The Haunting Of Hill House

Eleanor, anxious to impress the other guests and to belong, exhibits self-consciousness that borders on self-effacing, even paranoid. Awakening the first morning, she fears she “said silly things” and that the others must have “been amused to see that she was so simple” (68). When Theodora tells her that she will leave water in the tub for her, Eleanor wonders, “Does she think I wouldn’t bathe unless she left a full tub for me?” (68). Later, she tells Theodora her dirty feet are “wicked” (86); when Theodora responds that she has “foolishness and wickedness somehow mixed up,” Eleanor thinks, “Is she laughing at me?” (86). That these thoughts take the form of a question shows she doubts not only others but also herself.

Similarly, though Eleanor’s imagination at first appeared merely a means of mental escape, it soon feels extreme and uncontrolled. Readers may soon begin to sense a more troubling aspect to Eleanor’s childlike qualities. Her thoughts meander, and she drifts into non sequiturs. In the parlor the first evening, she contemplates how she is “individually an I, possessed of attributes belonging only to me” (60). When Dr. Montague asks if anyone plays bridge, Eleanor answers in the affirmative—only to launch into a mental list of attributes about herself: “I can play bridge, she thought; I like apple pie with sour cream, and I drove here by myself” (61). Eleanor’s fixation on her identity is an ominous sign that her grip on this identity is tenuous. Her verbalizing these thoughts aloud—she announces, “I have red shoes” (60), randomly, to the group—also suggests her blurring of the line between daydreaming and reality. Nowhere is this blurring more apparent than in her lying to Theodora about her apartment. When Theodora asks where she lives, Eleanor tells her she has an apartment with little stone lions; she also says she used to have a cup of stars. Eleanor’s incorporating objects she had seen on her drive to Hill House into her description of her non-existent apartment indicates her disconnection from reality.

For these reasons, readers may sense that Eleanor’s early impressions of Hill House also may not be reliable. There is no doubt something wrong with Hill House. The mysterious banging outside Theodora’s room is the most dramatic evidence. All four guests feel the chilling nursery draft. Dr. Montague tells the group that the house is “disturbed” and “sick” (51). He suggests it was “born bad” (50) and explains that, in the fashion of Hugh Crain’s own mind, “every angle is slightly wrong” (77). One has the impression that the confusing, closed-off rooms and hallways are meant to reflect an off-balance human mind.

However, Eleanor’s unique connection to whatever forces haunt Hill House becomes increasingly more evident. Eleanor often senses her mother’s presence in the house and feels constricted by her disapproval. She notes her mother would have been “furious” (29) to know she’d bought slacks, and she cites her mother again when she tells Theodora she doesn’t like having her nails done. She feels uncomfortable leaving dirty dishes on the table, stating, “I don’t know what my mother would say” (90). As the only guest who notices a smell of decay emanating from the library, she refuses to enter, citing her mother. The night she and Theodora hear the mysterious banging, Eleanor thinks her mother is knocking and grumbles that she is coming. What had appeared to be a daughter’s natural remembrances of her recently deceased mother begins, in these chapters, to feel sinister.

There are also signs that Eleanor’s connection to the house is embedded in the house’s history. When owner Hugh Crain’s younger daughter married, the elder daughter was alone until she brought in a companion. Similarly, Eleanor’s sister is married with a family, while Eleanor herself has never had a home of her own. It is perhaps unsurprising when Eleanor states that she “can’t forget that lonely little companion” (75). This statement, spoken innocently, foreshadows the climax of the novel.

Like many Gothic novels, the mansion in The Haunting of Hill House comes with a past as dark as its hallways. Hugh Crain was “a sad and bitter man” (54) who designed the house so that every angle was wrong. Three wives died while he lived at Hill House, and his daughters fought bitterly after his death. He is presented as a man who wields power, especially over women—a suggestion reinforced by the statue of him in the drawing room. Interestingly, Dr. Montague is reading Pamela, an 18th-century novel in which a wealthy man marries his servant when she refuses to submit to his sexual advances. An aura of male dominance hovers over Hill House. Dr. Montague’s reading of Pamela may indicate that, while not as cruel as Hugh Crain, he is not the giving paternal figure Eleanor hopes him to be.

Throughout the novel, there are signs that Theodora is attracted to Eleanor. Her relationship with her roommate, whose sex is never revealed, is ambiguous. Theodora pauses, then laughs when Eleanor asks if she is married. This becomes more significant as their relationship grows increasingly tense.