The Shining

Tony is calling Danny from a great distance. He says Wendy will be hurt, and Hallorann will die. He also says that Danny brought him here. Finally, Tony appears to Danny again, but for the first time he is close enough for Danny to see more details about him. Tony looks like Danny, but ten years older. Danny’s middle name is Anthony; he realizes that a future version of himself—Tony—has been trying to warn him about the Overlook.

Jack appears and chases Danny, who sees two bodies by the door of the Presidential Suite as he runs. Suddenly, everything is silent except the elevator, which is coming up. Danny runs to the attic, but it is locked with a padlock.

Wendy regains consciousness. She hears Jack shouting for Danny, and then she finds Hallorann, who is still breathing.

Danny confronts Jack. Jack tells Danny that he is not his father; rather, he is something fake that the hotel created. Jack is a “mask” and a “false face” (427). Danny says that he is now the hotel, and Jack hesitates before dropping the mallet. In a final moment of control, he tells Danny to run, and that he loves him. Then he begins hitting his own face with the mallet and says that now there are no more masks.

Danny tells him that he forgot about the boiler; it is going to explode. Jack leaves to stop it before it can damage the Overlook.

Hallorann, Danny, and Wendy prepare to leave before the boiler explodes. Hallorann picks them up and runs. Jack tries to lower the boiler pressure, but it explodes before he can do it. The bathtub in 217 splits, as does the dome over the clock: “The party was over” (436).

From outside, Hallorann sees a shadow in the window of the Presidential Suite. It reminds him of a wasps’ nest that his brother once threw a firecracker at. The shadow reminds him of the rising wasps. It disappears into the sky as flames begin to consume the Overlook.

In the shed with the snowmobile, Hallorann suddenly gets the urge to kill Wendy and Danny with a mallet, to end their suffering. He manages to resist the Overlook’s orders and put down the mallet. As they drive away on the snowmobile, Danny notices that the hedge animals are in their original spots, burned and dead. As they drive away, the roof of the Overlook collapses. 20 miles from Sidewinder, snowmobiles approach, driven by rangers who have brought Dr. Edmonds.

Hallorann is at the Red Arrow Lodge, a resort in Maine. Wendy is there as well, recovering. She looks older than when Hallorann met her nine months earlier. Danny is on the dock, fishing. His dreams are getting better.

Wendy has decided to take a job with Al Shockley. Hallorann says they will be okay and then talks with Danny about his responsibilities going forward. He says Danny needs to keep going and love whomever he can. Danny cries and misses his father. He says he wishes he did not have the shining. Hallorann repeats that he has to keep going and tells him that they will always be friends. Danny gets a bite, and Hallorann and Wendy watch as Danny reels the fish in.