In the novel The Shining, what is the incident that caused Jack Torrance to lose his teaching job?

In The Shining, Jack Torrance lost his teaching job after assaulting a student. The student was George Hatfield, a boy at Stovington Preparatory School in Vermont, where Jack taught English and coached debate.

Jack had removed George from the debate team, and George retaliated by slashing the tires of Jack’s Volkswagen. Jack discovered him near the damaged car and, overwhelmed by anger, violently attacked him. Although George’s actions provoked the confrontation, Jack’s physical assault was the incident that cost him his position.

This episode is important because it establishes that Jack’s temper and violence were serious problems before the Torrance family ever arrived at the Overlook Hotel. His alcoholism worsened his judgment, but the novel also makes clear that his destructive behavior cannot be blamed entirely on drinking or the hotel’s supernatural influence.

Readers sometimes confuse this event with Jack’s other violent acts, especially breaking Danny’s arm during a drunken rage. That incident damaged his family life, while the assault on George Hatfield specifically ended Jack’s teaching career. The 1980 film gives far less attention to this backstory, so the detail is most closely associated with King’s novel.