The Shining

The Shining

by

Stephen King

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The Shining: Chapter 23 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Jack walks out to the porch of the Overlook Hotel. The sun is bright, but the air is cold, and he zips his jacket up to the top. Jack wipes his lips with his hand and thinks about the weather. Snow is in the forecast, and he can see clouds beginning to build in the distance. He moves in the direction of the animal topiaries with an electric hedge trimmer. There isn’t much work to be done, and it won’t take long, Jack thinks. He mostly has to trim up the dog and the rabbit, so he walks toward the rabbit first and turns on the electric trimmer.
Each time it snows, the Torrances will become more and more secluded. As the snow accumulates and blocks them in, they won’t be able get out of the Overlook, and help won’t be able to easily get to them, making them more vulnerable. Although it hasn’t snowed yet, Jack is still very much isolated in this passage since Wendy and Danny are in Sidewinder. Despite the relative mundanity of the landscaping task, Jack still seems to be on-edge, as he performs his nervous habit of wiping his lips which means he is craving a drink.
Themes
Isolation and Insanity Theme Icon
Alcoholism and Abuse Theme Icon
As Jack approaches the rabbit, he talks to it and immediately feels stupid. He starts to trim and feels bad about it—he hates the animal topiaries. It doesn’t seem right to force a hedge into something it isn’t, but Jack keeps trimming anyway. He wasn’t hired to wax philosophical. He trims the rabbit’s face, which looks nothing like a face up close. After Jack is done, he shuts off the trimmer and steps back several paces. From a distance, Jack can better see the rabbit’s features. Of course, Jack thinks, if he owned the hotel, he would cut down all the topiaries and lay sod. The guest could sip cocktails on the hotel’s lawn. Margaritas, pink ladies, and sloe gin fizzes, he thinks, but stops himself. Thoughts like that will get him nowhere, Jack says to himself.
Jack easily slips into thoughts of alcohol, which illustrates how bad his addiction really is, especially when he is unhappy like he is now. Jack hates the animal topiaries because he feels like he, too, is being forced into something that he isn’t. Jack is a writer and an intellectual, not a hotel caretaker, and he resents having to take such a menial job.  
Themes
Alcoholism and Abuse Theme Icon
Jack is about to go back to the hotel, but he decides to walk through the playground first. Jack and Wendy have both been surprised that Danny never wants to spend time on the playground, but kids are weird that way, he says to himself. Sometimes they just don’t like what their parents think they should. In the playground, there is a playhouse that is a scaled replica of the hotel. Danny could stand up inside of it, Jack thinks, and looks into the windows like a giant. He puts the hedge clippers down and goes to the slide. He climbs to the top and sits down. It has been 20 years or more since he has been on a slide, and Jack’s backside doesn’t quite fit on the slide like it used to.
The fact that Danny is resistant or afraid of going to the playground suggests that this location, like other rooms and objects at the Overlook, may have a sinister or paranormal element that only those who shine can perceive. Given that Danny’s visions and feelings about other aspects of the hotel have been correct thus far, there’s probably a valid reason for his hesitance.
Themes
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality Theme Icon
Precognition, Second Sight, and the Shining Theme Icon
Jack walks toward the playground’s cement rings but decides they are way too small for him and keeps walking. Suddenly, he hears a sound behind him. Jack turns around instantly, expecting Wendy or Danny to catch him acting like a kid in the playground and is somewhat embarrassed, but there is no one there. Jack looks to the topiary dog, which is now crouching like it is ready to charge. It had been standing up like it was begging for a treat. Jack’s flesh begins to crawl, and as he picks up the hedge trimmers, he feels his testicles creep up into his body.
Although Danny has been the only member of the Torrance family to directly witness the Overlook’s paranormality thus far, here Jack witnesses the impossible: a topiary hedge coming to life. The sight utterly terrifies Jack, and the fact that he’s able to see it at all suggests that he, too, may have the ability to shine despite Hallorann’s insistence that he can’t.
Themes
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality Theme Icon
Precognition, Second Sight, and the Shining Theme Icon
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The rabbit, which was standing on its hind legs when Jack trimmed it, is now on all fours, and the lions, which were formerly guarding the path are now blocking it. Jack puts his hand over his eyes and removes it, but the scene doesn’t change. During his drinking days, he called such hallucinations during withdrawal, but now he thinks he is going crazy. Jack hears another sound and sees that the lions have moved even closer. He stares in disbelief, trying to perceive actual movement in real time, and wonders what will happen if the lions actually get him.
The moving topiaries have Jack believing he is going insane. Jack is all alone and doesn’t have anyone to confirm what he is seeing. This is likely why the Torrances don’t see the topiaries move when they are together. Jack is much more vulnerable alone and is left questioning what he really saw, if he really saw it, and what it means. This fear and confusion serves to further break Jack down, leaving him more open to the Overlook’s unsettling influence.
Themes
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality Theme Icon
Isolation and Insanity Theme Icon
Alcoholism and Abuse Theme Icon
Jack again slaps his hands over his eyes. There is no way this is happening, he says to himself, and removes his hands. The entire topiary scene is back the way it was—the dog is begging, and the rabbit is on its hind legs—and Jack stands frozen in fright. He reaches into his pocket for his cigarettes and drops several. He bends to pick them up without moving his eyes from the topiaries and puts one in his mouth. Jack tells himself that he is tired and under a lot of stress and begins to head back to the hotel. His instinct is to avoid the topiaries, but he decides to walk down the center of the path. The wind rustles the hedges as Jack walks through, and he decides not to tell Wendy about his little hallucination.
Jack walks through the center of the topiary path almost like a challenge to the topiaries, or a dare. By walking right though the animal topiaries, Jack implies that he isn’t scared, even though he clearly is. Jack seems to be trying to convince himself that they aren’t real and can’t hurt him, just like when Danny stands outside of room 217. Jack’s resolution not to tell Wendy about what he saw further suggests that he feels he is going crazy and would be judged by his wife.
Themes
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality Theme Icon
Isolation and Insanity Theme Icon