The Shining

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY 1: “The Overlook Postcard”

In this activity, students will create a postcard for the Overlook Hotel and include a message from the point of view of one of the novel’s characters that incorporates key narrative points and thematic elements from The Shining.

While the Torrance family may be staying in a hotel, it is no vacation. The buildings and grounds themselves act as living entities, draining the mental energy out of the three main characters of the novel.

In the voice of Jack, Wendy, or Danny, create a postcard from the Overlook Hotel depicting the key events of the novel and alluding to a main theme of The Shining. The postcard letter should demonstrate your understanding of the character you chose along with a detailed analysis of the varied horror plot points and a theme from the novel.

Requirements:

• The presentation is not restricted to the size of a traditional postcard; it may be as large as necessary.
• Front of the card: Include a particularly vivid quotation from the text and an artistic representation of that quotation. Be creative! 
• Back of card: Write a detailed letter in the voice of Jack, Wendy, or Danny Torrance. Choose a recipient for the postcard from the list of minor characters such as Dick Hallorann, Wendy’s mother, Al Shockley, Mr. Ullman, or an invented friend or family member.
• Include at least two direct quotes from the novel.
• Choose one of the novels’ main themes—The Responsibilities of Parenthood, Mental Health and the Line Between Reality and Fiction, or The Consequences of Addiction—for the content of your letter.

Once the postcard is complete, exchange it with a classmate. Read their postcard and write a response that demonstrates your understanding of your peer’s writing and your comprehension of the novel’s narrative characterization, and themes.

Teaching Suggestion: If students are uncomfortable sharing their work at the end of the project, consider allowing them to pick a partner before the start of the activity. In this way, you may consider asking them to choose two different characters with the intention of each individual writing to the other.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who struggle with writing, consider providing them with a letter frame with sentence stems or develop a short graphic organizer to help them organize their thoughts: their chosen character, their three direct quotes, the main plot points they plan to describe and how they relate to the themes.

Paired Text Extension: “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

Read the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. As you read, consider how the poem’s eerie and haunting tone complement the sense of dread and foreboding in The Shining along with how the poem itself builds tension and a narrative.

Then, create a poem in the style of “The Raven” detailing the events of The Shining.

Requirements:

• A minimum of 5 stanzas with six lines each
• Includes a minimum of 4 narrative plot points
• Demonstrates an understanding of at least one main theme

Teaching Suggestion: The rhyming scheme of “The Raven” is ABCBBB. It may help to annotate the poem and demonstrate this rhyme scheme to help students understand the written structure of the poem. Furthermore, allowing access to a physical or digital rhyming dictionary may help the development of the poem.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. While Wendy and Jack love their son Danny, they take different approaches toward The Responsibilities of Parenthood.

• How do Wendy and Jack differ regarding their parental responsibilities? (topic sentence)
• Analyze a minimum of two actions for each parent (4 actions total) that demonstrate their ideas of responsibility to Danny. Compare their actions and explain how each does—or does not—depict appropriate responsibility as parental figures.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how the Overlook Hotel impacts their parental responsibilities and/or their mentalities regarding parenthood for their son.

2. Jack undergoes a dramatic mental and even physical devolution throughout the novel.

• How does the Overlook Hotel change Jack? (topic sentence)
• Identify at least three instances in which Jack changes as a result of his exposure to the Overlook Hotel, and provide an analysis of how the Overlook Hotel impacts each of these specific changes.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, critique King’s choices for Jack’s development and explain how it does—or does not—effectively demonstrate Jack’s vulnerabilities, such as The Consequences of Addiction or Mental Health.

3. The novel’s title refers to Danny and Hallorann’s unique psychic abilities that the Overlook Hotel craves.

• How does Danny’s “shine” depict The Line Between Reality and Fiction?
• Analyze three times Danny sees or learns things due to the “shining.” How do these events affect either his understanding or the reader’s understanding of reality? Explain how these examples relate to the theme Mental Illness and the Line Between Reality and Fiction and how they impact the narrative.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, determine the importance of Danny’s “shine” to the narrative and the overall themes of the novel.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider Jack’s final words to Danny: “But see that you get on. That’s your job in this hard world, to keep your love alive and see that you get on, no matter what. Pull your act together and just go on” (Chapter 58). How might readers interpret these final words in the context of Jack’s upbringing, his adulthood struggles, and his relationship with Danny? In what ways do Jack’s actions contradict this sentiment? As you compose your essay, incorporate a minimum of three direct quotes from the novel with page citations.

2. The Shining is a supernatural horror novel. Examine the role of supernatural elements throughout the narrative. How do the paranormal occurrences in the novel contribute to the overall atmosphere and the character’s psychological states, such as their Mental Health and the Line Between Reality and Fiction? What might these elements symbolize? Incorporate a minimum of three direct and analyzed quotations from the novel with page number citations to elaborate your points of discussion.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Jack Torrance consistently demonstrates signs of mental instability. Which of the following examples best demonstrates this?

