Yoonji+Reem's+Summer+Reading

Yoonji Reem's Summer assignment The Shining by Stephen King (approved)

 **#1 Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not)**

Stated in the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, the protagonists in literature often gain self-knowledge through their trips or what it is called a “quest.” Whether the main character in the book goes on a trip literally or figuratively, he or she at the end of the trip, gains self-knowledge or sometimes a realization of new ideas. In the book The Shining by Stephen King, Wendy journeys to Overlook Hotel without a particular purpose other than to support her husband, Jack. From the moment she deviates from her every day life, she indulges in a quest that it results in her realization of her husband’s nature.

Due to the unfortunate event that happened to Jack at his work, Wend, Jack and their son Danny move to Overlook Hotel that is located in the deserted side of the country. With no other reason than to help Jack finish his play and to cure his alcoholic behavior, Wendy leaves her life behind and hits the road. Nevertheless, after a while of what it seems like “happiness,” she begins to face difficult tasks in the hotel. These include coping with Jack’s worsened behavior and her son’s strange actions that suggest possible dangers.

Referring to the part in Thomas C. Foster’s book where he says “ The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge” (Foster 3), Wendy at last realizes her husbands cruel nature and his intention to murder her and her son. “The woman had the weakest sort of grip on him, and if she shifted back ward, her weight would tumble both her and the boy off” (665 King). Through struggling with her husband to save her own life, she realizes that after all, the real reason for her quest was to act knowledge the dangers and insecurities that Jack’s presence brings upon her son.


 * 2 Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires**

In literature, a literal figure of a monster or a ghost is used to attract innocent characters and to allow them to gain self- satisfaction or self-needs. The monsters fool people either by their strange attractiveness or their consummate skills. However, in the book The Shining by Stephen King, the character who uses his skills to gain his needs is not a monster, but a human. Jack, the main character, forces his wife and son to move to a deserted hotel after the negative incident that happened in his previous work. To sooth his mind and focus on producing his script, he deliberately locks himself and his family up in an abandoned area.

Contrary to his original purpose of bringing his family to the hotel, Jack slowly looses his rationality and begins to drink alcohol again. Despite the fact that he had broken his son Danny’s arm previously because of alcohol, he once again starts to torture and use violence to his wife and his son just to make himself feel better. Jack’s madness intensifies each day, at last tempting him to murder his family just for his own satisfaction.

In the book How To Read Literature Like a Professor written by Thomas C. Foster, it says that “ ...ghost and vampires are never only about ghost and vampires” (17 Foster). In this case, Jack can be compared to a ghost or vampire. Jack is not only a typical main character in a book, but he is also a “monster” (figuratively speaking) that attempts to use other people to get what he wants. “ He closed his eyes and all the old phrases began to parade through his mind... all meaning the same thing: losing your mind.“ (383 King). Even though Jack slowly loses rational reasons and purposes, he fulfills his needs by acting upon his madness.


 * 3 Its More than Just Rain or Snow**

Weather often plays a significant role as an important device in almost every literature. It depicts the mood, atmosphere and sometimes a purpose of a plot. Thomas C. Foster says in his book How To Read Literature like a Professor, “ ...weather is never just a weather. It’s never just rain. And that goes for snow, sun, warmth, cold and probably sleet...” (75 Foster). In the book The Shining by Stephen King, snow is used to maximize the effect in the climax of the plot.

At the climax of the book The Shining where Wendy and her son Danny run away from Jack, snow plays an important role to emphasize the atmosphere and the mood of the scene. When Jack reaches the peak of his madness and chases Wendy and her son to murder them, the background naturally shifts from indoor to a outdoor where it is all covered with snow. Not only the place it self, the weather outside is snowing so that the characters can barely see each other. As described in the novel “...then he struck the snow in a soft billow” (661 King). After a long chase between Jack, Wendy, and Danny, the scene finally concludes when Jack dies from the explosion, and is buried in to the pile of snow and hotel.

Thomas C. Foster discusses element of snow in his book, “ ...snow, like death, is the great unifier, that it falls in the beautiful closing image, ‘upon all the living and the dead’” (81 Foster), implying that snow can mean many different things. The last scene in The Shining where Jack dies in the snow can be interpreted as the cleansing of previous faults and guilt in a pure, clean substance such as snow.


 * 4 ... So Does Season**

As weather plays huge role in almost all literature, seasons play a huge role within the context of the plot or elements. Sometimes authors deliberately use season to establish a contrast between the plot and the scene of the book, and other times they use it to emphasize the mood. In The Shining by Stephen King, season is used as a device to represent a progress and change that the characters face throughout the plot line of the book.

