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On the mantle in the ballroom of the Overlook Hotel sits a clock beneath a glass dome, and the clock symbolizes time’s relativity in The Shining. The clock was gifted to the hotel by a Swiss diplomat in 1949, and even though Danny is sure it is something he probably shouldn’t touch, he winds the clock. The clock begins to tick and play Strauss’s “Blue Danube Waltz,” and two mechanical ballet dancers come from a door and twirl around. The clock begins to chime, and when it gets near the twelfth chime, Danny hears shouts of “Hooray!” and “Unmask!” Danny looks around the empty ballroom. The clock is simultaneously keeping time in Danny’s era in 1975 and in 1945 during the masquerade ball that perpetually unfolds in the ballroom of the haunted hotel. Ironically, the clock is closely associated with the ball in 1945, yet was not gifted to the hotel until 1949, which again underscores the idea of multiple eras in the novel.
When Danny winds the clock near the end of the novel, all of the hotel’s past eras converge as one—all but the current “Torrance Era,” which stands outside of time in the hotel. Of course, once Jack kills his family and himself like the hotel wants, the “Torrance Era” will join with the others. As the climax builds, the clock can be heard chiming alongside echoes of “Unmask! Unmask!” And when Wendy sneaks through the hotel trying to evade Jack to sounds of the clock chiming, Jack steps out of the shadows at the stroke of midnight, clearly insane and holding a roque mallet. A moment before the boiler explodes, killing Jack and destroying the hotel, Hallorann looks to the clock and notes it is one minute to midnight. When the boiler explodes one minute later, the glass dome shatters, and the clock is blown to pieces, presumably putting an end to the evil of the Overlook Hotel. The clock may keep time for the hotel’s many eras, but it is ultimately destroyed in the “Torrance Era,” thus putting a symbolic end to the horrors of the Overlook that have continued to play out across the decades.
The Clock Quotes in The Shining
The The Shining quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Clock . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 39
Quotes
“I don’t want to see,” he said low, and then looked back at the rubber ball, arcing from hand to hand. “But I can hear them sometimes, late at night. They’re like the wind, all sighing together. In the attic. The basement. The rooms. All over. I thought it was my fault, because of the way I am. The key. The little silver key.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Shining LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Clock Symbol Timeline in The Shining
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Clock appears in The Shining. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 17: The Doctor’s Office
...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...
(full context)
Chapter 37: The Ballroom
...Danny stands in front of the fireplace in the ballroom. On the mantel is a clock under a glass dome, two large ivory elephants on either side. Danny supposes that he...
(full context)
...the Presidential Suite. The Overlook is alive, as if it has been wound like the clock, and Danny knows that he is the key.
(full context)
Staring at the clock, Danny calls to Tony, but Tony doesn’t answer. Suddenly, the clock face is a black...
(full context)
...out a bloody hand. On the medicine cabinet, the word “REDRUM” flashes, and a big clock under a glass bowl forms. The clock face has only a date: December 2. The...
(full context)
Chapter 44: Conversations at the Party
...Grady tells Jack to follow him, and he leads Jack to the mantle, where the clock sits below the glass dome, the elephant statues situated on either side. It is one...
(full context)
“Midnight!” Derwent shouts. “Unmask! Unmask!” The clock chimes and the crowd cheers. Two figures, a father and son, come to the front...
(full context)
Chapter 50: Redrum
Wendy gets to the bottom of the stairs and hears the clock in the ballroom. Danny, or maybe Jack, wound it. Or maybe, Wendy thinks, the hotel...
(full context)
Chapter 56: The Explosion
Hallorann receives an image of the clock under the glass dome in the ballroom, which was a gift to the hotel from...
(full context)
The windows shatter, and the glass dome over the clock in the ballroom cracks. The clock stops. In room 217, the bathroom breaks in half...
(full context)
