Review: The Haunting of Hill House (1959)

★★★★★

Hi all, and welcome back to rumblewrites. This week’s post is another book review, and this time I’m talking about Shirley Jackson’s gothic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House, first published in 1959.

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Warning: *spoilers ahead*

Synopsis

No human eye can isolate the unhappy coincidence of line and place which suggests evil in the face of a house, and yet somehow a maniac juxtaposition, a badly turned angle, some chance meeting of roof and sky, turned Hill House into a place of despair, more frightening because the face of Hill House seemed awake, with a watchfulness from the blank windows and a touch of glee in the eyebrow of a cornice.

This is Hill House, the dark, imposing mansion situated in a non-descript part of America. Dr John Montague has rented it out for the summer and gathered together a small band of lodgers to help him investigate its supernatural powers. His guests include Luke Sanderson, the heir to the estate, and two young women: Eleanor Vance and Theodora, chosen due to their past experiences with the paranormal.

Upon arrival, the group meet the House’s caretakers: Mr and Mrs Dudley. The latter robotically takes them through its main rooms and details her daily schedule, emphatically telling them that she never stays after dark. The four inhabitants quickly form a strong bond, talking late into the night and finding out more about one another’s lives. They also learn about the House’s supposed hauntings from Dr Montague, who relays his research on the suicides and other violent deaths which had taken place in the years prior to their arrival.

It’s not long before the paranormal comes for them too. There are unexplained noises in the night, presences banging on the doors and roaming the halls, strange writing on the walls… but no-one is affected by this more than Eleanor, who seems to attract an unusually high level of supernatural activity. It is implied that this may be a result of her own telekinetic abilities, or perhaps a figment of her imagination. I personally lean towards the latter, since the others are oblivious to the things which are happening to her.

After a few weeks at the House - time passes strangely, no-one knows exactly how long they’ve been there - Dr Montague’s wife and her companion, headmaster Arthur Parker, join them. The pair have a unique outlook on how the supernatural ought to be investigated and choose to conduct séances and spirit writings alone in the library. Nothing comes of this, however, and they do not experience anything supernatural themselves - they blame this on the others’ lack of faith in their methods.

Tensions grow between the original group the longer they stay at the House. In particular between Eleanor and the other three. She grows increasingly paranoid and volatile, believing them to be turning against her. This fear is seemingly confirmed when Dr Montague and Liam insist on her leaving the House earlier than intended after they found her climbing a precarious route to the top of the building. Eleanor refuses, unwilling to return to her old life and claiming that Hill House is now her home. She is eventually persuaded to get into her car and drive away, but just as she is nearing the edge of the grounds, Eleanor swerves and crashes into a tree in a desperate attempt to stay - even in death.

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Analysis

This is the first book I’ve read by Shirley Jackson, and my first modern Gothic. Jackson’s style is simple, yet beautifully descriptive, and laces a thread of humour throughout. Despite being written in the 1950s, her style also retains some elements of the earlier Gothic novels. This is most evident in Dr Montague’s scientific pursuit of the paranormal, the two female characters’ childish personas, and the focus on building narrative tension rather than full-on gore.

I think the themes of childhood and innocence are particularly prevalent in the case of Eleanor, and may help to explain her behaviour throughout the novel. On her way to Hill House, she stops in a café. There, she sees a young girl refusing to drink from one of the café’s mugs, instead insisting that she have her own ‘cup of stars’. This cup is referenced a few times in later chapters, acting as a symbol of Eleanor’s desire to be free of others’ expectations. She desires independence; a life of her own. She suffers from guilt attached to the death of her mother, and it is clear that her life after this point has been nothing short of miserable. In an attempt to take back control, Eleanor accepts the invitation to Hill House, hoping to embark on a journey of self-discovery. But she never achieves this.

It is unclear what ‘the haunting’ of Hill House refers to: whether it be genuine supernatural occurrences, a group delusion, or Eleanor’s own psychic powers. It is purposely so, but I think Jackson is alluding to something deeper in the character of Eleanor: mental illness. It is clear that she has suffered a troubled life and this is only worsened by her stay at Hill House. She feels like a social outcast, and Theodora’s rejection of her invitation to live together only confirms this. Her narrative grows unreliable, and Eleanor falls deeper into her depressive mania. So much so that she chooses to (presumably) commit suicide. This is not the result of supernatural intervention: the sounds, presences, spirits, etc mentioned in earlier parts of the book are not here now, it is just Eleanor and the haunting of her mind.

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Fear factor

I’ve been put off haunted house stories for a long time because I felt they had become too formulaic. But I knew Jackson’s story was hailed as one of the best so I was excited to give it a go. And? It didn’t scare me. But this doesn’t mean it wasn’t scary. Let me explain..

My boyfriend gifted me this book and said that he did find it scary. I didn’t understand why, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I’m not sure if I’ve ever found a book scary. Now a few months ago, I talked about my aphantasia (or inability to form mental images), and I’ve come to the conclusion that this condition is why I don’t have the same emotional response as other people. If I can’t picture the scene, I can’t be scared by it. Yes, it’s conceptually scary, but it’s so far removed from my current experience of reading words on a page, safe in my bed, that I just find it hard to place myself in that situation?

So yes, it is scary. But above all, for me at least, it was creepy. Not Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror levels (thank you Chris Priestley, those horrors will stay with me forever), but still pretty disturbing. Jackson does an excellent job of building a sense of dread, mixing paranoia, confusion, and horrifying descriptions of supernatural occurrences together to create an altogether masterful story of terror. By focusing the story on the people, Jackson shields us from the reality of the situation and leaves us in a similar position to the characters themselves: questioning what is real. Hill House is ultimately about Eleanor’s experience of the haunting, and the implication that this might be all in her head makes it all the more terrifying.

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Overall, The Haunting of Hill House is an excellent exploration of the Gothic genre, which expertly depicts the deteriorating mental state of its protagonist while successfully weaving together a genuinely creepy narrative. It is a massive success which has inspired me to get back into the haunted house genre. I’ll definitely be reading more of Jackson’s works, too.

For those of you who have read it, what did you think?

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