Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Shining, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality
Precognition, Second Sight, and the Shining
Family
Isolation and Insanity
Alcoholism and Abuse
Time
Summary
Analysis
Jack sits on the floor of the pantry, eating a box of crackers. He isn’t hungry, but he will need his strength when he gets out. Jack is terribly hungover, his throat hurts from screaming, and he cut his hand on the door latch. He is furious, and when he gets out, he is “going to kick some ass.” He thinks of the Excedrin in his pocket, but he is fairly certain he will just throw it up if he takes some. It isn’t smart to take pain pills if you’re just going to puke them up, Jack thinks. You eat first. Jack is always the smart one. “Wits,” Jack says to himself, are imperative in life. “Living by your wits is always knowing where the wasps are,” he says.
The longer Jack is in the pantry, the angrier he gets, and the more he plans to make Wendy and Danny pay for it. Jack prides himself on being an intellectual, which is one of the few things he still has left after alcoholism has robbed him of everything else. “Living by [his] wits” and “knowing where the wasps are” is like Jack’s mantra. But Jack isn’t very smart when it comes to the Overlook, and he fails to recognize the danger—the wasps—of the hotel.
Themes
Wendy had tricked him, Jack thinks. She turned Danny against him, and she tried to kill him in the bar. Worst of all, she locked him in this “fucking pantry,” Jack thinks angrily. He tosses the box of crackers across the room. It is nearly 6:30; he has been in the pantry for hours. Jack begins to understand his father. He had a “ball and chain” just like Jack does, and no one had respected Jack’s father either—not even Jack himself. Now, Jack is paying for it.
Jack is still unraveling mentally, and he is getting even angrier. He is swearing and throwing crackers, and his desire to kill Wendy is growing the longer he is locked in the pantry. Jack compares himself to his dad, which again suggests that Jack is turning into his abusive father. Jack even starts thinking of Wendy as a “ball and chain,” or a huge burden, just like Jack’s father thought of his mother.
Themes
Jack remembers when his father beat his mother with his cane. It was during Sunday dinner, and Jack’s father was drunk. The difference between Jack’s mother and Wendy is that Jack’s mother accepted her place, whereas Wendy is actively working against Jack. She is trying to keep him from becoming a real employee of the Overlook hotel and rising in the ranks. Wendy can’t be reasoned with, Jack thinks.
The fact that Jack thinks Wendy can’t be reasoned with suggests that he has finally planned to kill her. He can’t change her mind, so the only option left is to get rid of her. Jack’s father was a terribly abusive man who beat Jack’s mother for no reason, and Jack is slowly becoming the same kind of man.
Themes
Jack hears music and laughter coming from outside. He begins to scream, and Grady, from the other side of the door, says that there is no need to shout. He asks Jack how he plans to manage Danny and Wendy from inside the pantry, and Jack says that they are the ones who locked him in. Grady tells Jack that he must handle them better, and Jack promises to if Grady will let him out. Grady doubts that Jack will really deal with them, but Jack swears he will and begs to be let out.
Grady is still egging Jack on, ensuring that Jack actually kills Wendy and Danny. Grady is quite sarcastic, pointing out how Jack has obviously failed to handle Wendy and Danny. Grady even implies that he doubts Jack can deal with them, hoping this goading is enough to make Jack want to prove that he can.
Themes
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Grady tells Jack that he must kill Wendy. There is no way Jack can get to Danny if Wendy is alive. Jack promises a “sacred vow” to kill her, and he hears the bolt slide. Jack opens the door and walks out into the empty kitchen. On the counter is a bottle of gin, a martini glass, and a bowl of olives—and next to it all is a roque mallet. Jack picks up the mallet and swings it through the air, creating a loud hissing sound. Jack smiles.
The “sacred vow” of Jack’s promise to kill Wendy hearkens to the sacred vows of a wedding, which clearly aren’t enough to keep Jack from trying to kill her. He now has his mind set on going after Wendy, which suggests Wendy and Jack don’t have the same kind of connection that Danny and Jack do. Jack finally has his weapon—the mallet—and a bottle of gin, because the hotel must get Jack drunk in order to provoke his violent side.
Themes
