Essays on Hill House

The Haunting of the Hill House Shirley Jackson

“The journey itself was her positive action, her destination vague, unimagined, perhaps nonexistent (Jackson 1.49)” The car journey to the haunted house means a lot more than just a road trip. She defies her sister’s rule about taking the family car and going to Hill House and gets out to be on her own after a long time. Eleanor lives a repressed life even after the death of her mother curtailed by her family who smother her and refuse to let her grow up. This act of defiance and the car ride gives Eleanor a sense of freedom. ...

Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House was one of the best works of horror even written, and two film versions entitled simply The Haunting were made in 1963 and 1999. Both follow a plot very similar to the novel in portraying a team of four investigators, led by a university professor, who are researching Hill House to determine whether it is haunted, but there are some major differences in the use of special effects and well as in the climax and resolution of the story. Most importantly, the 1963 version was closer to the novel in that it ...

The two novels both have a history when it comes to thrillers in their time. The Haunting of Hill House, a novel by Shirley Jackson is considered a classic among many novel lovers as it captures the imagination of the reader in all possible ways. The Killer Inside Me, by Jim Thompson is a crime novel that has captured audiences around the world. This is with the imaginative and creative form of writing that it takes. Both these authors are legends in their own right, and form the basis for some of the thrillers that are present today. One of the most noticeable ...