The Shining Themes

Like many of Stephen King’s novels, The Shining is imbued with paranormal elements. The novel’s protagonist, five-year-old Danny Torrance, has psychic abilities, and the Overlook Hotel—where Danny’s father, Jack, is the winter caretaker—is full of unexplained occurrences and spirits of the past, keeping the Torrances in a constant state of fear. From the ghost of room 217 to the sinister animal topiaries guarding the haunted playground outside, the Overlook Hotel is positively terrifying…

Stephen King’s The Shining revolves around Danny Torrance and his physic abilities. Danny can read the minds of others, and he has visions of the future brought to him by his imaginary friend, Tony. Danny was “born with a caul”—a thin membrane covering the face and eyes at birth that is often associated with “second sight” and other physic gifts—and this is how Danny’s mother, Wendy, explains her son’s rather unsettling abilities. When…

Isolation is a major factor in Stephen King’s The Shining. The Overlook Hotel is situated deep in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, miles from the nearest town. Winter storms block roadways and cripple phone lines, cutting the Torrance family off from the rest of the world. The expansive vistas outside the Overlook’s massive windows are beautiful, but they are a constant reminder of how alone the Torrances are at the hotel. Wendy is acutely aware…

Alcoholism and abuse go hand in hand in The Shining, and together they dominate much of the novel. When Jack Torrance is gets a job as the winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel, he learns about Grady, the previous caretaker, who went insane and murdered his family before committing suicide. Grady had been an alcoholic, the hotel’s manager, Mr. Ullman, tells Jack, and the tragedy “came as a result of too much…

While it is certainly a lesser theme in the novel, time nevertheless plays an important role in Stephen King’s The Shining. The Overlook Hotel is itself an old building, and it is alive with decades of history. It has a colorful and sordid past, and like many hotels, years of guests and passing emotions have left an imprint on the Overlook. Essentially, the living are able to observe and interact with the dead at…