Family Theme Analysis

Stephen King’s The Shining focuses on families and the way various forms of dysfunction—such as jealousy, insanity, abuse, and addiction—can rip them apart. At the center of the novel is the Torrance family—Jack, Wendy, and Danny—and they are fighting considerable odds. Jack is a recovering alcoholic with a history of abuse, and he has recently lost his job, bringing the additional stress of financial insecurity to his already-struggling family. The Torrances aren’t the only dysfunctional family in the novel. Jack’s own father was an abusive alcoholic and Wendy’s relationship with her mother is strained by her mother’s judgement and jealousy. When Jack gets the job at the Overlook Hotel, he is hoping that the steady income and time together is just what his family needs to get back on track, but the evil hotel has a different plan. The last winter caretaker, a man named Grady, was driven insane by the hotel and killed his entire family and himself—and the evil hotel is intent on doing the same thing to Jack and his family. With the depiction of these tortured families in The Shining, King exposes the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of families; however, King also highlights the potential strength of the family unit and ultimately asserts that the connection within a family can never be completely broken.

Despite their past struggles, the Torrance family is looking forward to their time together at the Overlook Hotel, and initially, it appears as if the hotel will help heal their family unit. Danny and Jack have an incredibly close relationship that Wendy often resents. She is jealous that she doesn’t have the same connection with Danny that Jack does, and she often feels like an “outsider.” At the hotel, however, they can’t exclude her; their living quarters are much too close, which forces them to be together as a family. Initially, the Torrances are excited for their winter alone in the mountains, snowed-in under heavy storms and miles from the nearest town. The isolation is “exactly” what they need—“a season together away from the world, a sort of family honeymoon.” This much-needed time alone offers the Torrances a chance to reconnect as a family without outside distraction. Early in the novel, the Torrances indeed appear to be healing, and Wendy says it is the happiest their family has ever been. Life at the Overlook Hotel forces them “into a tighter family unit than ever before,” proving the inherent strength of the Torrance family and the love they share for one another despite their challenges. 

However, the sinister Overlook Hotel is determined to destroy the Torrances just as it did the Gradys, and it does so by attacking their family unit. Under the Overlook’s control, Jack begins to manifest symptoms of drinking, even though there is no alcohol in the hotel. He is short-tempered and angry for no reason, and he chronically wipes at his mouth with a handkerchief. These telltale signs of Jack’s alcoholism remind Wendy of what Jack is capable of, and she is no longer convinced that he isn’t drinking, an addiction that has nearly destroyed their family in the past. Jack even returns to his abusive behavior (he broke Danny’s arm a few years earlier in a drunken rage), and after Danny is chased by a ghost in the hotel’s playground and pursued further by the animal topiaries that guard the Overlook’s entrance, Jack hits Danny in the face and accuses him of lying. The Overlook is getting to Jack, and it is causing him to revert to his old abusive behavior. As Jack’s behavior continues to deteriorate, Wendy’s thoughts again turn to divorce—something she hasn’t considered since coming to the Overlook—and she kicks herself for not leaving Jack when she had the chance. She even considers taking Danny and going to her mother’s, a thought which shows Wendy’s level of unhappiness and desperation particularly clearly. Under the destructive forces of the Overlook Hotel, the Torrances are falling apart.

Despite the obvious dysfunction present within many of the families portrayed in the novel, there is an undeniable bond among family members that remains, which suggests the connection within a family unit can never really be destroyed. Even though Wendy and her mother have a difficult past, Wendy still makes a point to be in her mother’s life, and she includes Danny in her life as well. Wendy still has a relationship with her mother, regardless of how strained it is. Jack, too, remained in his own father’s life until his death, in spite of the mounds of abuse he heaped upon Jack and his mother. Instead of refusing to see his father or cursing him, Jack continues to foster a relationship with him, which again implies that the basic familial bond is difficult to break. Surprisingly, this bond is present even when the evil hotel pushes Jack to murderous insanity and convinces him to kill both Wendy and Danny. After nearly beating Wendy to death with a roque mallet, Jack turns on Danny and corners his son on the second floor. As Jack lifts the mallet and swings, he stops and drops the weapon to the ground. “Run away. Quick,” Jack says to Danny. “And remember how much I love you.” Jack is under the hotel’s control and has gone completely insane, but the part of him that is Danny’s father remains, suggesting that the connection within a family can never truly be broken.