by William Henry Bartlett
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ART OF THE SUITE 3 AREA
AFTER THE BATH ⎔ BAIE ST. PAUL ⎔ CHIEF BEAR PAW ⎔ ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS IN 1774 ⎔ GRADY PAINTINGS ⎔ MONTREAL FROM THE MOUNTAIN ⎔ MYSTERIES ⎔ OXBOROUGH ⎔ STARLIGHT: INDIAN PAPOOSE ⎔ TOUCH OF AUTUMN ⎔ WOOD SECTION LANDSCAPE
APPEARANCE
First next to the first vision of the bloody twins (across from a fire extinguishing station) at 50:07-50:14, and 50:16-50:18. Then in the empty hall at 50:31-50:34. Those first seconds are much closer to 8 whole seconds than 7, while the last 2 are much closer to 2 than 3. I’m guessing this was to reflect the “about 8 and 10” line, when Ullman is describing the real girls. But if you wanted to read it as 7, that would give us a 7-second section, a 2-second section, and a 3-second section. Reading the 7 as an 8 would still give us Hallorann’s death number, 238.
IDENTITY
So, first horrible things horribly first: for the longest time I thought this was a piece by AY Jackson of Port Radium or Great Bear Lake, and had this big, beautiful theory all worked out about it, and alas, this is not the case. For all the many references across the site linking here, hoping it’d one day bear out…I’m sorry to say our princess is in another castle. Alright, moving on…
As for the piece: it was composed atop Mount Royal, giving the audience a view of downtown Montreal, Île Notre-Dame (the large island in the river), the St. Lawrence river, and in the distance we can see Mont Bruno-de-Montarville overlapping with Mont Saint-Hilaire and, off to the side, Mont Rougemont with Mount Yamaska behind it. There’s a tonne to unpack here; I’ll try to keep it simple. The major thing I think this links us to is the 1976 Olympics, as referenced many times elsewhere. This means that these “Pillars of Hercules girls” have a direct reference to Hercules right beside them through this Olympics town.
HISTORIC/SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE
We’ll start with Mont Saint-Hilaire, which legend tells us possesses two portals to hell. Also, it’s said that three fairies lived there, but who traded their immortality to marry the devil. For info on the saint the mountain’s named for, go here, and draw your own conclusions.
I can’t find much interesting history for the other three mountains, but…
Mont Bruno-de-Montarville’s name may come from a man whose last name means, “Butcher”.
Mount Yamaska sounds an awful lot like Yamash’ta, the composer who created the soundtrack for the Formula One racing documentary that appears in the Boulder apartment, and Île Notre-Dame contains Canada’s premiere F1 racing circuit, the Circuit Gilles Vileneuve.
And Mont Rougemont translates as “Mount Red Mountain”, and as Charlie (of KHOW’s Hal & Charlie) tells Hallorann (at 99:02) as he drives past the crushed Beetle, the “Red Mountain” pass is closed by the storm, and here we have two twins blocking Danny’s route past this Red Mountain. Of course, neither Hallorann nor Danny will ultimately be blocked for good, to varying effects.
Also, the indigenous (Abenaki) names for all these mountains invoke the concept of a wigwam, since I guess they felt these hills all looked like wigwams. Which I think is interesting just because of the possible link between the murdered Gradys, murdered Hallorann and the American genocide of the indigenous populations. Those genocides largely involved American troops storming into a group of tipis and wigwams and slaughtering innocent people, so the fact that this painting is awash in the blood of the girls during their bloody visions is probably to do with that.
As for the St. Lawrence river: Larry is a short form of Lawrence, and Larry Durkin is the one who rents Hallorann the snowcat.
As for Mount Royal: Montréal was originally named “City of Mary” until it was renamed in honour of this mountain. So there’s a twinniness going on there. And I have no idea which of the mountain’s three peaks this view is taken from, but one was recently renamed to Mohawk words meaning “the place of the big fire” in honour of the fact that it has been regularly used as a fire beacon for area indigenous people. In the novel, the Overlook explodes atop the mountain in a giant fire beacon of its own variety.
Also, this piece was (possibly) created in the same year as The Battle of Sister’s Creek (1839), which hangs near the outside of room 237. I have a burgeoning theory that a room near 237 is where the real Grady girls live for all time, and I was just starting to think it might be the room through the wall from that other painting. Having them appear next to a painting from the same year (the only other one from that year so far) could be a chip in that pile.
And if not that year, it might’ve been created in the same year as The Masque of the Red Death (1842), which connects nicely to my Geryon theory about the ghosts being masks of the hotel’s dark heart.
STYLISTIC SIGNIFICANCE
As for the artist: he was noted for his desire to create “lively impressions of actual sights” and his penchant for bringing the ruins of the past to vivid present day witness. And isn’t that exactly like what’s happening for Danny here, and doesn’t Tony remind him in a moment, “It’s just like pictures in a book, Danny. It isn’t real.” But the thing about this piece, and the de Grandmaison and Oxborough pieces around these halls is that they are pictures, but they’re pictures of things we know to be real. So while it’s true that the Overlook distorts the history it presents (the Grady girls were not twins, but aged 8 and 10), these distortions still emerge from a true herstory. In that sense, Hallorann’s advice, while very well-meaning, and certainly a good way to help Danny sleep at night, is also a way to keep the boy from fully understanding what’s going on around him.
It’s also probably worth noting that the pictures produced from Bartlett’s drawings were not his original drawings, but copies (twins?) made by other artists. Similar to the work of John Gould, which appears in room 237, coming up soon.
MIRRORFORM SIGNIFICANCE
It’s a short 27 seconds this piece mirrors over, and it’s just Grady talking about how he corrected his daughters after they tried to burn the hotel down.
Next art reference: Dog, Boy, and St. John River
MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
OTHER MAIN PAGES FOR SHINING ANALYSIS
THE MIRRORFORM ⎔ THE BEATLES ⎔ THE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ART ⎔ OVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHS ⎔ GOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDS ⎔ PATTERNS ⎔ VIOLENCE AND INDIGENA ⎔ ABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOM ⎔ ANIMAL SYMBOLS ⎔ THE ANNOTATED SHINING
EYE SCREAM 