Mazes (Symbol)
Mazes play a large role in the film, and particularly at its climax. Danny ultimately uses the maze to disorient and trap his father while escaping from the maze to reunite with his mother. This contrasts with the earlier scene in which Danny and his mother explore the maze together, reaching the center without much trouble; Jack watches as they do this, perhaps jealous of their ability to navigate it. Ultimately, the maze symbolizes the obstacles to connection that accompany family life. Whereas Wendy and Danny's ties remain strong despite Danny's frequent possessions, Danny and his father are separated by the maze, which is Jack's final downfall.
Hansel and Gretel (Allegory)
Wendy alludes to the story of Hansel and Gretel when Dick Hallorann is giving her a tour of the kitchen, joking that she will have to resort to using breadcrumbs to find her way out of it. This notion of losing one's way becomes especially relevant as the family's stay in the hotel progresses. Not only does Danny often have trouble navigating the twists and turns of the hallways, but losing Jack in the maze is how Danny ultimately escapes to safety.
Red (Motif)
The color red dominates the film's art design, but it also acts as a major narrative motif. Near the end of the film, Tony possesses Danny to warn Wendy about the "redrum," which is murder spelled backwards but also perhaps refers to the numerous red rooms in the film. It could particularly refer to the red bathroom where Jack talks with Delbert Grady, who in this scene convinces Jack to kill his family. Danny also writes "REDRUM" on the door of their bathroom in his mother's red lipstick, marking the door for its significant role later in the film.
Red is also prominent in the legendary scene, repeated numerous times in the film, in which red blood rushes out of the elevator bank in the hotel.
Doubles (Motif)
The motif of pairs and doubles occurs throughout the film, perhaps most memorably in the form of the Grady twins that visit Danny and later Wendy. The former caretaker of the hotel, Grady, is also presented in double form; whereas Mr. Ullman tells Jack about a Charles Grady at the start of the film, the man Jack meets later is named Delbert Grady. Tony also serves as a type of double for Danny's own identity.
Doubles are also visually referenced throughout in the form of mirrors. For example, we first meet Tony, Danny's imaginary friend, when Danny is looking into the bathroom mirror. Jack is later shown next to his reflection in the mirror when he assures Danny that he would never hurt him.
The Three Little Pigs (Allegory)
Jack recites lines from the story of "The Three Little Pigs" when he is breaking down the bathroom door behind which his wife hides. In doing so, he compares himself to the figure of the Big Bad Wolf, who eventually eats all but one of the pigs—the one who outwits him and escapes survives, like Danny in this scene.
Woman in the Bathtub (Symbol)
The woman who begins young and then becomes old as Jack embraces her can symbolize Jack's inability to deal with his own aging. His ambitions to be a successful writer define him. Just as it does for the woman in the bathtub, age is slipping between his fingers in what seems like an instant.
Blood (Motif)
Blood is literally everywhere in the film, and its ubiquity often stands in as a means of foreshadowing or flashing back to the violence that defines the hotel. Blood is especially notable in the iconic scene in which it rushes out of an elevator bank, and when Danny's point of view alternates between a vision of the living Grady twins and the twins after they have been brutally murdered.
