Talk:The Haunting of Hill House

Plot Summary
I don't think I really agree with the slant the synopsis takes - or rather I think it misses an important possible interpretation. My feeling has always been that it is Eleanor that is doing the haunting. The Haunting of Hill House as a title seems to suggest this - the haunting doesn't start until the guests arrive. I don't think she is exactly possessed by the house. I don't think the house really is the entity that the characters believe it to be - they bring that with them. Eleanor is producing the psychic phenomena. She has done this once before, when she caused the rain of stones on her childhood home - something that the current synopsis doesn't mention. I'll work all this into the article myself if nobody objects, but I thought I'd raise it for discussion first. Cardinal Wurzel 11:09, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the above interpretation of Eleanor as the "haunter." I also disagree with the statement that Eleanor and Theodora are opposites. In her notes, Shirley Jackson wrote that "Eleanor is Theodora." Theodora just displays the traits that Eleanor suppresses. 216.20.114.11 14:59, 9 January 2007 (UTC)L.C.Norris

I generally agree, but I don't agree that the house wasn't haunted before they arrive, else why would Dr. Montague have found it in the first place? People never stayed more than a few days for years befdore Eleanor ever clapped eyes on it. But I agree - Eleanor seems to be the source in this case, and her unending guilt and experiences with her mother seem to be the root of it.

I do not agree that Eleanor is the haunting or that the house was not haunted before she arrived. If you read the novel, Dr. Montague details the events that lead to his request to rent Hill House. One of the key indications that there was some supernatural activity was that other than Abigail and the companion, no one has been able to reside in Hill House for more than a few days. Abigail's sister insisted that she would never enter the house after dark. There are characteristics about Eleanor that make her ripe for possession or obsession with the house. She is looking for a place to belong, is unable to relate well with others, lonely, isolated, insecure. Socially inept, she becomes obsessed with something that with a "lover" that will not reject her. Hill House is the one entity that accepts Eleanor for herselft and she becomes a willing victim. Trudieb1904 (talk) 00:10, 8 March 2008 (UTC)trudieb1904, 03MAR08

In my personal opinion, Eleanor is possessed and targetted by the house. From the beginning, Eleanor is completely vulnerable. She comes from a background where she was trapped in the role of caretaker for her mother for 11 years and clearly has no idea what her identity is. The only thing she knows is that she wants to find home and to find people who care about her. When she is meeting all of the individuals of the house (Dr. M, Luke, and Theo) she begins to create these false identities of herself: she is a courtesan, her aunt's name is Muriel, she wears pants. She doesn't know what she is doing. The house knows these weaknesses she has and uses them to its advantage. The house frightens Eleanor with bangings on the door (a reminder of her life with her mother). It mocks her with giggles. It calls her out by name. Slowly, Eleanor completely loses touch with herself. Sometimes she says things without knowing why she is saying it. She becomes one with the house by hearing sounds from outside or on another floor. She takes part in activities the house does like banging on the doors. She also drastically changes; she goes into the library towards the conclusion when in the beginning she wouldn't even go near it. At one point, she even surrenders herself to the house (I need to find the page/quote). In the end when she is driving towards the tree, she comes to a moment of clarity before her death. Because Eleanor is so vulnerable and is trying to create a new identity for herself, she doesn't question anything and falls into the hands of the house. Ultimately, the house sucks her in, and she loses her life, just like the companion of Abigail. 22 April 2010 LeathersLM —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.146.218.63 (talk) 16:24, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Haunted vs. haunting
I just watched "The Haunting" on TCM (the 1963 film) and the host mentioned that director Robert Wise and writer Nelson Gidding visited Shirley Jackson at her home, to get some story clarification and to get her OK on a new title for the film. They were of the opinion that Eleanor was causing the disturbances, but Jackson told them the manifestations were supernatural in origin. What's great about the book is that Eleanor is definitely an unreliable narrator--so much of what she describes could be her own mind at work, interpreting and fantasizing. But then Jackson slips in events that couldn't possibly be Eleanor's doing, such as the writing of the Planchette that asks "Nell" to come home, and Theodora's clothes, which are ruined, and then not ruined (by some mysterious blood-like paint that smells bad). There's many ways to read this story--Jackson was a twisted genius. --Utilizer (talk) 17:27, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

The Haunting Of HILL HOUSE There was the Bent Neck Lady who made shirley commit suicide and haunt the kids lives even when they turned older and older HauntingOfYou (talk) 14:43, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Clue?
Why is the boardgame Clue in the "see also" section of Shirley Jackson's horror novel? These two IPs are almost entirely unrelated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.129.192.59 (talk) 19:46, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

needs update
the netflix series is out