The Persasiveness o Maternal Bonds in The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The character Mary Katherine Blackwood from Shirley Jackson’s book We Have Always Lived In The Castle has quite a few of the same issues going on in her life as the problems presented in Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy”. Three of the most prominent issues that are shared between these two individuals are the feeling of mistreatment by parental figures, the almost vampiric draining of the life out of the individual by an authority figure, and the draining ability the authority figure has on the community around them. This kind of individual is referred to as a life draining vampire in Plath’s poem.

The death of a loved one can result in a trauma where the painful experience causes a psychological scar. Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones explores the different ways in which people process grief when they lose a loved one. When young Susie Salmon is killed on her way home from school, the remaining four members of her family all deal differently with their grief. After Susie’s death, her mother, Abigail Salmon, endures the adversity of losing her daughter, her family collapsing, and accepting the loss of the life she never had the opportunity to live. Abigail uses Freud’s defence mechanisms to repress wounds, fears, her guilty desires, and to resolve conflicts, which results in her alienation and

Montague tells the long history of Hill House. It was owned by Hugh Crain. He had two children, but their mother was killed in a carriage accident just before she arrived at the house. His second wife died from a fall, possible suicide. Crain's third wife died of tuberculosis. Shortly after, Crain passed away in Europe. His two daughters were left with the house, but many fights occur over who should get it. The older sister dies, and the young sister ends up owning it. She commits suicide, and Hill House is left to the Sandersons. The first night was fine, but many things begin to happen. The following night, Theodora and Eleanor have a terrifying encounter. While sleeping, Eleanor hears a pounding sound. She wakes up. The sound continues, so she rushes to Theodora's room. The room becomes ice cold, and the pounding becomes louder. After an intense amount of time, Dr. Montague and Luke arrive. Another thing is discovered by the guests. Outside of the nursery, a cold spot occurs. Nothing can be explained about the cold feeling, but it occurs every time they walk passed it. Over time, Eleanor sees and feels the presence of a superior "being". The following quotation comes from the chilling moment when Eleanor discovers no one is in her room: "God God-whose hand was I holding?" Over time, Eleanor becomes attached to the house. She feels like the house is talking to her. On one occasion, "WELCOME HOME ELEANOR" was written over

Hancock is not grounded in physicality like Charlotte 's mom, rather she explores the world of emotions. She is not caught up or concerned by superficial tangibility and shows Charlotte the world beyond her mom’s corporeality. Miss. Hancock and Charlotte’s mother serves as a juxtaposition to each other, and illustrate the polarizing influences on Charlotte.

Each and every parent has their own style of parenting. Each parenting style is based on certain beliefs and conventions that are used to teach children to become increasingly self-sufficient as they age. The novel “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, explores the unusual ways that Rex and Rose Mary Walls’ raise their children. Generally, parents will attempt to keep their children out of harm’s way by any means necessary, although, in “The Glass Castle,” this is not the case. Rex and Rose Mary Walls' unconventional, relaxed style of parenting teaches their children Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen to be self-sufficient at a young age.

In the novel The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, the uncertain future of the Walls’ children was questionable from the start. From a drunk father, to never having a steady home, the author tells of her idiosyncratic youth to describe the bitterness and longing for an ordinary childhood.

Eleanor and Hill House are drawn together and grow dependent on one another as a result of their many similarities, but their connection leads to chaos among the house. As I have mentioned earlier, Hill House has many angles in the home that are not normal, but rather they are a little off. Eleanor herself seems to be what one would consider a little off mentally. Both seem to have a somewhat normal exterior, but there remain many unknowns and unanswered questions on the inside. While they appear one way on the outside, there is a lot more occurring on the inside. The home has many supernatural events occurring and Eleanor has thoughts that vary from her actions. When Theodora tells Eleanor that she is sorry, Eleanor accepts the apology with a smile yet she is not really accepting of the apology and has another idea in mind. “I must say something, Eleanor told herself; I must show them that I am a good sport, after all; a good sport; let them think that I am ashamed of myself”(147). While everyone believes that Eleanor is okay and was merely frightened, she really seems to be playing mind games with the other guests of the house. During her time at Hill House, Eleanor hides her true feelings and mainly her fear behind the exterior that everything is ok and masks them with a smile.

The protagonist in the book The Haunting of Hill House is Eleanor Vance. Eleanor “was thirty-two years old when she came to Hill House” (Jackson 7). When her mother passed away, Eleanor was relieved. She did not have a good relationship with her mother, and in fact, she didn’t have a good relationship with anyone; she had no friends. Eleanor took the role of the “mother” and was always taking care of her mother; she could never escape and find the person so was going to be; she was stuck. She was a very unhappy woman who was searching for freedom.

