"The Shining" Reading Response

       Abuse, alcohol, special abilities, and psychology. These are some terms that represent reoccurring themes in the book "The Shining" by Stephen King. Throughout the book, there are many reasons like violence, substance abuse, and physical abuse, along with language, making this book banned from school bookshelves and libraries. But personally, I disagree with the banning of this book.

       One way this book was banned was definitely because of the violence in the book, and how its described in very grotesque ways to the reader. Lots of the violence mainly happens at the end of the book, because that's when Jack(the main character) has already slipped deep into insanity because of the hotel's dark past, and the ghosts from it making him go crazy. One way to show this is a part in the story where Wendy was struggling to not be killed by Jack," She heard the mallet whistle through the air and then the agony exploded in her right side as the mallet-head took her just below the line of her breasts, breaking two ribs...'Oh dear god !' She screamed to the Overlook shadowy lobby, and buried the kitchen knife in Jack's lower back up to the handle". This part shows the violence, but a book shouldn't be banned because of the violence.

     There is lots of language in the story, being another reason why its banned. One part from the text" Nice going , Wendy. You bleeding b**ch". Another example is "... And I thought they had Seven-Elevens on the f**king moon". It is understandable to see why some people ban this book because of language, but it's an adult book that is why it has language.

      And of course finally, alcohol. One of, or the most dominant theme in the book. One way this is shown throughout the book is when Danny's arm was broken by Jack. Also another part of the book where alcohol is a main theme is when Jack was driving home with his drinking partner, Albert Shockley, they hit a bicycle. It turned out that later in the book, we found out that the person riding the bike was someone from Jack's debate team at the school he worked at.

     There are many reasons why this book is banned, like abuse, violence, and language. But I personally disagree because I feel that pretty much no literature should be banned from anywhere, no matter the contents. If someone reads a book, and they don't like the contents, they probably could've known about the story, but if they chose to read it, it was their choice. Overall, I think this book should not be banned.