, corporate, or social systems that uncannily to control individual behavior and in which characters seem paranoid, either to themselves or to other characters in the novel (243).”

            However, he is unable to cope with the human nature vices hence starting to experience an imaginary form of supernatural forces. His son Danny is portrayed to possess telepathic abilities that enable him to get vision of the past and the future. The manager of the hotel tells him that his caretaker successor experienced some form of insanity that saw him destroy his family. Despite this knowledge, Jack goes ahead to accept the job and identifies a particular room number 237 that he keeps his family out of it. He sees this room to possess angry ghosts of people who died innocently within the hotel. Russel adds that Jack undergoes through “transitional growth period” due to the trauma that he has been subjected by life experience (265).

Jack’s vision can be termed to be the main cause of his abnormal perception towards the relationship between human beings and supernatural forces. He is traumatized by the vices that accompany human nature hence exposing different people to different hardships in life. His alcoholic habits make him to lose his job in a small preparatory school. This incident threatens to destroy his marriage with Wendy. He decides to stop drinking and look for another job in the hotel. Strengell argues that Jack “Started, almost guiltily, as if he had been drinking and Wendy would smell the fumes on him (248).” He begins to think about the story that his manager tells him about his successor. He realizes that there are some people who died in unclear circumstances within the hotel. He connects this aspect with his miserable history while working in the small preparatory school. He establishes a common theory that supernatural forces are responsible for punishing human beings for the vices they commit. Magistrale explains that “When Jack moves, he moves with his doom (38).”

He sees ghosts of the former employees of the hotel to be angry with the human beings and ready to punish them for having caused their deaths. Magistrale argues that “Torrance bonds with evil spirits present at the overlook (161).” His delusional mind focuses on the most crucial aspect of his life; which is to protect his family and provide for it. Therefore, he thinks that the ghosts will be interested in destroying families of human beings in order to revenge for their deaths. This delusion is stressed by the impression that his son Danny possesses telepathic abilities which enables him to communicate with ghosts. Danny claims to have an imaginary friend named Tony who tells him about the things that have happened in the past and the ones to occur in future. He associates the number 37 with the misfortunes that have taken place in his life hence opting to keep his family away from a room that is labeled 237. Erickson insists that Jack’s “Truth comes out” that human vices are responsible for their misfortunes.

He believes that the room resides a ghost of the former caretaker to the hotel who is ready to revenge for his death. He makes his delusion to seem real through ascertaining that influence of supernatural powers is felt by humans after thinking about the relationship between his son and Tony. He warns his son to stay away from the room number 237 in order to avoid disrupting the ghosts and making them angry. However, Danny grows curious to know what resides in the room that his father prohibits him from entering. One day, he finds the room open and decides to enter. He says that he meets an angry ghost within the room that struggles him. Danny has also been influenced by his father’s thinking to believe that ghosts exist, and they possess an influence on human life.

Danny hears stories about the previous employees who have died while working in the hotel. His conscience convinces him that their deaths were caused by supernatural forces hence begins to create an imaginary ghost named Tony that tells him about the things that happened without his presence. He becomes convinced that Tony is responsible for impacting this knowledge in him, and yet he hears the stories from his father. His perception that ghosts are angry with human beings makes him think that they will attack him when he interrupts them. This incident occurs when he enters the room. Just like his father, his delusional mind makes him think that he has been attacked by ghosts. Strengell explains that Jack “correspondingly connects the situation of Danny with the nature of ghosts in order to make their influence to seem real (269).”

When Wendy learns that her son has be harmed she blames Jack for the attack. He sees him as being responsible for hurting Danny. This blame triggers misunderstanding between the couples hence making them to start fighting. Wendy notices that Jack has grown insane due to the traumatization that he has been subjected to by difficult life situations. She hits him and locks him in the kitchen while he is unconscious. Jack’s insanity becomes severe when he enters into the room that he had prohibited his son from entering. He meets the ghosts in party costumes; an illustration that they are celebrating.

The celebration of ghosts can be associated with Jack’s delusion that they become happy when human beings are suffering. Therefore, the he sees the ghosts to have started celebrating because his son has been hurt, and his family has begun to get destroyed. When his wife hits him to unconsciousness and locks him in a room, he thinks that the ghosts will be able to unlock the door for him. He negotiates with a ghost that opens the door for him, and starts hunting his son to kill him for having violated the conditions that had been given to him. Erickson says that “We get distanced from Jack by being shown how he begins to admire the people who once occupied the place where the hotel was built, and later became ghosts (213).”

This situation is made to seem real by the perception that ghosts will only support humans when they start a mission to harm other humans. When Jack starts to fight with his wife for having harmed Danny, none of the ghosts intervene to rescue any of them. This situation can be related with Jack’s thinking that ghosts are not after helping humans to solve their difference, but to help them hurt one another. Therefore, he wins the support of ghosts the moment he starts to hunt his wife and son in order to kill them. However, he does not succeed to kill any of them, but ends up losing his life. This outcome can be related to his life experiences during his former job, and while working at the hotel. The ghosts are the misfortunes that have been following him in times when he makes uninformed decisions. However, he comes back to his sense before his life becomes totally messy and rectifies the situation. For instance when he gets sacked because of drinking, he quits the habit before starting his next job. The power of the ghosts becomes insignificant when he rethinks his life; a situation that makes him unable to kill neither his wife nor Danny.

Work Cited

Erickson, Steven. "Room 237: Unlocking the Conspiracies Within Kubrick's The Shining." Phoenix Times (2013): 23-37. Fairleigh Dickinson University Online Library. Web. 5 August 2014.

Magistrale, Tony. Discovering Stephen King's 'The Shining'. New York: New York Press, 2001. Fairleigh Dickinson University Online Library. Web 5 August.

Russel, Sharon. Stephen King: A Critical Companion. New York: ABC-CLIO, 2002. Fairleigh Dickinson University Online Library. Web 5 August.

Strengell, Heidi. Dissecting Stephen King: From the Gothic to Literary Naturalism. Cambridge: Popular Press, 2006. Fairleigh Dickinson University Online Library. Web 5 August.