The Possibilities of Mental Illness in the Shining Seraiah Star Mark College

Fictional characters are created to either reflect the authors’ personal experiences or address issues prevalent in or overlooked by society. Mental, physical, and emotional issues often plague characters created by Stephen King. Disturbing events often take place in his novels that contribute to supernatural and/or psychotic occurrences. Specifically, Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's film version of The Shining makes his descent into mental insanity because of such events. Jack’s diagnosis relies heavily on these occurrences and will ultimately determine if it is a mental disorder or pure evil.

Background

The Shining revolves around the life of Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic seeking to find solace to focus on his writing. In order to fulfill this desire, he accepts a job as a caretaker for the Overlook Hotel (Godfrey, 2015). The resort closes down for five months due to harsh winters, and Jack is responsible for living in the hotel during this time. He moves in with his wife, Wendy, and five-year old son, Danny. Throughout the course of the story, Jack discovers that he has an unexplainable connection with the hotel– almost as if he has visited the place before. He is also unaware that his son has supernatural powers...