Eleanor's Questionable Mental Stability

The character Eleanor from Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House demonstrates flights of fancy and unusual behavior that may be due to the trauma of her mother's death, a death she knew that she would be blamed for as she was her mother's primary caregiver for 11 years. While the alternative is unlikely, that she was disturbed by the the activity of the poltregiest that terrorized her family for several days following her fathers death by pelting the roof of her house with stones. During her trip to hill house she fantasizes about entire lifetimes based on the people and places she encounters, such as her fantasy about her living in the house with the stone lions. Her instability becomes especially apparent when Eleanor is unable to distinguish her fantasies from her own life when it is her turn to introduce herself to the rest of the group, painting her life as a patchwork of the various fantasies. There is also her belief that her mother is knocking on the doors during the first supernatural disturbance. She completely loses control when she runs to the top of the library tower, and when she crashes her car. How much of an effect Hill House has on her is debatable, as she displays signs well before arriving.