A) Jack chases his family through the hedge maze.

B) Jack engrosses himself in conversation with the bartender.

C) Jack repeatedly goes into the basement to release pressure from the boiler.

D) Jack visits Danny’s room and finds wasps attacking him. 

2. According to Wendy’s character traits, how might she most likely respond if Danny were in danger?

A) She would immediately come to his aide despite her fears.

B) She would consider all options before carefully executing a plan.

C) She would join her husband by developing an addiction.

D) She would be too afraid of move and allow the danger to continue.

3. Which statement best describes Danny’s relationship with Hallorann?

A) Danny views Hallorann as his father’s employee.

B) Danny sees Hallorann as more of a father than Jack.

C) Danny shares a kinship with Hallorann due to their abilities.

D) Danny only thinks of Hallorann as a means to escape.

4. Which of the following plot scenarios from The Shining best demonstrates Jack’s struggle with anger?

A) His attack on the wasps

B) His difficulties completing his manuscript

C) His drinking with the spirits of the hotel

D) His dismissal from Stovington Academy

5. In what ways does Jack best mirror the boiler in the basement?

A) Both Jack and the boiler live in a deep, dark place.

B) The boiler and Jack require constant maintenance to function.

C) Without a release of pressure and stress, both might explode.

D) Jack and the boiler are necessary for the hotel to function.

6. Which description best befits the emotions Wendy feels for Jack as they first reach the hotel?

A) Cautious and concerned

B) Weary, yet hopeful

C) Loving, but sad

D) Angry and unforgiving

7. Which of the following best demonstrates the theme The Responsibilities of Parenthood?

A) Jack makes sure that Danny takes his medicine.

B) Wendy stays with Jack for Danny’s sake.

C) Hallorann comes back to the hotel to save Danny and Wendy.

D) Jack takes the hotel caretaker job.

8. How does Jack’s play The Little School demonstrate Jack’s tendency to justify his actions?

A) He believes that finishing the play will fix his life.

B) He views the play as his key back to Stovington Prep.

C) He thinks that Wendy’s doubt about his manuscript is why he is failing.

D) He sees the play as everything that has gone wrong in his life.

9. Which of the following best represents the wasps’ symbolism?

A) The threat of hidden enemies

B) The expectation of pain

C) The fear of nature

D) The promise of death

10. Which of the following best demonstrates the theme The Consequences of Addiction?

A) Jack struggles to finish his manuscript.

B) Wendy attempts to take Danny away from the hotel.

C) Jack hits Danny when Danny was young.

D) Wendy experienced parental abuse.

11. Read this excerpt from Chapter 20: “Wendy had accused him of desiring his own destruction but not possessing the necessary moral fiber to support a full-blown deathwish. So he manufactured ways in which other people could do it.” Which of the following themes does this quote best relate to?

A) Mental Health and the Line Between Reality and Fiction

B) The Responsibilities of Parenthood

C) The Fight Between Good and Evil

D) The Consequences of Addiction

12. Which of the following quotes best represents the theme of Mental Health and the Line Between Reality and Fiction?

A) “You could be stung, but you could also sting back.” (Chapter 14)

B) “It wasn’t Danny who was the weak link, it was him. He was the vulnerable one, the one who could be bent and twisted until something snapped.” (Chapter 33)

C) “I think all mothers shine a little, you know, at least until their kids grow up enough to watch out for themselves.” (Chapter 11)

D) “This inhuman place makes human monsters.” (Chapter 17)

13. In what way does Ullman best compare Jack to the previous caretaker, Delbert Grady?

A) Both have addictions and experience mental distress

B) Both were in desperate need of work

C) Both require isolation to complete their projects

D) Both have families they love

14. How does Jack redeem himself in the end?

A) Jack fights against the Outlook Hotel and takes his family to safety.

B) Jack works with Hallorann to burn down the hotel.

C) Jack regains enough control to kill himself instead of his son.

D) Jack freezes himself in the maze to stop himself from attacking his wife.

15. Which of the following describes a time that Jack is not truthful with Wendy?

A) When he tells her there is nothing unusual in room 217

B) When he declares his intentions to get sober after hurting Danny

C) When he states he wants to sue the makers of the bug-bomb

D) When he tells Wendy that no one in the family is leaving the Overlook

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Who is the main character of The Shining. Is it Jack? Wendy? Danny? The Overlook itself? Support your claim with evidence from the text.

2. Analyzing the theme of family and the dynamics within the Torrance family, how does the isolation of the hotel impact the family members, and what does this reveal about their individual characters?