Just before the boiler explodes, Jack and Danny share an incredibly vital moment to the end of the story. As Jack is terrorizing what's left of his normal life, Danny notices that he is no longer the father he knew, and says to him "you are no longer my daddy." It is clear as ever to see how much these words could have an impact on any family man, but what is it (in your guys opinion) that made it possible for the real Jack to become present again just long enough to notice his son, and see that he is in complete danger, and for two seconds tell him that he loves him and warn him to run away. Not long after, Jack is possessed by the hotel again. But interesting enough, he harms his own face, and then runs to try and relieve the pressure of the boiler. I guess what I am trying to ask is, do you think the book ended with Jack being completely possesed and taken over by the Overlook? Despite his effort of saving the hotel and harming his face to prevent Danny from seeing what he had now become, was it the real Jack who died with the Overlook, or the Jack that the Overlook took over and possessed?
I don't think that Jack ever really wanted to murder his family, and the overlook forced him to do it. because of that, Jack was always himself behind the facade that the overlook forced on him, so I wasn't surprised at all when jack forced himself through the "possession" to send danny off. When he tried to go down to stop the boiler, that was probably just an act of desperation on the part of the hotel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam. Jack was under the control of the hotel and of course he would not want to hurt his own family. As far as sending Danny off, you could go as far as using some corny cliche like "the love between Jack and Danny was so strong that it allowed him to break through just in time to save his son." I believe something similar to that happened, Jack cares for Danny and they have a pretty tight bond, so it makes sense for him to break through the possession and save his son. As far as the harming the face thing, I don't believe it was mean't to be a major part of the ending.
ReplyDeleteThere has always been that connection between Jack and the hotel. The hotel is trying to get Jack to kill his family, but Jack doesn't want too. His resistance causes his insanity to peak and finally crack. Jack, by trying to stop the boiler and destroy his face was trying to save himself and, in turn, his family. Jack's physical body was consumed by the hotel when it exploded, but he died trying to free his mind from the clutches of the hotel so I think a little of both were killed.
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