THE SHINING
"Danny Torrance"
Danny Torrance, son to Jack and Wendy Torrance, happens to be a rather special little boy with a gift. In this movie, the Shining, the Torrance family spends their winter at the Overlook Hotel where Jack Torrance took on the job as the winter caretaker. Danny has a gift of premonition meaning he has visions of what is to come to his immediate future, and as a coping/defense mechanism from an abusive childhood and alcoholic father, Tony comes to light. Tony is more of an alter-ego that seems harmless but actually feeds Danny information about what is really going on around them. Now in the beginning of this movie Danny Torrance is trapped in multiple spaces, but more prominently and physically, he is trapped inside of the Overlook Hotel.
The Overlook Hotel, set in Colorado, is where this entire movie takes place. This hotel is so important to the big picture because it is here where the Torrance family is trapped and also where Danny/Tony knows where their lives may end by the hands of his father, Jack. The hotel is huge, but it also happens to be built on top of an Indian burial ground. With a previous caretaker having gone mad and murdered his family, the creepy twins and his wife, then committing suicide, Jack is following the footsteps of him and is slowly but surely going insane and the hotel is to blame. While Danny is feeling trapped inside of the Overlook Hotel during a snowy winter, there is literally no escape from it and no room for safety left. The Overlook Hotel can symbolize the life of Danny and the relationship with his father and basically how there is no escape from that either.
As mentioned before, Danny has his friend Tony who will speak for him in times of crisis. Tony comes out when Danny is feeling trapped mentally and emotionally. When Danny has his "visions" he keeps them to himself but Tony knows everything and will even warn Danny of danger as strange as it may sound. When being spoken to, mainly by Wendy Torrance, Tony will respond with "yes, Mrs. Torrance." Then there comes the part in the movie where Tony tells Mrs. Torrance that "Danny isn't here Mrs. Torrance." Tony comes to light mainly when Danny cannot handle a situation and is feeling trapped mentally and emotionally at the same time. While there is no real easy way to say Danny can escape from feeling trapped both mentally and emotionally, it is easy to see that he figured out a way to handle it and that is Tony. This shows how Danny, even at a young age, can somewhat protect himself even if it comes off as a silly joke.