The Science of Stephen King

It is, in fact, a Ray Bradbury story that first motivated King to form the first buds of what would become The Shining. Bradbury’s science-fiction short story “The Veldt” published in the 1951 anthology Illustrated Man centers on the Hadley family who live in a future where their house does everything for them, including providing a sort of virtual reality that creates your dreams. This concept, of someone’s dreams coming true, was at the forefront of King’s creation of the novel. King started the story, centering on a psychic boy in an amusement park, in 1972, but was inspired to change the setting when he and Tabitha visited the historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. One night, King walked the empty hotel as his wife slept. Later, he recounted a strange nightmare:

That night I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in a chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the book firmly set in my mind.”2

It’s estimated that 1.6 percent of the adult US population has borderline personality disorder, but that number may be as high as 5.9 percent and nearly 75 percent of people diagnosed with it are women.

It’s amazing to think that The Shining, such an indelible mark on modern horror, would’ve never existed if King hadn’t visited the Stanley Hotel and been struck with a bad dream! In our book The Science of Monsters (2019), we researched the effect of isolation on humans in relation to the Torrance family’s long winter in the fictional Overlook Hotel. In fact, there are many fascinating avenues to discover in a novel of ghosts, psychics, and the fracturing of a seemingly all-American family. At the heart of the novel is patriarch Jack, who, like many of King’s characters, is a writer and teacher. While the Overlook Hotel may be a catalyst for murder, it is clear that Jack not only has a history of abusing alcohol but also abusing his family. This taboo subject is dealt with subtly in the novel, as well as in the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film adaptation. In his article “The Shining: The Hellish World of the Tyrannical Patriarch,” Jacob Derin delves into both Freudian and Jungian theories to further understand the character of Jack. From a Freudian perspective:

Classic psychoanalytic thinking focused quite heavily on the pathologies born in the cradle of dysfunctional families. Within this context, The Overlook Hotel’s claustrophobic environment represents a dysfunctional household dominated by a dictatorial patriarch who holds sway over a helpless mother and child. Seen in this light, the setting draws us into the insulation and increasingly unhealthy psychological landscape of that family.3

And from the archetypal, Jungian perspective, Derin goes as far to say that this “tyrannical patriarch” exists on a larger scale, as countries are often led with such abuse of power.

As an adult, Stephen King has no memory of his friend being hit by a train. But, after the accident, four-year-old Stephen refused to talk for the rest of the day. His mother described him as “pale as a ghost.” These are classic signs of shock.

However the reader interprets Jack’s place in the narrative, there is no doubt he is a flawed human with dysfunctions that are at play long before he arrives at the Overlook. In order to gain a better perspective on the reality of alcohol abuse, a key component to Jack and his bizarre visits to bartender Grady, we spoke to crisis therapist Sara Melendez.

Meg:“What is your professional background?”

Sara Melendez: “I have a BA in sociology and an MA in psychology. I also am an Internationally Certified Substance Abuse Counselor.”

Kelly:“Have there been times you have been overwhelmed or emotionally disturbed by your work? How do you deal with the heavy nature of what you do?”

Sara Melendez: “Yes, I have worked as a crisis therapist for the past fourteen years and have seen thousands of clients in all kinds of disturbing situations—too many to count. I deal with the heavy nature of what I do by understanding that everyone has a journey, and sometimes we don’t understand why they are destined to endure so much pain, but it is not my journey, so I have to respect where they’re at and the whole process of life itself.”