kparham322
Nov 19, 2009
Writing Feedback / Literary Analysis on The Haunting of Hill House [4]
*Can someone please just check my grammar?*
Section One
After reading one of Shirley Jackson's most famous novels, The Haunting of Hill House, I was taken aback by her influential use of the paranormal and how she explored each and every attribute of the story with her unique way of writing and her distinctive morphing of the mind. Though, once accustomed to her style of writing, I became very intrigued with the book and the many themes she utilized throughout the novel.
Within Jackson's novel, the bizarre theme of gothic architecture was referenced on numerous accounts. Jackson uses the strange angles and layout of Hill House to portray the peculiar, twisted, and extremely disturbed mind of the novel's main character Eleanor Vance. Along with her unique use of gothic architecture, Jackson often refers to the role of fantasy that each character experiences. It is obvious, in just about every chapter, that Jackson uses fantasy to illustrate and elaborate on the main events that occur in The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson also exemplifies the significance of schizophrenia in the novel. Throughout the book, schizophrenia is seen in the main character Eleanor Vance. The disturbances presented by Eleanor's schizophrenia seem to comply with the strange occurrences that happen in the novel. It often comes into question about whether or not the events that take place in Hill House are fabricated by Eleanor's disturbed mind or if they occur because of the paranormal activities that reside in the daunting environment of Hill House. While reading The Haunting of Hill House, making it a priority to refer to the importance of the role of women and mothers is evident throughout her novel. With two of the key characters being female, the role of women was sure to be a main point in Jackson's book. Along with two females as main characters, Jackson's other central female character is Hill House itself. The way the house stands as a "mother figure" to the characters themselves is clearly distinguished in the novel (Newman 71). The last and one of the most important themes of this book has to do with the scientific experiment in which this novel revolves. The whole story presented in this novel centers on the experiment of finding out what Hill House really has in store.
Section Two
What does the literary text add to our understanding of the ways literary and nonliterary discourses have influenced, overlapped with, and competed with one another at specific historical moments?
This literary text is very much overlapped with the influences from scientific experiments of this time period. These experiments include those which delve deeply into psychic phenomena and those which revolve around the curiosity found in the wonders of space and extraterrestrial life. Jackson's influence came to her while she was reading a book about a group of nineteenth century psychic researchers who had rented a haunted house in order to study it and record their impressions of what they had seen and heard for the purpose of presenting information to the Society of Psychic Research (Friedman 62). In reading Jackson's novel, this influence can clearly be seen because the story line itself is much like this experiment researched by Friedman. Scientific experiments revolving around the paranormal were first introduced during the decade of the fifties. Another major influence on Jackson's choice of making her novel one that focuses on the paranormal was probably the new investigation and speculation of the extraterrestrial. Space exploration was just reaching its climax during the late forties and early fifties. With the new idea that there could be some sort of outer space life influenced many writers of this time to write about the unknown facts of life that could be present nearly anywhere on earth (Reichhardt para. 2). This influence is seen throughout Jackson's entire novel; after all, it is a classical ghost story that constantly refers to the actions of the paranormal and how it affects each character, especially the main character Eleanor Vance.
How does the text promote ideologies that support and/or undermine the prevailing power structures for the time and place in which it was written and/or interpreted?
The relationship between Eleanor and Theodora is overlapped with the influence of lesbian relations in Jackson's novel (Geismar 61). Throughout the novel, the relationship between Eleanor and Theodora becomes of main interest because of the peculiar instances in which the two act in each others' presences. As literary critic Carpenter states on page 68, "The lonely Eleanor Vance becomes infatuated with the beautiful Theodora when both are invited to become a part of a new and adventurous journey." Representing this sort of relationship in a novel during this time period was something that was very rare to see. Lesbian affairs were just being publicized in the media during this time period in which The Haunting of Hill House was written. One popular case in which this occurred was the relationship between Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, two of America's very first lesbian activists (Woman Vision Productions). Jackson's use of lesbian relations made the novel a little more interesting and full of marvel.
How does the literary text function as part of a continuum with other historical/cultural texts from the same period?
