Dick Halloran

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Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
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Derry, NH
I'd like to see King write a novel about someone who has the 'shine' and uses it for evil purposes instead of for the 'light'. Now, that would be interesting to me.....
This does happen, but I take it you want to empathize with a slightly evil protagonist. That is an interesting thought: a parallel universe in which Danny decides that using his abilities for the greater good is far too difficult, and joins forces with Brady Hatsfield to create a monstrous epidemic of telepathic paranoia. . . . Or did you overlook Flagg?
 

champ1966

Well-Known Member
Dec 3, 2011
4,008
10,840
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Wakefield Yorkshire England
This does happen, but I take it you want to empathize with a slightly evil protagonist. That is an interesting thought: a parallel universe in which Danny decides that using his abilities for the greater good is far too difficult, and joins forces with Brady Hatsfield to create a monstrous epidemic of telepathic paranoia. . . . Or did you overlook Flagg?
I was trying to think of someone who fit the bill, and Flagg came to mind. I would have thought he had some level of shine, or the telepathic powers the breakers have.
 

do1you9love?

Happy to be here!
Feb 18, 2012
9,284
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Virginia
OK, so here's the way my SK obsession works. Something random will pop into my mind that makes me think of a specific book, then I must do a re-read and nothing else will do. This time it was Dana Jean's question. I've already answered but after my re-read, I have some specific quotes as to why Dick was less bothered by the Hotel than Danny.

Page 248: Danny to his parents after he's recovering from the shock of meeting the guest in 217 - "Mr. Hallorann said I had the best shine of anyone he'd ever met."

Page 316: When Hallorann has heard Danny's call is beginning his trip to CO - "He knew the boy and the boy knew him, because they each had a kind of searchlight in their heads, something they hadn't asked for, something that had just been given.
(Naw, you got a flashlight, he the one with the searchlight.)"

And finally, Page 371: Wendy just after knocking Jack out before moving him to the pantry - "More, she thought that Danny might be the one the hotel really wanted, the reason it was going so far... maybe the reason that it was able to go so far. It might even be that in some unknown fashion it was Danny's shine that was powering it, the way a battery powers the electrical equipment in a car... Without Danny it was not much more than an amusement park haunted house, where a guest or two might hear rappings or the phantom sounds of a masquerade party, or see an occasional disturbing thing."

So, again, my position is Dick wasn't bothered because his shining was so much less than Danny's. And since Abra has been mentioned (I started re-reading Dr. Sleep today!), I think the hotel would have been even more powerful with her doing the battery charging.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
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The High Seas
OK, so here's the way my SK obsession works. Something random will pop into my mind that makes me think of a specific book, then I must do a re-read and nothing else will do. This time it was Dana Jean's question. I've already answered but after my re-read, I have some specific quotes as to why Dick was less bothered by the Hotel than Danny.

Page 248: Danny to his parents after he's recovering from the shock of meeting the guest in 217 - "Mr. Hallorann said I had the best shine of anyone he'd ever met."

Page 316: When Hallorann has heard Danny's call is beginning his trip to CO - "He knew the boy and the boy knew him, because they each had a kind of searchlight in their heads, something they hadn't asked for, something that had just been given.
(Naw, you got a flashlight, he the one with the searchlight.)"

And finally, Page 371: Wendy just after knocking Jack out before moving him to the pantry - "More, she thought that Danny might be the one the hotel really wanted, the reason it was going so far... maybe the reason that it was able to go so far. It might even be that in some unknown fashion it was Danny's shine that was powering it, the way a battery powers the electrical equipment in a car... Without Danny it was not much more than an amusement park haunted house, where a guest or two might hear rappings or the phantom sounds of a masquerade party, or see an occasional disturbing thing."

So, again, my position is Dick wasn't bothered because his shining was so much less than Danny's. And since Abra has been mentioned (I started re-reading Dr. Sleep today!), I think the hotel would have been even more powerful with her doing the battery charging.
Thank you so much for that research! I just couldn't remember why Dick wasn't so bothered by the place and why the place wouldn't want to get his power too.
 

not_nadine

Comfortably Roont
Nov 19, 2011
29,655
139,785
Behind you
OK, so here's the way my SK obsession works. Something random will pop into my mind that makes me think of a specific book, then I must do a re-read and nothing else will do. This time it was Dana Jean's question. I've already answered but after my re-read, I have some specific quotes as to why Dick was less bothered by the Hotel than Danny.

Page 248: Danny to his parents after he's recovering from the shock of meeting the guest in 217 - "Mr. Hallorann said I had the best shine of anyone he'd ever met."

Page 316: When Hallorann has heard Danny's call is beginning his trip to CO - "He knew the boy and the boy knew him, because they each had a kind of searchlight in their heads, something they hadn't asked for, something that had just been given.
(Naw, you got a flashlight, he the one with the searchlight.)"

And finally, Page 371: Wendy just after knocking Jack out before moving him to the pantry - "More, she thought that Danny might be the one the hotel really wanted, the reason it was going so far... maybe the reason that it was able to go so far. It might even be that in some unknown fashion it was Danny's shine that was powering it, the way a battery powers the electrical equipment in a car... Without Danny it was not much more than an amusement park haunted house, where a guest or two might hear rappings or the phantom sounds of a masquerade party, or see an occasional disturbing thing."

So, again, my position is Dick wasn't bothered because his shining was so much less than Danny's. And since Abra has been mentioned (I started re-reading Dr. Sleep today!), I think the hotel would have been even more powerful with her doing the battery charging.

Thank you for this post!
 
Sep 11, 2019
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I see that. But, wouldn't the evil have kept chipping away at Dick's resolve? Wouldn't it have been exhausting to block that out day after day? I would think he'd have chosen another place to work just for his own peace.
Danny was way more powerful than DH too. Maybe his innocence had something to do with it as well. Danny was amplifying the hotels reach in a way Dick couldn’t
 

Rose Romano

Member
Feb 17, 2020
14
56
Viterbo, Lazio, Italia
I'm sitting here watching A Night at the Movies, the Stephen King one.

He talks about The Shining and how he looks at Jack Torrance paraphrasing, "as a piece of metal bent first one way and then another" and how the malignant spirits of the hotel are really wanting Danny because he is a very psychically powerful person.

But, so is Dick Halloran. Why was Dick happy to work at this hotel and why wasn't he threatened and "wanted" by the hotel?

Thoughts?

I think evil, in general, goes for the weak, or whoever it thinks is weak. Dick Halloran didn't seem weak to me. But Danny, as a little boy and with his already sad past, was very weak.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
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The High Seas
I think evil, in general, goes for the weak, or whoever it thinks is weak. Dick Halloran didn't seem weak to me. But Danny, as a little boy and with his already sad past, was very weak.
This gets explained a little better for me as I learned more.

Dick had his boxes that he put stuff in, and he taught Danny to put things in boxes. Dick had more years on perfecting that. Because we know Danny was more powerful than Dick and more juicy for the hotel to try to get. Although all comers were welcome!