The Shining Chapter 52 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Wendy and Jack

  • Jack is gaining on Wendy, uttering threats and bleeding from the mouth.
  • She makes it to the main hallway, but when "a man with a green ghoul mask" (52.7) comes out of one of the rooms, she falls.
  • Jack is right behind her with the mallet.
  • He falls and the mallet hits Wendy "squarely between the shoulder blades" (52.9) and she feels something breaking.
  • The pain is immense. She almost passes out.
  • Jack is trying to get up, to complete his mission to kill Wendy.
  • She can't seem to make herself rise from the floor, so she crawls.
  • Oh no! The door to the quarters is open.
  • She manages to get into the room and somehow pulls herself up.
  • Somehow she gets the door closed before Jack reaches her.
  • She decides that she and Danny will have to hide in the bathroom – it's possible Jack could break the bedroom wall.
  • Now she realizes Danny isn't in the room.
  • She's sure he woke up when she and Jack started fighting.
  • Her pain intense, Wendy checks the closet and still doesn't find Danny.
  • As she makes it into the bathroom, she sees that Jack has smashed through the door to the quarters with the mallet. He's reached in through the hole and is unlocking the door.
  • She locks the bathroom door.
  • Danny isn't in here either, and she's suddenly happy about this.
  • It's better if he doesn't see all this.
  • She can hear Jack in the bedroom smashing her record player and records with the mallet.
  • She looks frantically around the bathroom for a weapon. In the medicine cabinet, she finds some razor blades.
  • Jack smashes through the bathroom door with the mallet. When he puts his hand in the hole to unlock the door, she slashes him with the razor blade.
  • She does it again when he tries again.
  • Jack seems to be leaving.
  • She gets a sudden inkling that help is on the way.
  • When she thinks he's gone, she opens the door. She needs to find Danny, but she falls down onto the bed, only half aware of what's going on.