The Caretaker
Stuart Ullman, the officious little man who hires Jack Torrance, describes the job as “a full-time winter caretaker to run the boiler and to heat different parts of the hotel on a daily rotating basis. To repair breakage as it occurs and to do repairs, so the elements can’t get a foothold.” That is the literal sense of the caretaker. On a much more deeply symbolic level—and even more so in Kubrick’s film, actually—the caretaker is really a symbol. More than that: it is a rich metaphor for the role of the father within the nuclear family dynamic whose job is to repair breakage so the elements of domestic destruction cannot gain a foothold. Not coincidentally, Jack fails miserably at both roles.
The Wasp Nest
The symbol of the nest is complex as a result of Jack thinking it had been empty and safe when he brings into the hotel to give to Danny. Wendy gives voice to the symbolism of wasps when she admits that she hates “anything that stings.” For the record, Wendy is not talking about just the wasps here. Wendy and Danny have been stung more than once by Jack during those occasions when he seems to have emptied out his demons and is safe to be around. Inevitably, of course, Jack’s judgment is as poor as Wendy’s. Wasps sting, but not from an empty nest. (That’s foreshadowing, by the way.)
Red Ink
According to the long-winded Mr. Ullman, the Overlook Hotel—despite entertaining guests ranging from Woodrow Wilson to Marilyn Monroe and despite millions of dollars being funneled into such ornamental adornments as a life-sized animal topiary and a roque court—existed for seven decades without ever turning a profit. A consequence of having to shut down during the winter months rather than being able to cater to the ski crowd. In other words, until the previous year the grand and glorious Overlook Hotel was bleeding red ink which no amount of money or attention could staunch. The symbolism should be immediately apparent.
The Overlook
The name of the hotel is also subtly symbolic. Much of what goes on inside the hotel is simply overlooked by the overwhelming majority of guests, employees and winter caretakers. In a sense, the moral of the novel is always be attentive. Some things can’t be looked at using just one’s eyes. Some things in this thing we call human existence get overlooked because most people just aren’t paying close attention.
Weather
The entire point of the Torrance trio being at the Overlook Hotel is weather. Normally, of course, a secluded hotel in the mountains would be doing some of their heaviest business when the snow begins to fall. The investors apparently overlooked that particular means of getting out of the red and firmly into the black. The turn in weather becomes a symbolic…barometer, if you will—of the tension, drama, alienation and general craziness taking place within Jack. By as late as the first of November, the narrator informs the reader that the Torrances were still sporting “improbable autumn suntans” and all is fairly well. Not coincidentally, that is the same date on which Jack first finds the scrapbook that will fuel his obsession and power his descent into madness. Also not by sheer coincidence, “the sky was also leaden; it was November 7, and with the new month the weather had become threatening.”
