Question:
Shirley Jackson's: The Haunting of Hill House?
I am so lost with this book. Why was Eleanor sent away? Who was haunting Hill House and why? Why did Eleanors car go crazy and why did she climb the tower? Why was her name being written on the walls of Hill House? Can someone explain this story to me going into as many details as possible? I would appreciate it greatly. These aren't the only questions I need answered so please just outline the book or something. Whatever it takes to explain it. Thanks!
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
This is one of the best haunting books of all time. It was also made into a movie--forget the one with Liam Neeson and Carherine Zeta Jones, et al.--the old one from the 60's with Julie Harris is the best one. It sacred the bejezz out of me!! Double check cause I may be mixing up the movie and the book....I love them both! They are quite similar...
Anyhoo, Eleanor is approaching middle age spinsterhood with having a very sheltered life. As the older sister, she is forced to care for her invalid mother all her adult life. She always bends to the will of others, but yearns for a life of her own. After her mother dies, her family tries use her and control her just as her mother did. She receives a letter one day inviting her to Hill House for a paranormal study -- for Hill House is said to be haunted and rife with paranormal activity. Eleanor is invited because as a young girl, there was some paranormal activity; specifically poltergeist activity surrounding her and her house. In her first act of free will and rebellion, she goes to Hill House, packing her things and taking the family car, to finally have her first big adventure and begin her life.
It is never clear who is haunting Hill House; I believe in the book it is thought to have been "born evil". Hugh Crane, the man who built it, was a hard man. His wives died in strange unexplained accidents at the house. His daughter was sickly and an invalid and died at the house, I believe the girl that worked for her killed herself at the house. Were all of these spirits haunting Hill House? The house itself is a malevolent character in the book.
Eleanor has had a very sheltered, controlled life and has a kind of weak will and is unsure of herself. The others that come to the house ; Dr. Montague, the scholar of the paranormal and the head of the group, Luke Sanderson; a young man who is heir to Hill House, and Theodora and Eleanor. Elenor and Theodora are the two who have had paranormal experience. Mr. and Mrs. Dudley are the creepy caretakers and definitely add to the haunting atmosphere of Hill House.
There is a suggestion in the nature of the writing that the house is targeting Eleanor, that it "wants" her. Or is it in her own mind? Her own desire to be wanted? The writing of her name on the wall suggests that the house knows her and wants her; while she believes one of the others, probably Theo or Sam, has done it for a cruel joke...Theo and Sam believe she has done it herself for attention. The house seems to be interested in dividing them physically as well as mentally.
To answer some of your specific questions...Dr. Montague sent Eleanor away for her own protection...he believed she was having a mental or nervous breakdown (decompensating) and was in grave danger. When Eleanor was climbing the stairs, I think she was going to the place where Abigail's caretaker hung herself--was she gong to as well? (Was it in the book where she couldn't go into the library where the staircase was in when she first arrived at Hill House -- remember she couldn't go into the nursery where Abigail Crane died either). Was she going to give herself over to the house? And what are the parrallels to this? Eleanor's mother supposedly died while banging the wall or ringing the bell for Eleanor...Eleanor ignored it...she says she didn't hear the mother calling because she was sleeping but she has tremendous guilt over it. Abigail Crane died calling for her caretaker, banging on the wall or ringing the bell, but it is suggested that she as busy with a boyfriend at the time that Abigail died. The caretaker eventually hung herself from the top of the staircase Eleanor was climbing. At the end, it is unclear whether Eleanor's car accident and eventual death is intentional (Eleanor killed herself) or if unseen paranormal forces had a hand in it. All I Know is:
"Hill House itself, not sane, stood against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, its walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."