Harrison’s Comments (group member since Jan 22, 2019)

Harrison’s comments from the Stranger Things group.

The Shine Inside of Society

Special abilities are things that society views as weird and an outcast but when society figures out the powers that the abilities hold, they wish to be closer to them and more like them. In Stranger Things when the group of little boys find Eleven stranded in the middle of the road, they view her as a strange and mysterious girl. They don't understand why Mike is drawn to help her until they find out what she can really do. When the other boys finally realize that El has special abilities they stop viewing her as an outcast and start building a relationship where they can help each other.

The “weird”we first experience in The Shining by Stephen King is the ability that Danny, the son of Jack and Wendy, has. Danny has the ability to hear and understand what people truly think or feel. The book calls this ability the shine. The first shine we find is Danny hearing his parents talk and he realizes “The greatest terror of [his] life was DIVORCE, a word that always appeared in his mind” (King 38). Danny knows that is parents are not happy with each other even though they both fake it like they are, Danny knows how they truly feel about each other. When Danny tries to explain his shine, his parents get mad and thinks that something is wrong or different with him. They realize that he is not a normal kid. When Danny and his family finally arrive to the Overlook they meet the cook and from the very beginning we realize that he is different also. Mr. Halloram, the cook, gets along with Danny from the very first time they talk. Mr. Halloram lets Danny know that he has this ability also. They both have the shine. When talking about the shine Danny says he has “been frightened as well as lonely sometimes, [and asks] Am I the only person you ever met?” (115). Danny realizes that he is not different, that he is expected in a society where he is not different. That because he has the shine he is not different in a negative way but he has a special ability for good.