Alcoholism And Domestic Violence In The Shining By Stephen King

Studies show that alcoholism is linked to domestic abuse, mental illness, and deterioration of familial ties; Stephen King displays this linkage through his novel, The Shining. Studies have shown that alcoholism is known to lead to mental illnesses, causing the victim to be both mentally unsound as well as insecure of himself. This mental unsoundness and insecurity lead to a higher likelihood of committing domestic violence, which is also enhanced or triggered by alcohol abuse. King shows that alcoholism is directly influential to emotional instability and how it can lead to domestic violence, ultimately destroying families plagued with alcohol abuse. In addition, King’s story shows how males were the predominantly alcoholic gender throughout

Children often begin to associate the causes the abuse and emotional torment with the beverage and separate the goodness of their parent from the bad. Danny separates the horrific actions of his father from Jack and transfers the blame to the hotel when he first confronted with the possession of his father by the Overlook (King 556). Mental separation gives them the ability to suppress the more developed emotion of intense hatred for that parent who let themselves get to that point. In a sense, living through an abusive family environment causes that child to have a partial blindness, so to speak, to the things that are acceptable and things that are not. In the final confrontation, Danny essentially save his father's soul from Damnation by transferring his blame to the hotel (Alegre 109). King uses external agencies, Supernatural possession, alcoholism, and evil patriarchal men not to excuse the father's behavior but to explain his victimization (Alegre 107). “An estimated 25% of us children are exposed to alcohol abuse or dependence in the family” (Anda 1). Jack tries his best not to follow his father's steps despite falling victim to both violence and alcoholism as his father did (Davenport 309). Children who reported alcohol abuse were three to eight times as likely to have battered mothers as those with no history of parental alcohol abuse (Anda 1). “The sins of fathers will be visited upon the sons”(Davenport 317). Alcoholism within a family history by default repeats itself until new history can be made, King uses an extraordinary child, Danny to break this chain of horrific events by giving him a chance through the separation from his father by the hands of the Overlook hotel. Danny will forever be scarred by the events he witnessed in the hotel but because he was saved by Mr. Hallorann, who will be the gentle loving father figure for