Haunting of Hill House

            The Haunting of Hill House really was a fascinating book to read and analyze. There is so much subtlety that is employed in creating this story that its hard to sometimes really pin point why the reader may feel scared or even terrified by the events carried on through out the text. Shirley Jackson creates a world of almost wonderful tension for the reader. There is never a moment of in your face, spot light,"THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE SCARY..BE SCARED AS A READER," type of situation as one reads. Instead the feeling of terror is created through tensions and the unknown surrounding the characters. This is furthered through the way events and perspectives of events by characters (namely Elanor's) can be called into question, as one can, ultimately, question the mental stability or sanity of each character. Not knowing what is actually happening in reality casts a feeling of anxiety of the unknown  What is really happening the text? Is the house actually alive or is it merely a manifestation of one or more of the characters subconscious.

          This idea of the projecting one's subconscious and its manifestation through the "actions" of the house (if inanimate objects can really have actions) is readily exemplified through Elanor's response to the knocking on the walls in the first half of the book. She immediately jumps to her suppressed feelings of her mother's death. Now, this is a point where reality can be called into question by the reader. Is Elanor's subconscious guilt for the death of her mother causing her to hear and imagine this knocking on the wall or is it, in actuality, the house that is causing the knocking in order to provoke such feelings from Elanor. This conflict of perception and reality creates a looming tension that is hard for the reader to shake.  As the reader, you want to know what is real and what is not. This can only be achieved if the characters and the narrator are reliable sources for the events that are occurring, and it is this lack of reliability which creates the tension and with it subtle undertones of fear in Hill House