Shirley Jackson's novel is a continuum of other supernatural writings of this time period. The nineteen-fifties were the start of a new reign of supernatural literature. Horror/ghost films, books, and comics became very popular during this time period. With Beatty's enlightenment of various supernatural works during this time, it is seen that with famous works such as The Thing from Another World, The Day the Earth Stood Still, It Came from Outer Space, and Creature from the Black Lagoon, Jackson's writing of her most famous paranormal novel was just a jump on the bandwagon (Beatty 162). Within all of these horror stories, the infamous haunted house is often the scene of all the action. In the stories from the decade of the fifties, the haunted houses all seem to have the same eerie appearance with the creaking floors, pointed windows, and peculiar environments. Although Hill House has the original haunted house environment, it has a more unique touch on it. Within many parts of the book, Hill House's unique features, such as it's one of a kind layout, distorts the perception and mind of each and every character. Maxwell Geismar calls Hill House a "masterpiece of architectural misdirection" (Geismar 62). The Gothic Architecture that the layout of Hill House contains became very popular in scary novels during the nineteen-fifties. John Harvey's book The Gothic World 1000-1600: A Survey of Architecture and Art was published in nineteen-fifty. Harvey's detail mentioned throughout his book is almost a mirror image of Jackson's written illustration of Hill House. Literary critic John Parks states, "the house is marked by clashing disharmony, everything off center, made entirely at wrong angles, all the small aberrations adding up to a rather large distortion" (Parks 64).
What does the literary work suggest about the experience of groups of people who have been ignored, underrepresented, or misrepresented by traditional history?
The main group that Shirley Jackson seems to target in The Haunting of Hill House is women. She appears to focus on how each female character can be represented in different ways. Eleanor, the author's main character, lost her mother around the age of ten, but once her mother died, Eleanor's sister took on the role as Nell's mother. By having her sister essentially controlling Nell's entire life, she had always had a longing for self independence, and going to Hill House was her first step in achieving the freedom she so longed for (Newman 71). Contradictory to Eleanor, Theodora, another key character in Jackson's novel, is a very independent just looking for a good time. She is a very adventurous lady who seems to make any projects she is associated with, some kind of enjoyable and amusing activity. Dr. Montague's wife, Mrs. Montague, is also another one of Jackson's main female characters. Mrs. Montague is a fit-to-tied person who is very anal about everything, wanting to have every little fixation exactly how it should be. Mrs. Montague is also the caretaker of the Montague household because Mr. Montague is often gone in order to conclude his scientific experiments. This "care-taker" role presented in Jackson's novel was most likely influenced by the way women would take care of the home and family while the men were away fighting in the Cold War and World War II. In a textbook from the year 1954, there is an excerpt stating just how importance it was for women to be able to take care, maintain, and uphold the supremacy of domestic life (University of Chicago). Along with Jackson's three human female characters, her most important female character is Hill House itself. When first introduced to the house itself, the reader considers it to be just a haunted house in which the setting of the story will take place, but once he or she delves deeper into the novel, one will find that the house represents much more than just a setting, but it symbolizes the "mother figure" in which Eleanor has tried so hard to get away from (Newman 72).
How has the work's reception by literary critics and the reading public been shaped by and shaped the culture in which that reception occurred?
When literary critics were analyzing Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, they were probably overcome by the continuous role of fantasy presented throughout the novel. With scientific exploration, extraterrestrial activity, and the beginning talk of The Bermuda Triangle, Jackson's work was most likely analyzed with these events in mind. Because of all the new and eerie events that had been taking place during this time, the critics saw Jackson's work as an imaginative story to intrigue the mind of the readers. Literary critic Carol Cleveland says that Jackson takes a "tired formula" from the gothic romance and turns it inside out to tell a genuine ghost story with strong roots in psychological realism (Cleveland 67). Readers of Jackson's novel would probably interpret her story differently. The audience enjoying the unnatural experiences occurring in the book probably just sees it to be an entertaining ghost story to amuse the minds of the readers. Shirley Jackson is known as one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century influencing the great writings of Stephen King and Richard Matheson (Allen 1).
Section Three
There are multiple discourses that Jackson presents in her infamous novel The Haunting of Hill House. The one that interests me the most though is the importance of how events happening during the forties and fifties influenced Jackson's writing of this novel. The fact that events such as the emergence of the speculation over the Bermuda Triangle, the surfacing of space exploration, and the different scientific experiments taking place during this time period really intrigues me to research every feature and event of the nineteen-fifty decade. After completely analyzing and researching every aspect of Jackson's novel, its cultural impact on society and society's cultural impact on her writing is truly evident in every part of The Haunting of Hill House. I plan to unify my project through journal or diary entries from Dr. Montague about his scientific experiments. In doing this, I hope to focus on the importance of the various influences that impacted the writings of Shirley Jackson.
