2. King funneled so many of his own early fears into the doomed Jack. How does he make Jack empathetic despite his shortcomings?

[Jen]

Comments:

[Pip]

I began being empathetic, but became increasingly impatient with Jack's selfishness and lack of empathy for his wife and son. This is before the "hotel" took over his personality. The incident with the wasps just made me exasperated. He was only stung a few times, but he made such a big deal about it. And why did he need to lie about his fascination with the history of the Overlook?

[Patrick]

Jack is made empathetic through the depiction of his childhood and the events that shaped his later shortcomings. Having had a violent alcoholic dad who nearly had beaten his wife to death, Jack is a little bit of "history repeating itself" with his own alcohol problems and his bad temper. He is made even more empathetic once we learn that Jack has been a teetotaler for more than two years (in fact, he will remain so until he succumbs to the hotel).

[Kristel]

I think Jack is a bit empathetic character in the beginning but it really was quite hard when you know that he broke his son's arm. The fact that he cares about his son helps and his own history helps but the fact that he has this anger problem which he does not get help for is a negative. But I also agree with Pip. His lack of empathy toward wife and son does not do much for making him an empathetic character. The fact that Jack Nicholson plays him in the movie, made him empathetic too. Such a good actor.