Violence Quotes in The Shining

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

He had reddened Jack's behind…and then blacked his eye. And when his father had gone into the house […], Jack had come upon a stray dog and kicked it into the gutter. (14.35),

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.

Quote #5

He felt that he had unwittingly stuck his hand in The Great Wasps' Nest of Life (14.36).

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.

Quote #6

"Dear God, I am not a son of a b****. Please." (14.68)

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.