Jack+Torrance

Josh Elder
 * Jack Torrance **

Jack Torrance is a fictional character in the book, //The Shining//, by Stephen King, and is acted by Jack Nicholson in the well known movie adaptation. The character has a dark past, as he was abused by his alcoholic father when he was a boy. He is a failed teacher and recovering alcoholic when he is offered the job of keeping-up a hotel in Colorado during the winter. Despite the grim history of the building, the former caretaker murdered his two daughters and wife, Jack accepts the offer bringing wife and Danny, his son, who has a physic ability referred to as ‘the shining’. It turns out that the hotel is haunted by ghosts who eventually, with the help of alcohol, drive Jack mad and convince him to kill his family. In the book, his son is able to save him from his madness, but Jack dies in the Hotel when it explodes. The movie depicts Jack as inherently inclined to insanity, and ends the movie with his freezing to death, while pursuing his son in an effort to kill him.

- Jack's fevered attempt to gaze into the room where his wife is hiding shows the complete madness that possesses him. He is not reluctantly trying to kill his family, he is trying with all his might to enter the room and end her life. - The axe represents his carelessness for how his wife is killed. Many murderers would not use an axe because it is too bloody, but in his crazed state of mind he doesn't care how she dies of how much pain she endurs. - The leering smile on Jack's face portrays a kind fiendish delite in terrifying his wife. - The knife in his wife's hand also represents how scared she is for her life. She is willing to harm her husband, in a way that i am sure is gross to her, in order to save her own life. She is shown as having no confidence in his redemption. - Jack also has his mouth open as if he's saying something. He is taunting his wife while he hacks into the room. He displays a sense of calm insanity as he methodically tries to force an entry. media type="youtube" key="NV4xo_rF-oo" height="344" width="425"