Closing Day combines elements from The Credits sequence and The Interview to show us the lay of the land when it comes to the hotel. Thanks to No.5, we know that it takes place on October 31, a nod to the ghost story aspect of the film.
The chapter is divided up into segments filled with information. Since it’s visual, verbal, and moving, it’s impossible to keep track of everything while it’s happening, and this is on purpose.
Kubrick acts as an unreliable narrator in the layout of the hotel itself, the order Ullman declares and then betrays by showing the viewer a different space, and continuing the ghost story with introducing the Grady girls to Danny.
It’s within this chapter that cultural mores speak quite loudly: Wendy is shuttled off to the kitchen with Halloran, Jack’s bitterness around his sobriety begins to leak, and who Tony really is to Danny.
Lying is also continued, with Halloran lying right to Wendy’s face unchallenged, but Danny’s truth is finally shared at a table, mimicking No.4’s conversation.
Most of the scenes within this chapter are played out without any background music (with sound punctuating No.9, No.12, and No.16), which is Kubrick asking you to really listen to what’s being said and how.