Summary
The Torrance family embarks on the long drive to the Overlook Hotel, cruising through the same mountain passes we saw in the first shots of the film. This time, however, we are in the car with them.
Wendy remarks that the air feels different and asks Jack if they are near the site of the Donner Party tragedy. Danny asks his parents to explain what they're talking about, and Jack tells Danny that the Donner Party was a group of pioneers that got stranded and ate each other. Wendy cringes, but Danny reassures her that he knows all about cannibalism because he saw it on TV.
Finding Mr. Ullman, the family embarks on a tour of the hotel, starting with the grand Colorado Room. Wendy cannot get over how beautiful and large it is, and Mr. Ullman explains that it used to be a destination for celebrities and jetsetters, including four presidents.
Danny retreats to the hotel's game room, where he plays darts. Turning around, he sees the two twin girls in blue dresses, which he had a vision about just before he fainted back in Boulder. The twins turn to look at each other, smile, and leave.
The adults explore their new apartment, which Jack calls "perfect for a child." Next, Mr. Ullman shows them the hedge maze outside the hotel, which is 13 feet tall. He remarks that he "wouldn't want to go in there unless [he] had an hour to find [his] way out." Ullman also explains that the hotel is built on the site of a Native American burial ground and was attacked by local tribesmen when it was being built. He also shows them the hotel's Snowcat, a vehicle that allows them to drive through large amounts of snow in an emergency.
Next, the adults explore the Gold Room, the hotel's ballroom. Wendy jokes that one could throw a great party there, but Ullman says the hotel removes the bar's alcohol during the winter closure to lower the hotel's insurance costs. Jack says that he and Wendy don't drink anyway.
A man enters and is introduced to Wendy and Jack as Dick Hallorann, the hotel's chef. Danny also enters, escorted by Ullman's secretary, who found him outside looking for Wendy and Jack. Ullman instructs Dick to show Wendy and Danny the hotel kitchen while Ullman continues the tour with Jack.
In the kitchen, Wendy can't believe how large the premises are and jokes that she'll have to leave a trail of breadcrumbs in order to find her way out of the kitchen. Dick assures her that she'll get used to it and shows her the cavernous storage rooms full of food. He asks Danny what his favorite food is, referring to Danny as "Doc," and Wendy asks him how he knew that was Danny's nickname. Although Dick tells her he must have heard her refer to him that way, she doesn't remember calling him that since they arrived there. Danny stares at Dick while the latter rattles off the names of the various foods in the storage room. Above Dick's meaningless chatter, Danny hears, "How would you like some ice cream, Doc?"
The other adults arrive and leave Danny with Dick so Ullman can show Wendy and Jack the basement. Dick and Danny eat ice cream and embark on an intense conversation in which Dick asks Danny about their shared powers of telepathy. Dick calls this power "shining," and says that he also shared this ability with his grandmother but thought they were the only ones for whom it was possible.
Danny is stubborn and doesn't say much, citing Tony as the reason for his silence. Danny explains that Tony shows him things by putting him in trances, and that both his parents know about Tony, but not that Tony tells Danny to do things.
Danny asks Dick if he's scared of the hotel, to which Dick replies that he isn't. He qualifies that the hotel has "something shining" in it, and that sometimes events that take place leave behind traces that only people who shine can see. Danny asks him if he's scared of Room 237. Dick denies this, saying that there's nothing in that room, but tells Danny to "stay out!"
Analysis
Kubrick opens the second chapter of his film by repeating the motif of a car ride up the mountain, but this time it appears more benign and family-friendly than the opening sequence. Instead of a camera that hovers and soars above the car, Kubrick puts the camera inside the car, observing the family's lively conversation on the way to their new home. Even this outwardly cheery conversation, however, is layered with foreshadowing, as Wendy asks Jack if they are driving near the site of the Donner Party tragedy. Danny happily adds that he learned about cannibalism on television, lending even the pleasant drive to their new home an air of doom.
Much like the film's first chapter, "Closing Day" functions as exposition, while also making heavy use of foreshadowing. Mr. Ullman introduces the hedge maze, for example, remarking that he wouldn't enter it unless he had an hour to find his way out. Not only does the hedge maze later become a motif that symbolizes order and thwarted connection, but it acts as a trap in which Jack is caught and dies. We also learn that the hotel was built on a Native American burial ground, which could explain the hauntings that follow in the film.
Much of what we learn in this chapter establishes rules that will later be broken in ways that suggest Jack is going insane; for example, Mr. Ullman informs the Torrances that the hotel removes all the alcohol from the Gold Room bar during the winter for insurance purposes. Later, Jack will drink whiskey with Lloyd, the Gold Room bartender, an activity that the viewer is meant to recognize as a fantasy or delusion, as we learn here that there is no alcohol on the premises.
Importantly, Kubrick also gestures at the similarities between the hotel's kitchen and its maze in this chapter. When Dick Hallorann gives Wendy a tour of the kitchen, she remarks that she might need a trail of breadcrumbs to find her way out of it during the winter. Not only is this an allusion to Hansel and Gretel, but it also calls to mind the hedge maze that we saw introduced in a previous scene. This line foreshadows the later scene in which Wendy locks Jack in the gargantuan kitchen store room, as well as the scene in which Jack chases Danny through the hotel.
Kubrick also repeats an image we saw in the first chapter when Tony shows Danny a preview of what is to come at the hotel: the Grady twins. This time, however, they appear in front of Danny in the flesh while he is in the game room—a place associated with childhood. In this way, Kubrick partially contextualizes Danny's visions, thereby building mystery around the meaning of the twins and introducing the motif of the double that will become important later on.
Perhaps the most crucial scene in this chapter, however, is the one in which Dick Hallorann confronts Danny about their shared ability to "shine." During their talk, Dick invokes a metaphor to explain how the hotel's bloody past, comparing the way that past tragedies can leave behind ghosts to the way burnt toast leaves behind ash. When Dick insists that the is nothing in Room 237 yet warns Danny to "stay out," Kubrick again establishes a foreboding tone surrounding the Torrance's future at the hotel.
