Eleanor's Haunting In The Hill House

Eleanor’s Haunting

Shirley Jackson’s novel, The Haunting of Hill House, revolves around many intriguing characters that hold an important part in the story. However, one in particular stands out more than the others, and her name is Eleanor. Eleanor is depicted as a very timid character and throughout the story she struggles with self-consciousness, agitation, and fear of showing, “Too much” of her unique personality.

To begin with, Eleanor Vance is presented as a thirty-two year old unmarried woman who looked after, “Her invalid mother” for eleven years (Jackson 3). Eleanor lacked friends due to the fact that she had to nurture her mother for all that time; Jackson stated that, “[Eleanor] could not remember ever being truly happy in her
Eleanor thinks that if she were to show, “Too much” of her personality to the other characters then she will be judged for who she really is. Throughout Eleanor’s time in the Hill House, Eleanor has an internal conflict as to how she should act around her new, “Friends”, which provokes her to act purely on emotions. During the first day that Eleanor and the rest of the people invited are at Hill House, Eleanor is seen to be building relationships with the rest of the characters and even begins to unravel her true self to them. However, Eleanor wakes up the second day and begins to get abused by her own thoughts, wondering if, “[She] made a fool of herself... “ or, if they were, “Laughing at [her]” (Jackson 68). Eleanor’s thoughts attacked her so much that she made the executive decision to reduce the amount of things she tells her companions, even goes to the extreme in saying that, “Today I will be more reserved, less openly grateful to them for having me” (Jackson 68). Eleanor is worrisome of the image she leaves to other people so when she contemplates the first day of her stay she immediately puts herself down by stating that she, “Must have--seemed foolishly, childishly contented, almost happy” (Jackson 68); thus, reassuring the fact that she is traumatized of expressing herself too much to others around
Readers form a unique relationship with this character, as she is relatable in many aspects of her personality. Eleanor’s timidness, self-consciousness, and fear of revealing too much of herself is what most of the readers can relate to. Hill House through the eyes of Eleanor Vance is a whole other haunting of its own.

Works Cited

Jackson, Shirley, and Laura Miller. The Haunting of Hill House. New York, Penguin Books, 2016.

Cleveland, Carol. “Shirley Jackson.” And Then There Were Nine ... More Women of Mystery, edited by Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1985, pp. 199–219. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=txshrpub100222&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE|H1100001373&asid=030b428f2740f10523cd4d8177261521. Accessed 2017.

Haggerty, George E. “'Queer Company': The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House.” Queer Gothic, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 2006, pp. 131–150. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=txshrpub100222&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE|H1420082967&asid=fe71a30a04abb3e4590cc40cbfa18abd. Accessed