Madness

            As soon as Halloran recieves Danny’s plead for help, he gets on the next plane to Denver in order to help him. Danny had dreamed that his Jack was going to kill him and Wendy that day. As soon as Danny wakes up, and goes to the hall, there is a man in a dog costume, bleeding. He threatens Danny and tells him to get away.  When Danny goes back to their room he realizes Jack is missing. Meanwhile, Jack had spent the night at the bar, drinking imaginary alcohol. He is hallucinating again. He is at a 1945 party that took place at the hotel. There is a guy, Lloyd, that tells him that he should kill his family to punish them. When the parry disappears, Jack his very drunk and falls uncountious on the floor. When Wendy finds him, Jack grabs her and threatens her. He then begins to choke her, but she manages to hit him in the head. Wendy locks him in the kitchen pantry. Lloyd comes and tells Jack that he will let him out if he kills his family. Jack agrees and finds drinks in the counter table, alongside with a mallet. (Hallorann is now on his way from Denver to Sidewinder. He rents a snowmobile and heads towards the Overlook.) At the Overlook, Wendy is looking for Jack with a knife in her hand. Jack surprises her and hits her with the mallet in the stomach. Jack chases her up the stairs, but she manages to stab him in the back. Wendy goes inside their room, but Danny is not there. Wendy finds some razors in the bathroom and cuts Jack with those. (Hallorann is now at the hotel trying to get in but the lion hedges are preventing him from doing so.)  Jack goes to face Halloran while Wendy collapses onto the ground.

            (Outside the Hotel, Hallorann is fighting of the hedge lions, he manages to throw them gasoline and lights them up.) As soon as Hallorann gets to the lobby, Jack hits him with his mallet on the face, leaving him unconscious. Now he goes looking for Danny, determined to kill him.

            Danny is now up on the third floor, hiding. Tony is telling him that he must try to help Wendy and escape the treacherous place. When Jack arrives to the third floor, Danny was trapped in a dead end corridor. This is when he tells Jack that he is not being himself that the hotel is taking over him. Jack suddenly becomes himself, and tells Danny to run and that he must remember that he loves him. As Danny ran down the stairs he remembered that his father had not taken care of the boiler, and that at any moment now it would blow up. When Danny gets to the lobby, Hallorann is now up with Wendy, trying to get out of the Hotel. They all jump onto the snowmobile and watch as the Overlook blows up in the horizon.

           

“And now Tony stood directly in front of him, and looking at Tony was like looking into a magic mirror and seeing himself in ten years, the eyes widely
spaced and very dark, the chin firm, the mouth handsomely molded. The hair was light blond like his mother's, and yet the stamp on his features was that of his father, as if Tony — as if the Daniel Anthony Torrance that would someday be — was a halfling caught between father and son, a ghost of both, a fusion.” (572)

This is what Jack had inside himself.

Wow! I didn’t expect that. Is this some kind time travel experience? Did future Danny’s existence depended on this moment? Maybe future Danny had to help five year-old Dannny in order for him to exist. Maybe if “Tony” had not helped him, Danny could have been killed.                                            

"Go on and hit me. But you'll never get what you want from me. The face in front of him changed. It was hard to say how; there was no melting or merging of the features. The body trembled slightly, and then the bloody hands opened like broken claws. The mallet fell from them and thumped to the rug. That was all. But suddenly his daddy was there, looking at him in mortal agony, and a sorrow so great that Danny's heart flamed within his chest. The mouth drew down in a quivering bow. "Doc," Jack Torrance said. "Run away. Quick. And remember how much I love you."  (592)

Incredible! Can you imagine the guts you need to stand in front of a psychopath killer? I envy Danny’s courage and boldness, and not just for standing there but for saying what he said. His words where so powerful, that what ever had taken over Jack left him for a moment. This is a very powerful quote, it shows us the power of words, and how they can make huge differences.

            Reading this novel was one of the best choices that I could have made. It is full of suspense and interesting themes and messages, such as the importance of family and the importance of communication. I would totally recommend this book. It would frighten you and delight you at the same time. It is a true page-turner