Related to Cultural Relativism, White privilege concerns advantages attached to being treated as white. The assumption that the White Way is the Best Way is a related claim of cultural superiority, made visible here through whose history and comfort the hotel celebrates.
Tied to the American History narrative, the Ghost Story narrative and the Maze Narrative, White Privelege as a theme is exhibited through the abundance of black and white photos of previous guests, in the artwork (the western depiction of the space and the indigenous depiction of the same space), the line from No.11 “All the best people” right in front of a portrait of a Native American chief, the line “Loser has to keep American clean”, there’s an abundance of tiny signifiers that show the settlers and indigenous’ take on the same issue.
In this image · No.9
Cultural Relativism
Direct reflection of No.53 and what “survival” is for Jack.
Perhaps this line/justification mirrors Jack’s distorted mind’s justification of harming his own family in order for his own success / survival. While The Donner Party is the well known example of Americans practicing cannibalism out of survival, it also relates to the European practice of eating corpses and mummies for medicine. “In order to stay alive”.
It is interesting when you think of things this way, it pairs with No.11, “All the best people” in front of the Chief painting. Reiterating the Cultural Relativism of Native Americans and African Americans as “savages”, therefore justifying white people’s treatment of and behavior toward them. No.47, “White Man’s Burden”.