55 pages • 1-hour read
Doctor Sleep
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Symbols & Motifs
Flies
When Dan sees that someone is about to die, he often sees flies on their face. This is not always a guarantee, but it is probable. Flies symbolize death and often gather around sites of decay. The amount of flies visible on someone’s face also indicates the severity of their illness or the likelihood of their death. For instance, when Dan sees the flies on Billy, there are few enough of them that he knows he may be able to intervene. The same thing happens when he sees the flies on his own face. The presence of the flies on Dan’s own face warn him of the possibility of his future if he continues to hold the lockbox containing Horace Derwent, as well as Chetta’s mist, inside him.
Deenie’s Money
Most of Dan’s guilt in the novel arises from the night he spent with Deenie. He took $70 from her, even after seeing that her wallet was filled with food stamps. The money symbolizes Dan’s guilt and represents the corrosive effects of shame and secrets. Deenie and Tommy both died, which is not Dan’s fault, but he will always have to live with the fact that he did not help them. Dan’s experience with Deenie haunts him throughout the novel, and he lets it define his self-identity. At the novel’s conclusion, the money comes to represent Dan’s relief—and the true beginning of his healing—when he shares the story with the AA group at his 15th sobriety anniversary. His secret is not enough to drive away the people who care about him.
Steam
Steam is what the True Knot call the essence that they take from children. It represents a pure appetite or craving that is often associated with addiction. Steam also symbolizes the lengths to which people with substance use disorder can go to satisfy their substance use.
To be at its most effective, steam requires pain, which extends the metaphor for addiction. The most acute example of the novel’s exploration of the correlation between substance addiction and pain in is the abduction and murder of Bradley, the Baseball Boy. The True Knot are unapologetically addicted to the steam that motivates their violence, in contrast to the AA members who appear throughout the story, and who desire a recovery that they fear may always elude them.
Dan sees steam when people die, which represents the good facet of the substance. He releases the souls, or the essence, of the people he helps pass on. The True Knot rip steam out of children to feed themselves and extend their lives. Their extended lives rely on death, while the deaths of Dan’s patients rely on the peaceful release of steam.
The Lockboxes
The lockboxes are a tangible tool that Dick teaches Dan to use. They represent Dick’s role as a mentor, as well as the idea that there are more creative uses for the shining than Dan has found. They allow Dan to feel proactive, rather than simply being reactive to the appearance of the ghosts. Lockboxes are meant to keep things safe, but Dan is able to use them to trap the creatures that hunt and frighten him. When Abra learns to use the boxes—by using their concept to design the traps for Rose that she lays in her mind—they are even stronger because her shine is stronger. The box containing the spirit of Horace Derwent makes Dan ill, which represents the damage people can cause themselves if they suppress emotions or events that would serve them better if they were acknowledge and discussed.
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