In Stephen King’s novel The Shining, Jack Torrance is a teacher before working at the Overlook Hotel.
Jack is introduced as a former English teacher and aspiring writer whose career has been damaged by drinking and a violent incident involving a student. He accepts the winter caretaker position at the isolated Overlook Hotel partly because it offers time to work on a play.
The job is not simply a career change: Jack sees the hotel as an opportunity to repair his family life and complete his writing. The supernatural forces at the Overlook exploit his frustrations, resentment, and alcoholism. The 1977 novel’s Jack is therefore both a teacher and a writer, but “teacher” is the specific occupation asked for here.
Readers sometimes confuse the novel with Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film, which emphasizes Jack’s writing and his caretaker duties more strongly. In both versions, the Overlook’s isolation is central to the story, but details of Jack’s professional background differ in emphasis.