Jack Torrance In The Shining

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Jack Torrance in the classic horror film The Shining, displays his yearning for The American Dream. The Torrances suffer emotionally and physically during their stay at the infamous Overlook Hotel. Aside from the ominous past of The Overlook Hotel, the Torrances unfortunate sufferings result of Jack’s insanity caused by his drive for success. Jack’s attempts to obtain The American Dream of having the stability of a job, money, and a strong family relationship push him to insanity. His actions are caused by his anxieties and failures from not leading a successful life based on The American Dream ideals he once imagined. The Shining begins with Jack Torrance granted the opportunity of being the caretaker during the winter months at The Overlook …show more content…
Jack uses the hotel as a playground to achieve success and aid in living a successful life. He believes the hotel will provide the perfect environment for his type of play: writing. Larry Caldwell’s article, “Come and Play With Us: The Metaphor in Kubrick’s Shining,” suggests Jack’s original intentions of working at the hotel. Caldwell introduces the idea by stating, “For Jack, the overlook seems to provide a perfect environment in which to pursue his own kinds of play” (106). However, Jack makes a discovery about himself that he has the lack of capacity for play. Without the creativity of his “play,” Jack cannot produce a successful work. Therefore, he does not live up to the standards of The American Dream. With his failure to play and achieve the dream, madness …show more content…
Therefore, his sanity became compromised after not attaining The American Dream. Most, if not all of his projects met their demise. Jack’s most important project,writing, foundered. From this, Jack became bitter about his failure as a writer. Stephen Davenport recognizes this in his article, From Big Sticks to Talking Sticks: Family, Work, and masculinity in Stephen King’s The Shining.” The article acknowledges that Jacks lack of success is partially, if not fully responsible for his horrific psychosis. Jack’s fear of being incapable of a serious work is keeping him from being successful. Therefore, his insufficiency in success lead him to be driven mad. Aside from his writing, he discovered he held the failure to be creative and was a failing father and husband. Davenport’s article, recognizes how Jack realizes he has failed at many of his projects. Along with Davenport, Manchel argues how failures are to blame for Jack’s lapse in sanity. In Manchel claims that Jack knows he is very unsuccessful in life and struggles to become the breadwinner. Furthermore, Manchel explains that Jack’s obsession with success in his life and career played a key role in the mutation of his mental
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