“The Haunting of Hill House” is written by Shirley Jackson, and the plot shows a ghost hunter and his assistants aiming to prove the existence of the supernatural. Despite this novel having a glimpse of fiction and fantasy, due to its focus on poltergeists and the scientifically unexplainable phenomena, it also shows the vulnerability of each character. Jackson exposes the psychological vulnerabilities of people and the question of sanity when facing real-life difficulties. Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” contrasts the supernatural with the psychological struggles of each of the story’s characters.
The exposition of the “The Haunting of the Hill House” begins with the author arguing that reality and dreams both are inevitable for people. Jackson writes, “even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream” (1). Every character in this novel is facing reality and the supernatural, making the reader question what events happened and what was the result of someone’s imagination. The protagonist, Doctor Montague, is the character who gathers the other members of the supernatural hunting group by sending out letters. His job is to expose the supernatural; hence, he believes in the existence of the unexplainable phenomenon. The fact that he recruits people through mail to participate in the experiment with strange phenomena can serve as the first hint explaining the psychological archetypes of these individuals. Arguably, not everyone would agree to spend time at a haunted manor.
The protagonist of this story, Eleanor Vance, experiences mental health challenges, making the reader question what is real and what is the result of the former’s imagination. Eleanor’s expectations shape her experience at the manor, and since her arrival, she senses that the mansion is evil and gives a sense of hopelessness (Jackson 10). Later in the story, Eleonor reveals that she struggles with her adult life because she has spent the majority of her youth caring for her mother (Jackson 10). Hence, one can assume that she missed out on an opportunity to grow up and experience life fully. Moreover, as a child, Eleanor had a traumatic experience that she thinks was an encounter with a poltergeist (Jackson 15). These details about Eleanor show that she might be interested in the Hill House and its mysteries because she needs proof that her memories from childhood are real. Moreover, her lack of social connections and unpreparedness to lead an adult life explain her interest in the supernatural.
Throughout this story, Jackson provides hints that suggest that the poltergeist encounters and the supernatural events may be a result of one’s imagination. One of the characters doubts Eleanor’s narrative about meeting a poltergeist during childhood, which is the first hint for a reader (Jackson 10). As Jackson casts doubt on this story, the reader may begin to distinguish between what the characters describe as real-life events and the work of their imagination. For example, Eleanor argues that she sees the writing “come home” on the walls, while others do not (Jackson 10). The human mind and the subconscious are potent forces, and in “The Haunted House,” the reader gets a chance to reflect on what is real and what is not. Jackson writes that “no live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality” (Jackson 1). Hence, people’s sanity can be hindered by their experiences and beliefs.
Other characters help disclose Eleonor’s experiences and narratives and also support the idea that expectations of supernatural experiences may affect the attitudes of individuals. Theodora is a psychic, which explains her interest in the paranormal and her expectations to encounter the manor’s supernatural. As a psychic, she is drawn to unusual events and tends to believe the narrative that Dr. Montague and Eleonor suggest. Sunderson is expected to inherit the supernatural house, which makes his expectations and experiences the least questionable out of the four. He is the one to doubt Eleonor’s childhood story, and he approaches the hunting of the poltergeists differently from others (Jackson 10). Jackson writes that “Dr. Montague was persuaded to take into his select company a representative of the family” because the assistants decided not to come (2). Although these characters have distinct personalities, their experiences appear to help the reader understand Eleonor’s motivation to visit the house and explore the supernatural.
Eleonor herself questions the experiences she has at the house. At one point, she says, “how can these others hear the noise when it is coming from inside my head?” (Jackson 50). She becomes overly occupied with the house and grows to consider this place her home. In the end, although Montague sends her away because of fears for her safety, she tragically dies (Jackson 90). Vinci argues that Jackson has taken the approach of emerging into the consciousness of a traumatized subject (53). In the case of the “The Haunting of the Hill House,” the person with trauma experience is Eleonor. Moreover, Vinci states that “Jackson stages the painful and oppressive interactions between the traumatized subject and the social world” (53). Hence, one way to interpret this novel is by looking at Eleonor’s experiences as a result of unhealed trauma, which haunts her until adulthood. This experience shapes Eleonor’s behavior, but to interpret this, both she and others choose to believe in ghosts. In this way, the abnormalities of Eleanor’s behavior fit into the socially accepted behaviors as they can be explained by being haunted or possessed.
Although Jackson’s novel fits into the standards of Gothic literature when examining it with the understanding of Eleonor’s psychological struggles, one can argue that it fits into a narrower genre. Ashton states that Gothic literature typically merges reality and nightmare (268). However, Jackson adds another dimension to this by introducing the struggles of her character Eleonor, whose experiences are shaped by her trauma. Hence, Jackson’s novel allows readers to rethink the way they approach ghost stories by inviting them to consider another dimension, the potential impact of a human mind on supernatural experiences.
Overall, this paper examines the distinction between reality, the supernatural, and people’s experiences shaped by their subconsciousness and previous experiences. Eleonor is a character who vividly demonstrates this distinction. Upon her arrival at the house, she reveals details about her life and childhood, which can be interpreted as traumatic. Doctor Montague’s experiment supports Eleonor’s beliefs that supernatural things exist and that her childhood encounter with a poltergeist is, in fact, the reality. However, there are multiple hints throughout this story that suggest that Eleonor’s psychological state may be prompting her to believe in ghosts and poltergeists.
Works Cited
Ashton, Hilarie. “‘I’ll Come Back and Break Your Spell’: Narrative Freedom and Genre in The Haunting of Hill House.” Style, vol. 52, no. 3, 2018, pp. 268–286.
Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House. Penguin Books, 2006.
Vinci, Tony M. “Shirley Jackson’s Posthumanist Ghosts: Revisiting Spectrality and Trauma in The Haunting of Hill House.” Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory, vol. 75, no. 4, 2019, pp. 53-75.