THE GREAT ESCAPE

A scene was deleted just prior to this : despite being filmed, the only reference to it was made by composer Wendy Carlos who scored the sequence in an interview : in this scene, Jack, whilst suffering from writers block and pacing aimlessly around the hotel follows what he thinks are ghostly voices down a corridor. As he approaches a corner, the voices cease, and a tennis ball rolls to a halt travelling from the corner to the end of the corridor. This scene would have further underlined the tennis ball as an example of how the hotel perverts normal objects and gives them sinister intent : when Jack is later seen throwing what is presumably the same ball around the main lounge he is playing with the ball for his own amusement - and the hotel is playing with him.

This is reminscent of Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. The family are trapped now by the hotel and within its confines with no real hope of release. Jack�s character then plays ball because he imagines that that is something he could do if he were outside. The feeling of being confined and trapped is further reinforced by Danny and Wendy entering the maze.

This exploration of the maze will become critically important later in the film as Danny and Jack enter the maze together.

Jack is seen looking at a scale model of the maze - the same maze that Danny and Wendy are in, and the imagery indicates that he is a powerful, huge deity that is overlooking the characters as if he could play God with them. This scene is perhaps the only sign that Jack too, in a latent, unconscious form, also has The Shining.

Being that the power of God, if he or she exists is to give / take life, perhaps Jack is starting to fail also in his duties as a parent and father., as a protector. He is unable to look after both the Overlook and the Family. The crux of the film is about the battle between opposing responsibilities. Like HAL in 2001 Jackis torn between mutually opposing demands and tears himself apart.