Setting of the Shining

This story takes place in a hotel in Colorado. Jack Torrance is interviewing for the position of winter caretaker at the Overlook hotel in Colorado. Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, and their son Danny are moving to the Overlook hotel near Sidewinder, Colorado for the winter, where Jack will become the hotel's new winter caretaker. The son Danny has a hard time getting used to the new place because he has no friends that live near him. Danny has an imaginary friend that he made up with his finger. Every time he misses his friends or his hometown he talks to his finger. Wendy reflects on the changes in their lives since they moved from Stonington, Vermont. While they had lived in a small, pleasant brick home in Vermont; their current living conditions are dirty and on occasion violent as the neighbors fight each evening. She wonders of the effects of this on Danny, and feels grief over the situation. The kids that live near them are all teenagers, which leave Danny alone all by himself. The reason why they had to move to Colorado was because Danny’s father, Jack, was an alcoholic and he lost his job as a teacher because he hit one of his students as a reaction from his anger. There is also another incident that happened because of Jacks anger problems. One day jack went into his study, drunk, and finding Danny standing over a nearly destroyed office, grinning. Danny has strewn Jack's papers, including his manuscript, all over the floor, poured beer on many of the pages, and has pulled out every drawer. In a rage, Jack bends Danny's hand and as Danny screams, Jack spins him around to spank him, and hears a loud crunch as Danny's arm broke.