American writer Stephen King published his first horror book, The Shining, in 1977. It is King’s third published book and his first hardcover bestseller, and its popularity solidified his position as a leading figure in the horror genre. King’s own experiences, such as his stay at The Stanley Hotel in 1974 and his battle with alcoholism, have an impact on the location and characters. An identical 1980 movie based on the book was produced. Doctor Sleep, a sequel to the book that was released in 2013 and was later made into a movie with the same name, came after the first book.
Jack Torrance, a failing author and sober man is the protagonist of The Shining. He accepts a job as the historic Overlook Hotel’s off-season caretaker in the Colorado Rockies. His young son Danny Torrance, who possesses “the gleaming,” a variety of psychic skills that enable Danny to see the hotel’s horrible past, is with him on this job. His family is also with him. After being stranded at the hotel due to a winter storm, Jack’s wife and son are placed in grave danger as the supernatural forces that inhabit the building start to have an effect on his sanity.
These quotes can look over some of the most memorable quotes from Stephen King’s The Shining. These touch on the book’s major themes, which include family connections, loneliness, and fear-
1. “He would write it for the reason he felt that all great literature, fiction, and nonfiction, was written: truth comes out, in the end, it always comes out. He would write it because he felt he had to.” -The Shining
It’s possible that King is expressing his views about writing in these lines by using the persona of Jack. He examines the idea that writers have a need to write because they believe they must. The “truth comes out” in this attempt, perhaps. A novel isn’t only about Jack wanting to write. But it gives his character crucial complexity.
2. “Once, during the drinking phase, Wendy had accused him of desiring his own destruction but not possessing the necessary moral fiber to support a full-blown wish. So he manufactured ways in which other people could do it, lopping a piece at a time off himself and their family.” -The Shining
The narrator is sharing details about the Torrance family’s past in this passage. Wendy previously “accused him of wishing his own destruction but not lacking the required moral fiber to support a full-blown deathwish,” as she has grown weary and angry with her husband’s drinking. She believes that despite his desire to hurt himself, he lacks the willpower necessary to really harm himself. This profound remark strikes at the core of Jack’s weak character.
3. “He looked to her like an absurd twentieth-century Hamlet; an indecisive figure so mesmerized by onrushing tragedy that he was helpless to divert its course or alter it in any way.” -The Shining
A simile is used in this excellent quote. It serves to illustrate how powerless Jack’s circumstance is. He is being controlled by the hotel, and he is aware that he can do nothing to stop it. He can’t avoid an “onrushing calamity” that is coming his way. The author draws parallels between Jack and Hamlet and the horrible chain of incidents that result in the demise of nearly every character in Shakespeare’s classic play.
4. “The world’s a hard place, Danny. It don’t care. It don’t hate you and me, but it don’t love us. Terrible things happen in the world, and they’re things no one can explain. Good people die in bad, painful ways and leave the folks that love them all. Sometimes it seems like it’s only the bad people who stay healthy and prosper. The world don’t love you, but your momma does, and so do I.” -The Shining
Readers can get a sense of one of the book’s primary themes—the callousness of the world—in these sentences. Here, Danny is discovering that, in Jack Torrance’s opinion, at least, there isn’t much he can do to change the fact that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. He comes to the conclusion that while Danny’s parents “love you,” the rest of the world doesn’t. That needs to be sufficient. Family ties that were strong at the start of the book quickly deteriorate, which makes Jack wish to kill his wife and children.
5. “A lot of folks, they got a little bit of shine to them. They don’t even know it. But they always seem to show up with flowers when their wives are feelin blue, they do good on school tests they don’t even study for, they got a good idea how people are feelin as soon as they walk into a room.” -The Shining
Dick Hallorann is talking to Danny about his “shine” in these lines. Specifically, his capacity to understand the feelings and ideas of others. The strength of Danny’s powers, which even allow him to communicate with Dick across the country, becomes apparent as the narrative progresses. Here, King expertly identifies the “shine’s” best qualities. The gift comes with a lot of positive aspects as well as some negative ones, such as the ability to tap into the evil spirits in the hotel.
