The Shining

by

Stephen King

Delores Vickery Character Analysis

A former maid at the Overlook Hotel. According to Hallorann, Delores had a “little shine to her” but didn’t know it. She was a “lazy goof-off” and spent most of her time hiding in a linen closet, smoking cigarettes and reading. Because of her shine and intuition, every time Ullman made his rounds, she was busy cleaning, her cigarettes and magazines safely hidden. Delores cleaned room 217 the day after Mrs. Massey committed suicide and saw the ghost of the woman’s bloated corpse in the bathtub. Delores told the other maids and a few guests about her experience, so Ullman fired her. Delores told Hallorann about her experience in room 217, Hallorann suspects, for no reason other than being drawn to his own shine. Like the sour-faced woman and Howard Cottrell, Delores Vickery is another example of shining in the novel, and she underscores how “a shine knows a shine.”
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Delores Vickery Character Timeline in The Shining

The timeline below shows where the character Delores Vickery appears in The Shining. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: Watson
Alcoholism and Abuse Theme Icon
Time Theme Icon
...coroner to say she died of a heart attack. A week later, a maid named Delores Vickery went to clean the room where Mrs. Massey stayed, and Delores screamed and promptly... (full context)
Chapter 11: The Shining
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality Theme Icon
Precognition, Second Sight, and the Shining Theme Icon
Time Theme Icon
...has had some bad dreams and seen some bad things. There was even a maid, Delores Vickery, who saw something in room 217. She could shine, Hallorann says, but she didn’t... (full context)
Chapter 38: Florida
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality Theme Icon
Precognition, Second Sight, and the Shining Theme Icon
Family  Theme Icon
Hallorann goes home to pack and thinks about Delores Vickery, a former maid at the Overlook. She had an experience in the hotel and... (full context)
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality Theme Icon
Precognition, Second Sight, and the Shining Theme Icon
Delores was a “lazy goof-off,” and she spent all her time smoking and reading in the... (full context)
Fear, the Paranormal, and Reality Theme Icon
Precognition, Second Sight, and the Shining Theme Icon
Hallorann doesn’t know why Delores came crying to him when she saw Mrs. Massey’s corpse, other than that a shine... (full context)