88 pages 2 hours read

Stephen King

The Shining

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977

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Part 5, Chapters 48-52Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 5: “Matters of Life and Death”

Part 5, Chapter 48 Summary: “Jack”

While locked in the pantry, Jack eats crackers and plots. He wonders why his father started drinking. Eventually, he starts to see things his father’s way. Jack, his mother, and his siblings had all been ingrates. He thinks the caning was necessary, and that his mother deserved it.

He sees now that Wendy is trying to keep him out of management. He hears a piano, and then Grady’s voice outside the pantry. He speaks to Grady through the door and promises to kill Wendy if Grady releases him. The door opens. Near the cooking island is a bottle of gin and a mallet. A deep voice tells him to keep his promise.

Part 5, Chapter 49 Summary: “Halloran, Going Up the Country”

The drive is terrible. Hallorann almost wrecks the car and hits a guardrail. The plow driver pulls him back onto the road. He gives Hallorann blue mittens that his wife made. The plow driver says he understands Hallorann’s predicament; the driver believes the boy at the Overlook is in trouble, even if he does not know how he knows.

Four hours later, Hallorann reaches Sidewinder. He smells oranges, and an outraged voice in his head calls him racial slurs and screams at him to stay away.