The Shining

During our book club, my book club and I read "The Shining". Steven Kings novel, "The Shining" is about the Torrence's peculiar experiences after they find themselves at the famous Overlook hotel over the lonely winter months. Jack, going to the hotel to manage it over the winter months and work on his writing finds himself falling into his past drinking problem and violent tendencies and trying to kill his wife Wendy, and son Danny who only narrowly escape the clutches of the hotel and Jack. In this book we found several occurances of symbolism, for example one symbol of the book was a hornet's nest that Jack found when maintaining the hotel that was interrupted to symbolize Jack's relationship with his son Danny and the family car that symbolized the Torrence's old life, which both acted to bring more depth to simple objects in the book and the plot.

In the book, when Jack found the hornets nest he immediately thought of the nest his own (abusive) father had once given him when he was a  young boy. Thinking it was empty he gave it to his own son Danny, hoping to restore the relationship he had had with the boy before he had accidentally broken his arm when he was three. Danny who had accepted the gift from his father lovingly, was accidentally stung by hornets Jack had unintentionally left inside the nest. This, had also accurately represented Jack and Danny's relationship. Jack had attempted to do something to bond but the only thing that he could use to connect with Danny was bring the same pain that Jack had also felt from his own father.

Another symbol, is the family car, that represents the family's old life, before the Overlook. On the way to the Overlook the Torrence's were transitioning into their new life and as they drove to their new temporary home, their car was dying which symbolized the end of their old life at their home and the rise of their new life at the Overlook. It was like the death of the past and birth of the future for their family. Also at the Overlook they had to leave behind their car and their old life and upgrade to a new snowplow(ish kind of car) so they could make minimal trips at the Overlook that represented their new lifestyle at the Overlook and their home

All of these simple objects held so much more meaning and depth to the characters and the plot, giving their actions and effects more meaning, that also spoke more deeply of the plot and character relationships.