The Shining

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-4

Part 1, Chapters 5-7

Part 2, Chapters 8-10

Part 2, Chapters 11-13

Part 3, Chapters 14-18

Part 3, Chapters 19-23

Part 3, Chapters 24-25

Part 4, Chapters 26-32

Part 4, Chapters 33-37

Part 5, Chapters 38-42

Part 5, Chapters 43-47

Part 5, Chapters 48-52

Part 5, Chapters 53-58

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 3, Chapters 24-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3: “The Wasps’ Nest”

Part 3, Chapter 24 Summary: “Snow”

Each member of the Torrance family feels a strange sense of relief when the snow begins: “The bridge had been crossed” (211). Nevertheless, when they go inside, they feel like “microbes trapped in the intestine of a monster” (211).

Part 3, Chapter 25 Summary: “Inside 217”

Two weeks later, feet of snow cover everything. Danny enjoys sledding outside, and the grounds are beautiful.

After checking on the boiler one day, Jack looks through papers and boxes downstairs. He finds a bloody piece of a sheet, a mangled teddy bear, a disturbing puppet, and other nasty objects. As Jack rummages, Danny is outside Room 217 with the passkey. He went to the firehose to prove that it wasn’t scary, and now he is feeling brave. He goes in and the room is empty, but the bathroom door is ajar.

There is a dead woman in the bathtub. She sits up as Danny tries to scream. He runs, but the door to the hallway is now closed. He remembers Hallorann saying that nothing can hurt him in the hotel: “They’re like pictures in a book…close your eyes and they’ll be gone” (218). He closes his eyes, but then he feels the dead woman’s hands around his throat.

Part 3, Chapters 24-25 Analysis

These two brief chapters serve as a final push towards the dangers of the book’s final two parts. The dead woman in Room 217 disproves part of Hallorann’s hypothesis about the entities at the Overlook. They are no longer just like pictures, lacking the ability to harm others; the next chapters show that Danny’s throat is actually bruised after the woman chokes him. Danny’s shining is so strong that it is activating the hotel’s ghosts, bringing them into the world in a more consequential, substantial way.

Danny gives in to his need to visit Room 217 before Jack can indulge his need to drink, but his decision does not bode well for Jack’s sobriety. The hotel managed to wear Danny down to the point that he broke his promise to Hallorann. If it can make Danny break his promise, it can do the same with Jack, provided that it can grow strong enough to produce alcohol on the premises. Chapter 24’s statement that “The bridge had been crossed,” (211) refers to the isolating snow, but it also applies to the dead woman’s appearance in Room 217, Jack’s weakening willpower, and the Overlook’s growing influence over them all.