6. “Your Daddy hit George to make him stop cutting the tires, and George hit his head.” -The Shining
We get the impression from this opening sentence that Wendy is justifying Jack’s aggression. This isn’t the case, as we discover as we get to know her better. She doesn’t want to criticize Jack for Danny because she is aware of how much he loves Jack. Ironically, when Jack first starts acting violently toward her at the Overlook, this is exactly what he accuses her of doing.
7. “He had reddened Jack’s behind…and then blacked his eye. And when his father had gone into the house […], Jack had come upon a stray dog and kicked it into the gutter.” -The Shining
A neighbor spanked Jack when she saw him playing with matches, which is why Jack’s father abuses him. The neighbor and Jack’s father are the first to be violent, which starts a chain reaction that affects the weaker people (the seven-year-old Jack and the stray). In the earlier part of his life, Jack was both a perpetrator and a victim of violence, as the passage makes clear.
8. “He had been a lush; he had done terrible things. […] But if a man reforms, doesn’t he deserve to have his reformation credited sooner or later? And if he doesn’t get it, doesn’t he deserve the game to go with the name.” -The Shining
This seems like a fairly risky line of reasoning. It assigns blame for a variety of negative behaviors to other individuals. However, we can completely comprehend Jack’s suffering. Wendy appears to be waiting for him to stray at any second. Unfortunately, she has already lost faith in him, and both of them will need to put a lot of effort into earning it back.
9. “He had tried to sooth the baby and dropped him on the floor.” -The Shining
Wendy has this recollection. As far as we can determine, neither Jack nor Danny can recall it. If that’s the case, they don’t consider it in the book. Why was Jack so inebriated that he awakened baby Danny before dropping him off? because he was celebrating Esquire’s publication of one of his short stories. Alcohol in The Shining somehow ruins everything.
10. “he kept telling himself, over and over, that the things Tony showed him didn’t always come true.” -The Shining
When Danny first lands at the Overlook, this is what is going through his mind. Something terrible is about to happen, as Tony has already demonstrated to him. Danny is still unable to comprehend that occasionally people’s decisions can alter, which is why visions don’t always come true. Future forecasts are based on the circumstances present at the time of the forecast.
11. “I’m going to eat you up, little boy. And I think I’ll start with your plump, little cock.” -The Shining
This line is among the most unsettling in the book, according to several readers. It implies that the evil at the Overlook presents itself in sexually predatory behavior, even more so than the woman in 217. Because Danny is a child, it appears that this is being said to him. If something doesn’t give, we are even more afraid of what the Overlook will do to Danny.
12. “You’re dead; you’re in your grave; you’re not in me at all!” -The Shining
In this quote, Jack is speaking to his father while his father’s voice can be heard coming from the radio before Jack destroys it. It demonstrates how fervently Jack is making an effort to move past his difficult history. Sadly, Jack has his father inside of him, and by the book’s end, Jack has turned into a version of his father. He forgets his own phrases and only uses his father’s words when the Overlook is inside of him.
13. “(GET OUT OF HERE, YOU DIRTY N*GGER TURN AROUND THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS […] TURN AROUND OR WE WE’LL KILL YOU HANG YOU UP FROM A TREE LIMB […])” -The Shining
The Overlook looks to be racist as well as brutal and sexually predatory. Perhaps it’s just telling Halloran whatever it thinks will scare him away from the hotel, or another possibility is that. He is not scared away by it, but it does cause him to stray from the path of travel. Shining can make the “real world” seem unimportant, and it doesn’t care what you’re doing at the moment. This is an inconvenience.
14. “The sitting room wall by the door leading into the bedroom and splashed with blood and […] brain matter.” -The Shining
When Danny enters the Presidential Suite, he sees this. Later, we discover through the scrapbook that while Harry Derwent owned the Overlook, two individuals with connections to organized crime were killed there. Danny has some insight into the past and can foresee potential outcomes.
15. “He was the key. Tony had warned him, and he just let things go on.”-The Shining
In this quotation, it seems that Danny’s presence’s psychic ferocity also contributes to the acceleration of events. Some evil device is turned on by him. He feels bad about it, but the Overlook would not have been destroyed if he hadn’t arrived. That Jack may still be standing is a sad irony. Danny is not at fault for any of this. He is only a small child!