The Shining: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

Danny sits in his underwear in Dr. Edmonds’s office as the kind man puts electrodes on Danny’s head for an electroencephalogram. The test will tell them many things, Dr. Edmonds says, like if Danny has epilepsy. There was a kid in Vermont who had epilepsy, Danny says, and Dr. Edmonds asks if he ever sees flashing lights or smells something funny, like sawdust or oranges, before one of his spells. Danny says he doesn’t, and Dr. Edmonds says that he doesn’t think Danny has epilepsy. He orders the nurse to take the electrodes off Danny’s head and tells him to get dressed. They will talk a bit in the next room.

As Dr. Edmonds joins Danny in the next room, he notices that Danny’s hand is lightly wrapped in a bandage. He tells Danny that the electroencephalogram looks good, but that he is going to send it to a colleague in Denver for a second opinion, and then he asks Danny to tell him about Tony. Danny says Tony is just his imaginary friend, but Dr. Edmonds says that this is what Jack and Wendy say about Tony. Dr. Edmonds wants to know what Danny says about Tony. Danny looks at Dr. Edmonds and tries to see his thoughts or the color of his mood, and then he tells the doctor that he doesn’t really know who Tony is.

Danny tells Dr. Edmonds that he has never seen Tony up close, and he doesn’t know how old he is. Dr. Edmonds asks if Tony always comes before Danny passes out, and Danny explains that he doesn’t pass out exactly. It is more like Danny follows Tony, and then Tony shows him things, like where to find Jack’s lost trunk. Dr. Edmonds asks what Tony showed Danny in the bathroom last night, but Danny can’t remember. Dr. Edmonds then asks if Tony locked the bathroom door, and Danny says no. Tony isn’t real, Danny says, and can’t lock the door. Tony told Danny to do it, and he did. 

Danny continues and tells Dr. Edmonds that Tony sometimes shows him what is going to happen, and other times Tony just shows him signs, but Danny can’t read that well yet and doesn’t know what all the signs mean. Dr. Edmonds asks if Danny likes Tony, and Danny isn’t sure. He used to like Tony and wanted him to come every day, especially when Jack and Wendy were thinking about “DIVORCE,” Danny says. But now Tony only shows him bad things—really terrible things—which sting just like the wasps.

Danny can’t remember everything about Tony. In fact, Danny doesn’t want to remember, and he thinks he doesn’t remember precisely because the visions are so awful. He only remembers “Redrum,” but doesn’t know what that is either. Dr. Edmonds asks if Danny can make Tony come now, and Danny agrees to try. He thinks about Wendy’s thoughts and tries to concentrate. Suddenly, Wendy’s thoughts become clear. She is thinking about her sister, Aileen, who died when Wendy was just a girl. Wendy is thinking that Aileen’s death is what turned her mother into such a miserable woman, and then Danny hears Tony calling his name.

Danny can’t see Tony, so he follows the sound of his voice. He follows into the darkness, past something chiming like church bells and a clock under a glass dome. Danny can see Tony’s silhouette just ahead and walks closer. Danny is suddenly in the basement of the Overlook Hotel, and Jack is looking through a pile of cardboard boxes. Jack picks up a book—a white leather scrapbook—and Danny wants to scream at him to put it down. Not all books should be read, Danny thinks. He can smell the dampness and mildew of the basement, and he can smell the “Bad Stuff,” which always seems to hang around Jack. 

Danny can hear Tony’s voice. “This inhuman place makes human monsters,” Tony repeats, over and over again. Danny can also hear the strange figure with the mallet screaming at him to “take [his] medicine,” and then Danny pulls himself from the darkness and opens his eyes to Dr. Edmonds. Dr. Edmonds asks Danny what he saw, but Danny can’t remember. He asks if Danny can remember anything from before Tony came, and Danny says that Wendy was thinking about her sister, Aileen. Dr. Edmonds is confused and asks how Danny could possibly know that. Danny shrugs and says only that it is “the shining.”

Dr. Edmonds sends Danny to the waiting room and asks to speak to Jack and Wendy alone. He can’t find anything wrong with Danny, Dr. Edmonds says, but he suspects that Danny has an incredibly high IQ. He says that Danny went into one of his trances on command. “Textbook auto-hypnosis,” the doctor says. He tells Jack and Wendy all about Danny’s trance and Tony. Tony was a pleasant “imaginary friend” in Vermont, but now Tony has turned frightening for Danny. Danny can’t remember exactly why he is afraid, but that is perfectly normal, Dr. Edmonds says. Frightening dreams are rarely remembered.

Dr. Edmonds asks if the move from Vermont occurred under stressful circumstances, and Jack admits that they had to move because he lost his job in Vermont. Dr. Edmonds informs Jack and Wendy that Danny believes they were seriously considering divorce but now doesn’t think it is much of an issue. Wendy is shocked. She and Jack have never even said the word out loud, she claims. Jack tells Dr. Edmonds about his struggle with alcoholism and about breaking Danny’s arm. Dr. Edmonds already knows about the arm, but he can also tell that Danny has not been abused since then. Of course Danny hasn’t been abused, Wendy interrupts. She tells Dr. Edmonds that Jack didn’t mean to break Danny’s arm, but Jack says that he did. At the moment he grabbed Danny, he meant to hurt him.

Jack admits that this is the first time they have openly discussed divorce, alcoholism, or child abuse, and Dr. Edmonds claims that this is their problem. Danny is a perfectly healthy boy with an active imagination, the doctor says. Danny has a tendency to retire into his imagination, but that is normal enough. Dr. Edmonds says it is no wonder why Danny has named his imaginary friend Tony, but Wendy says they haven’t pointed that out to Danny yet. Dr. Edmonds suggests they let Danny figure it out on his own. Dr. Edmonds mentions Danny’s inkling about Jack’s trunk, and Wendy says Danny was born with a caul. Dr. Edmonds laughs. Danny is simply perceptive, he says, and his ability is “unusually keen.” Danny knew where the truck was from the process of elimination—they had looked everywhere else.

As Dr. Edmonds talks, Wendy isn’t sure she agrees. Dr. Edmonds doesn’t live with Danny and has never experienced his abilities. Dr. Edmonds has never had Danny tell him where a lost button is or where the TV Guide was misplaced. Danny knows when it is going to rain and reminds Wendy to go to the library when her books are near due. She asks the doctor why Danny is having nightmares all of a sudden, and Dr. Edmonds says it is because Tony is no longer needed or useful. Danny created Tony during a stressful time, and now that the stress has resolved and he no longer needs him, Tony has become a negative presence.

Dr. Edmonds explains that all children exhibit “schizoid behavior,” and adults have basically accepted that children are “lunatics.” They have imaginary friends and place undue importance on objects, like security blankets and stuffed animals. Dr. Edmonds is quite certain that Danny will grow out of his current problems without lasting effect. As Jack and Wendy stand to leave, Dr. Edmonds asks Wendy if she has a sister named Aileen. Wendy says she did—Aileen was killed when she was six years old and Wendy was 10.

Dr. Edmonds asks if Danny knows about Aileen, and Wendy says that she doesn’t think so. Wendy has never talked about her, at least. Dr. Edmonds tells her that Danny said she was thinking about Aileen in the waiting room, and Wendy admits that she was. He asks if either Wendy or Jack know anything about “redrum” or “the shining,” but they are clueless, too. As Jack and Wendy leave, Jack pulls out a handkerchief and wipes his lips.