FREE ESSAY ON HILL HOUSE

HILL HOUSE

Ever do something stupid to impress someone? Throughout a person's life they will do
something very ignorant or say something very stupid hundreds of times. Most of the time
it is because they are trying to impress somebody or change their ways to make someone or
others accept them. The story "Haunting of Hill House" has great examples of people
changing just to fit in. The author Shirley Jackson, who died in 1965, was one of the
most brilliant writers of her time. She was widely acclaimed for her hair-raising stories
and novels of the supernatural. Although the "Haunting of Hill House" fits this
description perfectly with its eerie description of supernatural tales of the happenings
of Hill House; there is a more to it than hauntings. The story starts out with three
guests being invited to the house to monitor any out of the ordinary occurrences in Hill
House. Throughout the story the guests experience some ghostly moments. However during
this one of the guest named Eleanor changes her ways to fit in with the guests. Her
actions show that society's views on a person can lead that person to things they would
never have thought of. One example would be when Eleanor told lies about herself and her
past. Another example would be when Eleanor went around the house alone having no fear.
Finally Eleanor became open and spoke out what was on her mind.
An example of society's views on a person leading them to things they never thought of
was when Eleanor became a liar and lied about her past. Today a lot of people are
pressured so much by society to be a certain way they will lie about themselves to fit in
with those certain people. In the story Eleanor feels that she does not fit in with the
group of people who are staying at Hill House. She is a person with a lack of confidence
so she feels she has to lie to feel accepted. "Theodora came through the bathroom door
into Eleanor's room; she is lovely, Eleanor thought, turning to look; I wish I were
lovely." This quote shows the lack of confidence she has. One of Eleanor's lies was when
she told the others she lived alone in an apartment. This is not true because she lives
with her sister and her boyfriend in a house. The reason she told this lie was because
Theo lived in an apartment with a friend so she felt Theo would not accept her.
Throughout the story there were instances where everyone in the house had an opinion of
something. Eleanor would not tell anyone about the way she really felt because she didn't
want anyone to reject her. So she would say what everybody else would say. If Theo
favorite color was blue, so was Eleanor's. If Theo hated something so did Eleanor.
Eleanor would have never thought she had to lie to fit in. Being pressured to fit it she
felt she had no choice but to pick an identity the others would like. That is one example
of how society's views on a person lead them to things they would have never thought of.
Another example of society's views on a person leading them to things they never thought
of was when Eleanor lost all her fear of Hill House. There are a lot of instances where
people try to be someone they are not and are still not accepted so much they stop to
care about everything else. This happened to Eleanor. She felt so isolated from everyone
else and felt she stopped caring about everything. She did not think of the fear she had
of Hill House. She didn't care. Since the others rejected her she felt the only thing she
had was the house. Eleanor quotes," I Have broken the spell of Hill House and somehow
come inside. When Eleanor first came to the house she hated it. She was scared of every
room and would not dare go anywhere alone. Since she felt isolated from the others she
felt apart of Hill House. One night Eleanor got out of her room and quietly went out of
her room and roamed the halls alone. She knocked on doors and would wake everyone up. The
others finding Eleanor's room empty went searching for her. The house that Eleanor would
not dare explore alone felt like home to Eleanor. The house was all Eleanor had left.
Eleanor felt the others did not accept her even when she tried to be someone else. This
pushed her further and further away from the group so she stopped caring and basically
went crazy and climbed a high broken-down staircase in the library of Hill House. This
another example of how the views on a person can lead them to do things they would not
normally do.
The last example of how society's views on a person can lead them to do things they would
have never thought of before is when Eleanor became more open. The views on a certain
person can lead them to do many things. Over time it will help them figure out it does
not matter what other people think. This is what happened to Eleanor. "Eleanor was quiet
for a minute, wanting to tell them exactly how it was." Eleanor finally figured out she
did not have to be a certain way and started to tell it like it is. She confessed to
lying about where she lived to the other individuals. She felt she did not need to hide
anything away from them. She also told Theo what was on her mind. She wanted to go live
with Theo so she asked her. Before she would have never asked her or even thought of
confessing about where she lived. Eleanor did not care what the others thought anymore. I
did not matter to her. She also confessed to stealing her sister's car and told them
everything she owned was in her suitcase. With this new attitude the others thought
Eleanor had gone mad. They failed to realize that it was their views and comments on her
slowly brought out the type of person she really was. They finally got to meet the real
Eleanor instead of a fraud. Therefore this is another example of how society's views can
make a person do things they would not ordinarily do which is being more open.
The "Haunting of Hill House" does provide the reader with a chilling tail, as a horror
book should do. It can also serve as another purpose by teaching the reader that
society's views on a person can lead that person to things they would never have thought
of before. The character that gave examples of this lesson in the story was Eleanor.
Other people's views lead her to lie about her past. Their views also lead her to forget
her fears and roam Hill House alone. Finally they also caused her to be open and honest.
It is important to our society to have people who criticize and judge others, although it
may not seem like it. This criticism can help people become stronger individuals. What
does not kill us, makes us stronger.