The Haunting of Hill House Themes

In class today, we discussed several themes in Shirley Jackson's book, "The Haunting of Hill House" that is displayed in the characters interactions and people's emotions. The character Eleanor displays behavior that reveals several problems such as the erratic actions that seemed to be caused by demonic possessions. She seems to be losing touch of her sense of reality and submitting to the will of the supernatural. With these events we see a theme of repetition. It is depicted in other stories such as the "cup of stars", "lions", and "fanciful imaginations". Another repetition is the writing of Elanor's name on walls.  Another theme displayed is family. In each of the stories, there are many families that are depicted in situations that test their bonds. It reveals that blood families are less close than chosen families.