But the 'pillars' make sense when close in on Jack, they create a box around him. Notice how in the previous shot the pillars came out of the wall, now they appear to go inward.

The film focuses on a father who is trying to be a writer: as we have noted, even the typwriter in the film is one of Kubrick's own. Jack Torrance also has the same first name as Kubrick's father, Jacob, who went by Jack or Jacques, while a large part of the soundtrack is given over to Krzysztof Penderecki's Old Testament composition, The Dream of Jacob.

ULLMAN ...schoolteacher
JACK Eh - formerly a school-teacher.
WATSON What line of work are you in now?
JACK I'm a writer um... Teaching has been more or less a way of making ends meet.