The Shining: Chapter 34 Summary & Analysis

 By threes day after Thanksgiving, Danny’s bruises are beginning to fade, and the Torrances are beginning to settle down again. Danny is still afraid, but he avoids scary places in the hotel and keeps to areas he considers safe. Wendy says the park rangers will wonder why they haven’t checked in on the CB radio and come check on them soon, and then she and Danny will go down the mountain together. Danny knows that Wendy is still a bit scared, too, but his parents seem happy. Jack, however, seems to be hiding something in his mind. Danny wonders if it is possible to be both happy and ashamed of something, but he decides this isn’t possible in a “normal mind.”

Danny gets out of the hotel as often as he can, and he usually plays off the back porch, but he is tired of being in the hotel’s shadow. Danny decides to go out front to the playground instead. Hallorann told him to stay away from the topiary, but the animals seemed much less threatening covered by mounds of snow. Danny straps on his snowshoes. Walking in the snowshoes is still difficult, and his ankles get sore quickly, but he is definitely improving. The playground is downhill, and Danny easily reaches it.

Covered in snow, the playground seems almost inviting covered in snow, and it looks like a magical fairy land. Danny walks to the cement rings and decides to dig. He excavates one end of the tunnel and slips inside. The other end is packed with hard snow, and Danny immediately begins to feel claustrophobic. If the snow at the end he just dug falls in, Danny will trapped in the cement ring, and Jack and Wendy don’t know where he is. He begins to panic. He is certain there is something—or someone—in the cement ring with him. Maybe some kid who died on the playground after falling from the monkey bars. Although he has never been told specifically, Danny is certain that a kid died on the playground.  

Danny imagines the dead kid grabbing him by the ankles, and the thought snaps him out of his frozen state. He begins to pull himself to the end of the tunnel and climbs out, thankful for the bright sun. Outside of the cement ring, Danny hears a soft thud. He looks around. Snow has fallen from the hedge dog. Danny looks back at the cement ring and hears another thud. One of the hedge lions has moved closer and is snarling at Danny. He begins to walk out, taking the same path Jack took the day he trimmed the hedges. Halfway down the path, Danny begins to lose his balance, flailing his arms and struggling to stay on his feet.

Danny knows that if he falls, he is done for—the hedge animals will pounce for sure. He hears another thud, and the dog moves its head. The lions are all crouched ready to attack, and they are all staring at him. Danny begins to walk again, faster and faster to the front porch of the hotel. He looks back, and a lion is less than five feet behind him. Danny beings to move faster, nearly at the porch, when he hears something jump behind him. He falls on the porch steps, screaming and crying, and feels a sharp pain in his calf. Jack opens the door and Danny falls into his arms, crying.