Eleanors Revenge

The book the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson, the story is told through ethe eyes and thoughts of eleanor whose sanityh is questionable from the bneginning, and even more so up through the end. I will gi e you several examples from the book that show you evidence of Eleanor slowly losing her sanity to become insane in the end. Because of Eleanor's sanity being questionable, themanifestations that supposedly took place in the house become questionable too. so the question you need to ask yourself is, is Eleanor insane?

My first exmple comes from early in the book when Eleanor was just a child. The book says, "WHEN SHE WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD AND HERS SISTER WASS WIGHTEEN, AND THEIR FATHER HAD BEEN DEAD FOR NOT QUITE A MONTH, SOWERS OF STONES HAD FALLEN ONTHEIR HOUSE, WITHOUT ANY WARNING OF ANY INDICATION OF PURPOSE OR READSON, DROPPING FROM THE CEILINGS, ROOLLING LOUDLY DOWN TH WALLS, BREAKING WINDOWS AND PATTERING MADDENGLY ON THE ROOF." (&). A LITTLE LATER ON IT ALSO SYAS, "ELEANOR ANDHER SISTER, EACH OF WHOM HAD SUPPOSED AT THE TIME THAT THE OTHER WAS RESPNSIBE." THIS INFORMATION GIVENY BY THE AUTHOR EARLY IN THE STORY MAKE US WONDER IF ELEANOR HAS MENTAL POWERS OR IF SHE WAS JUST IMAGINING THIS IN HER HEAD. EITHER WAY THE IDEA OFELEANOR EING MENTALLY UNSTABNLE IS LEFT TO PONDER RIGHT FORM THE BEGINNING.

My second example ocmes from later on in the book after Eleanor has been living in the hill house for a while already whenshe oculde'nt sleep one night and the books says, "She webnt barefoot and insilence down the great staircase and to the library door, Mother, MOTHER, YOU'RE HERE SOMEWHERE, THEN SLIPIKNG IN A WHISPER ON THE TINHY CURRENTS OF AIR, SOMEWHERE, SOMEWHERE, A VOICE SAID. (228). Shortly after Eleanor heard the oice she began running around the house playing with peoples doors and making noise dancing and talking to voices she thought may have been her mother.

The third andfinal example, is th last straw of Eleanor's sanity andclearly proves that she is insane. Because of her tower climbing episode Dr. Montague and Luke, along with the others decided that Eleanor wsas no longer wlecome there and that she needed to leave the house immediately. After her bgs have been packed and her car loaded and ready to go she says goodbyer to the others and starts to leave. This is when she says to herself,"But I won't go, she thought, and laughed aloud to herself;