The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson)

analyzed by Christy Moceri

1. What is the genre?

Global—Horror > Supernatural

Secondary—Status > Pathetic

2. What are the conventions and obligatory scenes for the genre?

Conventions

The monster can’t be reasoned with: This is even played up for comic relief by having Mrs. Montague appear and attempt to commune with the spirits, convinced that they only need their suffering to be understood. She believes everyone else in the house is incompetent with psychic phenomena and only she herself can reason with the spirits. Mrs. Montague later misconstrues Eleanor’s possession and near death upon the tower to be a rude distraction that will drive away the spirits, rather than evidence of the House’s malevolent nature.

One possible interpretation of the story is that there aren’t any spirits at all, but instead the events are caused by Eleanor, who has a history of poltergeist-like activity centered upon her. In this interpretation she becomes an unreliable narrator, and it’s clear from her paranoid and disorganized thought patterns that she herself is beyond reason.

Conventional settings within fantastical worlds. Hill House is in an idyllic location and the characters, while at the same time recognizing the malevolent nature of the house, decide to explore the outdoors, play games together, and engage in relatively mundane activities while they wait for the house to reveal itself. The mundane routine of Mrs. Dudley, “I clear off at two,” is played for comic relief.

The protagonist is unable to escape due their isolated location or situation. Mrs. Dudley explicitly warns the inhabitants of Hill House that she leaves before dark and that nobody will be able to help them if they call out, “in the dark, in the night.” Dr. Montague warns the group that people who have tried to leave the house at night have met with untimely death.

Labyrinths: The difficulty of navigating Hill House adds to the suspense of the plot. Characters discuss the labyrinthine construction and it is revealed that it was apparently intentional on the part of the builder. There are long passages explaining how the house’s unique construction (angles slightly skewed) create spatial illusions – it’s even suggested that perhaps the faulty construction has created inner-ear problems for its inhabitants, and is to blame for all the mad behavior.

Perpetual discomfort: The plot develops a pattern of having the Monster attack only at night – but then suddenly, in broad daylight, Theodora witnesses a horrifying vision of a picnic while she is outdoors exploring with Eleanor. It’s not revealed what she finds so horrifying about the picnic, but it sends both girls into a panic.

Sadomasochistic flip-flop. We experience Hill House’s awesome power not just through Eleanor’s eyes, but through her mind, as her thought patterns become at first paranoid, then irrational and hateful. While we empathize with Eleanor and are afraid she will be harmed, it’s exciting to see a malevolent force so powerful that it can warp someone’s thoughts and perceptions.The monster’s power is revealed progressively: The house begins by knocking on doors, elevates to verbal taunting, then drenches Theodora’s clothing in blood and writes threatening messages on the walls. Only at the end does it claim a life.

Obligatory Scenes

An Inciting Attack by a monster. Theodora and Eleanor are awakened by loud banging on the doors.

Speech in Praise of the Monster: There is a lengthy set-up scene wherein Dr. Montague explains the history of Hill House, and the inexplicable nature of psychic phenomena that have occurred there. “Hill House, whatever the cause, has been unfit for human habitation for upwards of twenty years.” Rather than calling the house haunted, he calls it “Disturbed. Leprous. Sick. Any of the popular euphemisms for insanity; a deranged house is a pretty conceit.”

The protagonist becomes the final victim after a series of “kill-off” scenes of minor characters. One might consider Dr. Montague’s explanation of the house’s history as a killing-off of minor characters. We learn of the Crain daughter’s companion’s suicide, and of a man who died trying to escape the house at night. The on-stage minor characters are not killed, however other horrors are visited upon them before they are visited on Eleanor. Theodora’s clothes are drenched in blood and a warning for Eleanor scrawled upon the wall.

The story indicates early on that Eleanor will be the final victim, as the writing scrawled on the walls is all about her: HELP ELEANOR COME HOME. As it builds toward the climax, Eleanor’s mind has been completely corrupted and she is able to avert death only with the help of the other guests. Finally, she kills herself.

Victim at the Mercy of the Monster: Eleanor is possessed by the House and driven to the top of the tower, where she is sure to fall. She is only saved by Luke at the urging of the others who are staying in the house. I think the “gift” here is the hope Eleanor has of connecting to other humans. And ultimately it is her connection to them that saves her life.

False Ending: Eleanor has been rescued from the tower and the others in the house are sending her away for her own good. There is a temporary sense of relief that she has averted disaster due to the kindness of the other guests. But the house still warps Eleanor’s mind, and she perceives them sending her away as yet another social rejection – Death Would Be a Mercy. So she drives her car into a tree and (presumably) dies.

3. What is the point of view?

Third person, close. Some omniscient.

4. What are the objects of desire?

External/Conscious—To stop the attacks, to preserve life

Eleanor wants desperately to belong somewhere; to have a home.

Eleanor needs to survive.

Subconsciously, Eleanor needs to find a way to validate herself. (She fails in this, thus the internal arc is Status: Pathetic.)

5. What is the controlling idea / theme?

We suffer a fate worse than death when we grasp too desperately for external validation.

6. What is the beginning hook, middle build and ending payoff?

Beginning Hook: When Eleanor agrees to meet Dr. Montague and his guests at a house known for its psychic phenomena, she receives several warnings of its danger and must decide whether to stay and risk harm, or to leave, and separate herself from her new friends. Eleanor, desperate for belonging, chooses to stay at Hill House, and the party convenes for relaxation and games.

Middle Build: When strange, frightening phenomena harass the guests, they begin to receive written messages beckoning Eleanor to come home, and Eleanor begins to suspect everyone is turning against her. Eleanor must decide whether to keep her paranoia to herself and maintain group cohesion, or voice her irrational fears and alienate the others. Unable to reason, Eleanor lashes out at the other guests, and they begin to regard her with contempt.

Ending Payoff: When Eleanor nearly dies after being lured by evil forces to the top of the tower, Dr. Montague and the others demand that Eleanor leave Hill House, and she must decide whether to acquiesce to their demands and leave the only place she felt any sense of group belonging, or insist upon staying, and seal her fate. Eleanor, faced with a situation where Death Would Be a Mercy, drives her car into a tree, and dies.

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