As the women walk through the house, they begin to get a feel for what Mrs. Wright’s life is like. They notice things like the limited kitchen space, the broken stove, and the broken jars of fruit and begin to realize the day-to-day struggles that Mrs. Wright endured. The entire house has a solemn, depressing atmosphere. Mrs. Hale regretfully comments that, for this reason and the fact that Mr. Wright is a difficult man to be around, she never came to visit her old friend, Mrs. Wright.

According to Elizabeth Lowell, “Some of us aren't meant to belong. Some of us have to turn the world upside down and shake the hell out of it until we make our own place in it.” Sometimes what every situation needs is an outsider to flip the script and create a new outlook on everything. In Shirley Jackson’s novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” the speaker, Merricat, is an outsider of society on many levels, such as mental health, gender, and that she is an upper class citizen in a poor area. Although Merricat is mentally unstable, her outsider’s perspective criticizes the social standard for women in the 1960s, indicating that social roles, marriage, and the patriarchy are not necessary aspects in life such as it is not necessary to have the same outlook on life as others.

Eleanor, the protagonist, undergoes a difficult childhood which cause many of her repressed feelings to be expressed through supernatural experiences that are ambiguous. She took care of her ill mother for 11 years, until she died. That affected her tremendously. For example, during Theodora’s supernatural experience, Shirley Jackson displays how Eleanor’s inner child managed to let her grow anger and jealously towards Theodora. Eleanor felt like Hill House was giving Theodora more

Shirley Jackson’s novel, The Haunting of Hill House, explores the cultural anxieties in the mid 20th century. Specifically, men use womanhood (societal norms) as purposely infantilizing women in order to confine the female mind. Jackson utilizes symbolism, metaphor, and anaphora in her novel in order to convey the message for men to stop infantilizing women. Moreover, Jackson spreads awareness that women are being confined by a system that men developed: womanhood. Hence, in effect, the novel serves as an informal protest against male repression through a medium that can be read by a wider audience —more importantly an indirect challenge to male readers. According to Krolokke, Second Wave Feminism became prominent due to cultural discontent with patriarchy during the mid 20th century. Moreover, Krolokke informs the readers that Second Wave Feminism influenced women to challenge traditional family roles and male ideologies about women not belonging in the workplace (11-12). Mid 20th century is also when Jackson published The Haunting of Hill House. So, with these historical and cultural contexts in mind, Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House ends the novel with Eleanor killing herself because she wants women to challenge the ideas of patriarchy into effect. Hence, Second Wave Feminism has a connection to Eleanor having a childlike personality (can not think for herself) because she wants women (especially young and single women) to explore their rights (their choices) and

In the words of Sigmund Freud, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.” The legendary psychologist saw dreams as an avenue to study one’s underlying motives for action. Similarly, in literature one finds striking significance from the illusions of protagonists that often predict the nature of one’s psyche. Two such examples present themselves in Blanche, from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and the grandmother, from Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find. The former tale follows a lady without a home who finds herself reliant on her belligerent and bestial brother-in-law. The latter traces a family’s road trip South and their encounter with a wanted fugitive. Both Blanche and the grandmother find themselves tethered to their idealistic and often times hypocritical fantasies which signify their underlying mental instability and foreshadow their eventual ruinations. Williams and O’Connor examine their protagonists’ delusions through gender, clothing, and nostalgia.

       As the tale begins we immediately can sympathize with the repressive plight of the protagonist.  Her romantic imagination is obvious as she describes the "hereditary estate" (Gilman, Wallpaper 170) or the "haunted house" (170) as she would like it to be.  She tells us of her husband, John, who "scoffs" (170) at her romantic sentiments and is "practical to the extreme" (170).  However, in a time

The bond between a mother and child is often spoken of as being unlike any other. Yet there are always exceptions to the rule where this connection isn 't as impenetrable as one might assume. This book is an example of this bond gradually becoming weaker over time. It shows how it affects the child, Bone, and leaves her vulnerable to the abuse of her step-father. Bone’s mother, Anney, had fallen in love with a man who abused her which at first, she’s unaware but eventually comes to realize but still chooses to stay with him. Throughout the book there are instances of Anney’s negligence in recognizing her daughter’s abuse and being of aid to her but wasn 't. In having to deal with her