Violence Quotes in The Shining

Things get really violent, really fast in The Shining. Jack learns the fate of the previous caretaker, Charles Grady, and his family. Being a reasonable man, Jack doesn't let this bit of information dissuade him from taking the job at the Overlook.

The memory of Jack breaking Danny's arm haunts both Jack and Wendy constantly. However, Danny is much more worried about the possible breakup of his family than he is about Jack hurting him again.

In this early passage, we get the idea that Wendy is making excuses for Jack's violence. When we know her better we learn this isn't the case. She just knows how much Danny loves Jack and doesn't want to say anything bad about him to Danny. Ironically, this is precisely what Jack accuses her of doing when he first becomes violent with her at the Overlook.

The reason Jack's father beats him is because a neighbor spanked Jack when she caught him playing with matches. This initial violence sets up a chain reaction, traveling from the people in power (the neighbor and Jack's father) down to the powerless (the seven-year-old Jack and the stray). The passage points to Jack's early history of being on the giving and receiving ends of violence.

When Jack is stung by a wasp while on the roof, the violence seems emblematic of his life, which has been filled with stings and barbs from the very beginning.

Jack is afraid that he'll never be able to control his violence, that he is somehow mean to the core and can't be anything but. The Overlook takes his desperate wish and grants Jack it's opposite. By the end of the tale, the violence in Jack has taken over all his other qualities.

How you feel about spankings will determine how you feel about this passage. Since we know Jack isn't in control enough to necessarily spank Danny without hurting him (assuming such a thing is possible) the threat is very scary. The passage also shows how Jack's immediate response to irritating or anxious situation is violence.

Yep. The woman in 217. As if the visual violence of her rotting corpse isn't enough, she is also able to inflict physical violence. Pretty neat trick considering her body was taken to the morgue after her death!

We hear these phrases and variations of them throughout the novel. This passage provides the roots of it. Jack is remembering what his father said to his mother when he was beating her with the cane when Jack was nine.

We are relieved Jack doesn't hit Danny with the mallet, but sincerely ache for Jack in this moment. We've come to sympathize with Jack by this point, and his self-inflicted violence speaks to the great anguish inside him. We know that at this point, there's little hope of Jack's survival.