The Shining: Chapter 50 Summary & Analysis

 Wendy stands staring at Danny as he sleeps. She can’t decide what to do. It has been a half an hour since the music and the elevator stopped, and Wendy is even more scared in the silence. She looks at Danny again and wonders when was the last time he got a full night’s sleep. She can feel the hotel tightening its hold on them. Danny is boy and needs his sleep, but Wendy is really worried about Jack.

Once Jack stopped screaming, the party started up again. Although, Wendy isn’t sure that the party ever really ends; it just slips into a different time where they can’t see or hear it. Then, Wendy heard Jack talking with somebody about killing her and Danny. She is terrified that Jack has escaped from the pantry, even though she knows that is impossible. Wendy feels like she is going insane, and she has the sensation of constantly being watched. Finding out if Jack is out of the pantry is simple—she just has to go to the kitchen and check. 

If Wendy goes downstairs, she can grab the food she made earlier. They won’t be able to eat the omelet, but the soup will be okay if she heats it up on the hotplate in their room. She just has to avoid being killed by Jack. Simple. As Wendy exits the bedroom, she passes Jack’s pipe and has fleeting visions of fire. She gets to the door, takes the knife from the pocket of her robe, and grips it in her right hand. She goes out into the hallway. Wendy reaches the next hallway and sees nothing. As she walks down the long corridor, she is acutely aware that she is leaving Danny behind an open door. She stops at the top of the stairs—19 of them.

Wendy gets to the bottom of the stairs and hears the clock in the ballroom. Danny, or maybe Jack, wound it. Or maybe, Wendy thinks, the hotel wound it. She can see the tray of food sitting on the registration desk, and even though Wendy knows it is 8:00, the clock continues chiming. It chimes past nine and 10, and when it gets to 12, Wendy hears: “Unmask!” She turns around and sees Jack holding a roque mallet, only it isn’t really him. His eyes are empty, and he has murderous and insane grin. “You bitch,” Jack says to Wendy. “Now. Now, by Christ, […] I guess you’ll take your medicine now.”

Wendy turns and runs up the stairs. She hears the roque mallet whiz through the air behind her and is struck with searing pain in her side. Jack has hit her just below the breast, cracking her ribs. Wendy remembers the knife, which was knocked from her hand with Jack’s blow, and sees it a few steps away. She lunges for it, and Jack swings again, smashing Wendy’s kneecap. She screams, and Jack swings again. Wendy rolls over, screeching as the pain in her ribs rips through her side. Jack hits the floor with the mallet and it flies from his hand. Wendy grabs the knife.

Jack reaches for the mallet, and Wendy stabs him the lower back, up to the knife’s handle. Jack screams and falls, and Wendy forces herself to start up the stairs, half expecting to see Danny at the top. He isn’t there, and Wendy pushes herself to keep going. She gets halfway to the top, and hears movement behind her. “You bitch,” Jack says again. “You killed me.” Wendy feels intense fear at the sound of Jack’s voice. She turns around, and he is coming up the stairs with the knife still buried in his back. Wendy turns and keeps moving.