Addiction And Abuse In Stephen King's The Shining

Throughout the majority of Stephen King’s best-selling fictional horror novels, there are concealed embodiments of King as an individual buried beneath the exterior of several fundamental characters. Stephen King invites his readers into the most revealing and depressing moments in his life while he acts as an open-book for all those who are eager to learn the history behind the best-selling horror novelist. While King endured a troubling childhood which followed him throughout young adult life, his complications with abandonment, addiction, and abuse greatly influenced his texts primarily through the subject of his characters. Beginning with one of his earlier written texts, The Shining contains a direct connection to King in the abusive character

From the standpoint of the reader, it is safe to assume that King’s personal issues are directly transferred to Jack in the telling of his story. During the time The Shining was being composed, King was heavily involved in addictive drugs and alcoholism. Blind to his own situation, King instead created a character that embodied the negative qualities within himself. As an addict, King was not able to take responsibility of for his actions involving alcohol nor abusive tendencies; instead, King created the Overlook Hotel as a catalyst to fuel Jack’s mental illness as a placeholder for the consequences of his own actions. The family dynamic between Jack and King is nearly identical consisting of a helpless wife trapped in an abusive situation with children who struggle to understand the relationship they may have with their father. As an individual prone to abuse, King depicts Danny as intuitive and able to recognize the severity of his surroundings which could be a representation of King’s fear from his own children’s recognition. King’s connection of himself to Jack in a fictional manner acts as a source of therapy for the inner issues which he refused to acknowledge himself. His strong character development of Jack does not solely represent him as a villain, but instead deeply conveys his mental incapacities as an addict. In contrast to Jacks outcome, King’s wife is able to help him persevere through his short-comings and survive for her family while Wendy failed to release her husband from the hold of alcoholism. King uses Jack as a shell for the identity of his former self without realizing his recognition of his own disease. The reader should feel a sense of empowerment for Jack to fight against his demons to save his family as King uses this empowerment to