The Use of Animals and Animals Imagery in The Shining and The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Shining is a horror novel by Stephen King that was published in 1977.  The novel focuses on the main protagonist Jack Torrance who is an aspiring writer and a recovering alcoholic who has been recently hired as the caretaker of the historic hotel, the Overlook hotel located in the Colorado Rockies.  After accepting the job he is accompanied by his wife and son Danny who has a psychic ability “the shinning” that allows him to see the hotel`s horrible past.  The Hound of the Baskervilles was authored by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and was published in 1902. The novel revolves around an old legend curse that runs in the Baskerville family and dates back to the English civil war.  The novel features detective Sherlock Holmes whom Dr. James Moretimer asks for help from when his close friend Sir, Charles Baskerville is found dead, and when his death is attributed to a heart attack he finds conspiring evidence that proves otherwise. His dead friend had an expression of horror and not too far away from the place his friend had died there were footprints of a gigantic hound.  These two novels share a common theme of animals and animal imagery, King in his novel attaches a  symbolic meaning to topiary animals and on the other hand, Doyle attaches meaning to the legendary hound. These two authors have utilized animals and animal imagery to further the development of their stories and as well as to give deeper meaning to concepts and to connect the supernatural to the psychoanalytical aspects of the monstrous characters that are discussed by the two authors.

            The topiary animals used by King are a subtle representation of the wealthiness and the power of the Overlook and its clients. Topiaries demand constant attention and maintenance and apart from that, they can only be maintained by individuals with patience since they demand a lot of time.  Overlook’s management and clientele are in the hotel for good leisure time and pay huge amounts of money for their maintenance (King, 89). The topiary animals only serve as a demonstration of wealth and power. On the other hand topiary animals in normals circumstances are supposed to be whimsical and cute. In theme parks, they are responsible for creating a sense of wonder and magic and appeals to children therefore they were meant to appeal to young Danny. Contrariwise young Danny finds the animals threatening when they become hostile and threaten him in the playing field.  Again King uses the topiary animals to symbolize the corruption of the Overlook (King, 89).  They should have served as a representation of innocence however they served the character of threatening creatures, the Overlook has corrupted their representation, this symbolizes malice since they corrupt the young innocence of Danny to show that innocence and good-natured individuals have no place in the Overlook’s world.

In an attempt to further his storyline Doyle uses the legendary hound as a gothic symbol of the untamable, uncontrollable, and supernatural.  The creature is a representation of all that is dangerous and terrifying and unless counteracted by human interference it can lead to danger. The hound also serves as a symbol of death, the footprints of the beast have been found around dead members of the  Baskerville family, apart from Sir, Charles’ body, Sherlock acknowledges that “uncle and nephew have been murdered-the one frightened to death by the very sight of the beast” (Doyle, n.p).  This shows the connectedness of the beast to murders of characters throughout the novel.

The use of animal imagery in the Hound of  Baskervilles is introduced following the demise of the family progenitor, Sir Hugo who has been described as a vile character, his death is depicted as bone-chilling and horrific, “ a foul thing, a great black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon stood over Hugo and plucked at his throat” (Doyle, n.p). This introduction helps Doyle bring out gothic elements in the story that influences the fear of the unknown in the readers. Subsequently, after this the Baskervilles’ live in fear of having to face a death similar to that of Hugo’s.  Sir Charles becomes the most recent member of the family to die from an attack from the supernatural creature, the mysterious circumstances that explain his death, confirm to the reader as well as encourages the reader to consider that a monstrous creature maybe murdering members of this family, “ Mr, Holmes they were the footprints of a gigantic hound” (Doyle, n.p). The use of animal imagery has been used to further the development of the readers' suspicions and the storyline.         

King uses animal imagery of a dragon to solidify the boiler’s symbol of hellish inattentiveness, “There was a giant hiss of steam, dragon’s breath. A warm tropical mist rose from beneath the boiler and veiled him. For a moment he could no longer see the dial but thought he must have waited too long; the groaning, clanking sound inside the boiler increased, followed by a series of heavy rattling sounds and the wrenching screech of metal ” (King, 36).  The animal imagery connects the boiler to a dragon which in many instances can be referred to as demonic creature and in this case, the animal imagery has been used to portray the boiler as a creature of hell that lurks beneath the Overlook. Towards the end of the novel, Jack turns into an unrecognizable creature that has been described by King using animal imagery, “He was up on his hands and knees now, his hair hanging in his eyes, like some heavy animal. A large dog… or a lion” (King 416),  Jacks representation as an animal shows his likeness to the topiary animals and his identification with the hotel, through his transformation he is now part of the Overlook.

To illustrate how some of the characters felt trapped, Doyle appeals to the use of animal imagery. Stapleton has a hobby of trapping butterflies using a net. Sherlock and Watson use the trapped net and butterflies to metaphorically illustrate how they will hoax or were once hoaxed by someone. Watson tries to show how he is constantly being fooled by someone, “Always, there was this feeling of being fooled...entangled in its meshes”(Watson, n.p).  Doyle successfully manages to convince the reader to see Watson as a trapped butterfly. Also, the butterflies are a representation of Stapleton, “the nets are in all place...he has got through the meshes” (Watson, n.p), by referring to him as a butterfly Sherlock is informing Watson that they have evidence to pin the murders on Stapleton but they have to wait to see his reaction.

  King has used animal imagery to bring out the concept of gothic double is very prevalent throughout the Shining, the duality of the characters is seen from the beginning of the novel. Jack’s behavior as an alcoholic is why the Overlook manipulates him and finds a chance to bring out an animalistic side. The inconspicuous supernatural events taking place in the hotel play an important role in making Jack susceptible to the monster to take over. In an attempt to describe the concept of the gothic double of Jack King appeals to the use of animal imagery, in one instance from the book Danny refers to his father`s double using the “it” pronoun that is used to describe animals, “It wore many masks, but it was all one. Now, somewhere, it was coming for him. It was hiding behind Daddy’s face, it was imitating Daddy’s voice, it was wearing Daddy’s clothes. But it was not his daddy. It was not his daddy” (King 466).

Conclusively, through the use of animals and animal imagery, King and Doyle are able to illustrate the inhuman aspects of their morally depraved characters. King appeals to the use of animal imagery in The Shinning while Doyle applies it to The Hound of Baskervilles to shed light on the monstrous and inhuman behaviors that lie beneath their character.  Both King and Doyle's use of animal imagery helps bring out the gothic storytelling tactic that inspires fear in the reader. Also, King has symbolically used the topiary animals to describe the rotten core of the Overlook. King and Doyle have successfully used the animals and animal imagery to further their respective plots as well as to give deeper meaning to concepts in addition to portraying the monsters that lurk behind their characters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Doyle, Arthur C. The Hound of the Baskervilles: Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes. New   York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1902. Print.

King Stephen. The Shining; Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, June 2008.