The seasons in The Shining correlates to the changes of the events and the characters. When Wendy, Danny and Jack start their journey to the Overlook Hotel, the weather is portrayed as summer going on fall. In the beginning of the chapter, the sub-character also mentions how the hotel would be cut off from outside communication due to snow. “Jack saw the point. A snowmobile running at top speed could get you down to Sidewinder in an hour and an half...maybe” (11 King). It emphasizes the season “winter” more than any other ones in the book, implying a sense of isolation and coldness. The book shows the course of events that happen along the passing of the seasons.

Seasons also exist in literature in a metaphorical sense as it is said in the book How To Read Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, “Happiness and dissatisfaction have their seasons” (176 Foster). The characters in The Shining go through different seasons of their emotions along with the natural seasons. Wendy goes through a different emotional season because of the events that she faces during the changing of the natural seasons. At the end of the story, where Wendy and her son finally escape from Jack’s insanity, the season is almost the end of the winter, representing the character’s mood and changes.


 * 5 He’s Blind for a Reason, You know**

Just like we often blind ourselves from the things we prefer not to notice or remember, characters in literature blind themselves for a reason. Not necessarily in terms of physical blindness, but characters intensionally lean back and miss the things that are obvious to the readers. Their blindness is often due to the denial of reality or sometimes just a slow process of understanding. For example, in the The Shining by Stephen King, the author manifest blindness by placing Wendy’s fear in the beginning of the plot. Wendy blinds herself from the fear of her husband’s behavior and his son’s strange relationship with his imaginary friend Tony.

In the beginning of the chapter, Stephen King starts the plot with showing Danny’s special ability to communicate with his imaginary friend Tony. “Mommy had made him promise to never do that again, to never scare them that way, and Danny had agreed” (41 King). Wendy, despite the fact that she knows that her son has a unique ability to predict upcoming events in a special way, denies Danny’s imaginary friend and blinds herself from reality because of her fear. Wendy also blinds herself from Jack’s unfortunate incident that caused him to loose his job. Even though she is fully aware of the fact that Jack’s temper causes a lot of problems not only to other people but also to her and her son, Wendy blinds herself to only see the positive aspects of her husband’s personality.

In the book How To Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, it is stated that “...if you want your audience to know something important about your character (or the work at large), introduce it early, before you need it” (205 Foster). Stephen King intentionally blinds both his character and his audience by neglecting the important information in the beginning and representing blindness. By bringing the maximized fear and blindness in the climax, the effect of the important fact becomes bigger to the readers. building suspense by keeping readers “blind” until the climax, King is able to maximize the impact of the important facts.

**Comment #1** Nathan Cho's Essay #1

Hey, Nathan! How was your summer? I hope it was great. Anyway, I read your essay about the book __the house of the Scorpions__ by Nancy Farmer. Overall, my impression after reading your writing is great. The general ideas and contents are excellent and I really want to point out how you correlated Thomas C. Foster's book and your selected book choice well. Nevertheless, I have a few suggestions relating to your essay's organization and fluency. In the first paragraph, I noticed how you began the writing with general plot line of __the house of the Scorpions__. In my personal opinion, adding on some introductory sentences before the actual summary would help to grab reader's attention and at the same time state your main thesis. Maybe starting your essay with Foster's point from his book might help your essay to be generally more interesting to read. Another point I would like to suggest for improvement is to analyze the quote more than just supporting it. For example, in your essay you wrote; "“It may be a moment of even greater trust” (Foster, 11). Matt’ dinner with El Patrón became the source of trust and initiation to build a father-son like relationship between the two. " Instead of just telling how the dinner built on father-son like relationship, it would be better if you explain why it is significant and how it relates to Foster's idea. Except for those few points, I would really like to say that your writing is neatly written and fun to read. Good job!

 Kevin Lee's Essay #2
 * Comment #2**

Hi, Kevin! I just read your essay about blindness and I think it's very well- written. I like two big things about your essay. First, I like how you started the essay with interesting sentences, introducing the basic concept of blindness used in literature. I think it adds on the interest and fun to your writing. Second, I like how you organized your paragraphs in to different topics so that readers can understand your main idea without any confusion. The summary paragraph and analytical paragraph is well written and there was no problem understanding it. I only have one thing that I would like to suggest to your essay and that is adding in the quotes to support your ideas or thesis statement. With a good quote, I think it will help your essay to be more structural. When you add the quotes, using in text quote would improve your general writing style. Except for that, your essay clearly explains your idea and analysis. Great job, Kevin!


 * IMPORTANT: Your summer reading assignment page should have five essays (copy and pasted) and two comments (copy and pasted). If I have to look for your assignments, points will be deducted!**