<P> Blakemore's general argument is that the film as a whole is a metaphor for the genocide of Native Americans . He notes that when Jack kills Hallorann, the dead body is seen lying on a rug with an Indian motif . The blood in the elevator shafts is, for Blakemore, the blood of the Indians in the burial ground on which the hotel was built . As such, the fact that the date of the final photograph is July 4 is meant to be deeply ironic . Blakemore writes: </P> <P> As with some of his other movies, Kubrick ends The Shining with a powerful visual puzzle that forces the audience to leave the theater asking, "What was that all about?" The Shining ends with an extremely long camera shot moving down a hallway in the Overlook, reaching eventually the central photo among 21 photos on the wall . The caption reads: "Overlook Hotel--July 4th Ball--1921 ." The answer to this puzzle, is that most Americans overlook the fact that July Fourth was no ball, nor any kind of Independence day, for native Americans; that the weak American villain of the film is the re-embodiment of the American men who massacred the Indians in earlier years; that Kubrick is examining and reflecting on a problem that cuts through the decades and centuries . </P> <P> Also likely significant is that before Jack's behavior starts becoming aberrant, he is seen throwing a tennis ball hard against Amerindian artwork on the walls and floor, and just a few feet over a mounted buffalo head (which was an animal key to the Plains Indians' economy and culture before it was hunted and slaughtered nearly to extinction in the 19th century, mostly by Euro - Americans). Later, Jack murders Halloran, and tries to murder his family, using an axe, which resembles the tomahawk, a frequently depicted weapon of the Amerindians . </P> <P> Film writer John Capo sees the film as an allegory of American imperialism . This is exemplified by many clues, such as the closing photo of Jack in the past at a 4th of July party, or Jack's earlier citation of the Rudyard Kipling poem "The White Man's Burden". The poem has been interpreted as rationalizing the European colonization of non-white people, while Jack's line has been interpreted as referring to alcoholism, from which he suffers . </P>

What weapon did jack use in the shining