Summary Of Haunting Of The Hill House By Shirley Jackson

In the story the Haunting of the Hill House Shirley Jackson sets a trap for both the readers and the protagonist, although the Hill House has a history of supernatural existence, but the events that unfold during the story suggest that some of the happenings at the house were not entirely supernatural but can be linked to the psychology of the characters.
Eleanor Vance the main protagonist in the story is a socially repressed woman who spent eleven years of her life taking care of her ill mother, sacrificing much of her youth and personal happiness and now lives a life of confinement with her sister. The invitation to Hill House provides a perfect chance for Eleanor to escape to freedom and a life of her own. All this background information
When Eleanor declares her love for Theo, she is shocked at this revelation and draws herself closer to Luke. Eleanor’s jealously builds up and at one point she is suspected of causing frightening phenomena in the house. It seems as if the Hill House is waging a psychological warfare on Eleanor and Theo, growing enmity between the two. The confusion arises whether it is Eleanor or Hill House that is truly responsible for the increasingly threatening manifestations. Eleanor has become so attached to the house that she believes this is the place where she truly belongs and it seems as the house has grip over her. She and the house are indispensable she felt so lonely and the only thing she could associate herself was with the house. Since she felt isolated she was drawn closer to the house and no longer had the fear of the supernatural for insistence she was brave enough to climb a high broken down staircase in the library. This shows what really was going through Eleanor’s mind and she was not really normal in that