*Can someone please just check my grammar?*
Section One
After reading one of Shirley Jackson's most famous novels, The Haunting of Hill House, I was taken aback by her influential use of the paranormal and how she explored each and every attribute of the story with her unique way of writing and her distinctive morphing of the mind. Though, once accustomed to her style of writing, I became very intrigued with the book and the many themes she utilized throughout the novel.
Within Jackson's novel, the bizarre theme of gothic architecture was referenced on numerous accounts. Jackson uses the strange angles and layout of Hill House to portray the peculiar, twisted, and extremely disturbed mind of the novel's main character Eleanor Vance. Along with her unique use of gothic architecture, Jackson often refers to the role of fantasy that each character experiences. It is obvious, in just about every chapter, that Jackson uses fantasy to illustrate and elaborate on the main events that occur in The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson also exemplifies the significance of schizophrenia in the novel. Throughout the book, schizophrenia is seen in the main character Eleanor Vance. The disturbances presented by Eleanor's schizophrenia seem to comply with the strange occurrences that happen in the novel. It often comes into question about whether or not the events that take place in Hill House are fabricated by Eleanor's disturbed mind or if they occur because of the paranormal activities that reside in the daunting environment of Hill House. While reading The Haunting of Hill House, making it a priority to refer to the importance of the role of women and mothers is evident throughout her novel. With two of the key characters being female, the role of women was sure to be a main point in Jackson's book. Along with two females as main characters, Jackson's other central female character is Hill House itself. The way the house stands as a "mother figure" to the characters themselves is clearly distinguished in the novel (Newman 71). The last and one of the most important themes of this book has to do with the scientific experiment in which this novel revolves. The whole story presented in this novel centers on the experiment of finding out what Hill House really has in store.
Section Two
What does the literary text add to our understanding of the ways literary and nonliterary discourses have influenced, overlapped with, and competed with one another at specific historical moments?
This literary text is very much overlapped with the influences from scientific experiments of this time period. These experiments include those which delve deeply into psychic phenomena and those which revolve around the curiosity found in the wonders of space and extraterrestrial life. Jackson's influence came to her while she was reading a book about a group of nineteenth century psychic researchers who had rented a haunted house in order to study it and record their impressions of what they had seen and heard for the purpose of presenting information to the Society of Psychic Research (Friedman 62). In reading Jackson's novel, this influence can clearly be seen because the story line itself is much like this experiment researched by Friedman. Scientific experiments revolving around the paranormal were first introduced during the decade of the fifties. Another major influence on Jackson's choice of making her novel one that focuses on the paranormal was probably the new investigation and speculation of the extraterrestrial. Space exploration was just reaching its climax during the late forties and early fifties. With the new idea that there could be some sort of outer space life influenced many writers of this time to write about the unknown facts of life that could be present nearly anywhere on earth (Reichhardt para. 2). This influence is seen throughout Jackson's entire novel; after all, it is a classical ghost story that constantly refers to the actions of the paranormal and how it affects each character, especially the main character Eleanor Vance.
How does the text promote ideologies that support and/or undermine the prevailing power structures for the time and place in which it was written and/or interpreted?
The relationship between Eleanor and Theodora is overlapped with the influence of lesbian relations in Jackson's novel (Geismar 61). Throughout the novel, the relationship between Eleanor and Theodora becomes of main interest because of the peculiar instances in which the two act in each others' presences. As literary critic Carpenter states on page 68, "The lonely Eleanor Vance becomes infatuated with the beautiful Theodora when both are invited to become a part of a new and adventurous journey." Representing this sort of relationship in a novel during this time period was something that was very rare to see. Lesbian affairs were just being publicized in the media during this time period in which The Haunting of Hill House was written. One popular case in which this occurred was the relationship between Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, two of America's very first lesbian activists (Woman Vision Productions). Jackson's use of lesbian relations made the novel a little more interesting and full of marvel.
How does the literary text function as part of a continuum with other historical/cultural texts from the same period?
