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Insanity In Stephen King's 'The Shining'

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Madison Tabor Glick/Lastovica English 9 21 may 2024 The Shining “This inhuman place makes human monsters” pg 143 Stephen King, The Shining. The novel The Shining by Stephen King is about a family of the Torrances moving to a hotel in Maine for Jack's job, but things start to influence the characters and in the end Jack Torrances goes crazy and tries to murder them. Stephen King portrays this sense and descent into madness perfectly through Jack Torrance character development, internal conflicts and especially The Overlook Hotel as the setting itself. Character development Character development shows the descent into madness present in “The Shining”. Steven King uses Jack Torrance to communicate this road to insanity through the progression …show more content…

In the beginning of the book it's explained that Jack was once an alcoholic but quit after hurting Danny, after he quits things get better for the family. But after coming to the hotel, Jack thinks about drinking way more frequently. Wendy even remarks that he develops more of his drinking habits, like constantly wiping his mouth. “The most frightening thing, vaporous and unmentioned, was that all of Jack's drinking habits had come back, one by one. all but the drink itself. “ 176 pg. His drinking habits are so prominent and show up so much, especially in the beginning and when trouble starts. The drinking habits may seem small but mean a lot to Wendy and the family as it was such a big phase in their life where Jack was horrible. This all culminates to the end where Jack actually is tricked into thinking that there's a party in the hotel, goes to the bar and starts drinking and partying while Danny and Wendy are scared for their lives locked up in their bedroom.”He had no idea what time it was, how long he had spent in the Colorado lounge or how long he had been here in the ballroom. Time had ceased to matter.the frosty glass was pressed into his hand. Jack drank gratefully, “feeling the gin hit and crumble away the first inroads of sobriety.” Pg. 350. -. Showing how even though in the beginning he was shown to really value sobriety, he gives it up and almost

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