Shirley Jackson's novel is a continuum of other supernatural writings of this time period. The nineteen-fifties were the start of a new reign of supernatural literature. Horror/ghost films, books, and comics became very popular during this time period. With Beatty's enlightenment of various supernatural works during this time, it is seen that with famous works such as The Thing from Another World, The Day the Earth Stood Still, It Came from Outer Space, and Creature from the Black Lagoon, Jackson's writing of her most famous paranormal novel was just a jump on the bandwagon (Beatty 162). Within all of these horror stories, the infamous haunted house is often the scene of all the action. In the stories from the decade of the fifties, the haunted houses all seem to have the same eerie appearance with the creaking floors, pointed windows, and peculiar environments. Although Hill House has the original haunted house environment, it has a more unique touch on it. Within many parts of the book, Hill House's unique features, such as it's one of a kind layout, distorts the perception and mind of each and every character. Maxwell Geismar calls Hill House a "masterpiece of architectural misdirection" (Geismar 62). The Gothic Architecture that the layout of Hill House contains became very popular in scary novels during the nineteen-fifties. John Harvey's book The Gothic World 1000-1600: A Survey of Architecture and Art was published in nineteen-fifty. Harvey's detail mentioned throughout his book is almost a mirror image of Jackson's written illustration of Hill House. Literary critic John Parks states, "the house is marked by clashing disharmony, everything off center, made entirely at wrong angles, all the small aberrations adding up to a rather large distortion" (Parks 64).
What does the literary work suggest about the experience of groups of people who have been ignored, underrepresented, or misrepresented by traditional history?
The main group that Shirley Jackson seems to target in The Haunting of Hill House is women. She appears to focus on how each female character can be represented in different ways. Eleanor, the author's main character, lost her mother around the age of ten, but once her mother died, Eleanor's sister took on the role as Nell's mother. By having her sister essentially controlling Nell's entire life, she had always had a longing for self independence, and going to Hill House was her first step in achieving the freedom she so longed for (Newman 71). Contradictory to Eleanor, Theodora, another key character in Jackson's novel, is a very independent just looking for a good time. She is a very adventurous lady who seems to make any projects she is associated with, some kind of enjoyable and amusing activity. Dr. Montague's wife, Mrs. Montague, is also another one of Jackson's main female characters. Mrs. Montague is a fit-to-tied person who is very anal about everything, wanting to have every little fixation exactly how it should be. Mrs. Montague is also the caretaker of the Montague household because Mr. Montague is often gone in order to conclude his scientific experiments. This "care-taker" role presented in Jackson's novel was most likely influenced by the way women would take care of the home and family while the men were away fighting in the Cold War and World War II. In a textbook from the year 1954, there is an excerpt stating just how importance it was for women to be able to take care, maintain, and uphold the supremacy of domestic life (University of Chicago). Along with Jackson's three human female characters, her most important female character is Hill House itself. When first introduced to the house itself, the reader considers it to be just a haunted house in which the setting of the story will take place, but once he or she delves deeper into the novel, one will find that the house represents much more than just a setting, but it symbolizes the "mother figure" in which Eleanor has tried so hard to get away from (Newman 72).
How has the work's reception by literary critics and the reading public been shaped by and shaped the culture in which that reception occurred?
When literary critics were analyzing Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, they were probably overcome by the continuous role of fantasy presented throughout the novel. With scientific exploration, extraterrestrial activity, and the beginning talk of The Bermuda Triangle, Jackson's work was most likely analyzed with these events in mind. Because of all the new and eerie events that had been taking place during this time, the critics saw Jackson's work as an imaginative story to intrigue the mind of the readers. Literary critic Carol Cleveland says that Jackson takes a "tired formula" from the gothic romance and turns it inside out to tell a genuine ghost story with strong roots in psychological realism (Cleveland 67). Readers of Jackson's novel would probably interpret her story differently. The audience enjoying the unnatural experiences occurring in the book probably just sees it to be an entertaining ghost story to amuse the minds of the readers. Shirley Jackson is known as one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century influencing the great writings of Stephen King and Richard Matheson (Allen 1).
Section Three
There are multiple discourses that Jackson presents in her infamous novel The Haunting of Hill House. The one that interests me the most though is the importance of how events happening during the forties and fifties influenced Jackson's writing of this novel. The fact that events such as the emergence of the speculation over the Bermuda Triangle, the surfacing of space exploration, and the different scientific experiments taking place during this time period really intrigues me to research every feature and event of the nineteen-fifty decade. After completely analyzing and researching every aspect of Jackson's novel, its cultural impact on society and society's cultural impact on her writing is truly evident in every part of The Haunting of Hill House. I plan to unify my project through journal or diary entries from Dr. Montague about his scientific experiments. In doing this, I hope to focus on the importance of the various influences that impacted the writings of Shirley Jackson.
