“God God—whose hand was I holding?

”: A Look at Multiple Consciousnesses and Female

Relationships in The Haunting of Hill House

Rickety towers, moldy smells, and messages on the walls whirl around in the ever

twisting plot of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Throughout the increasingly

disturbing events, a melding of consciousnesses is evident in the history of the house, the

manifestations of spiritual activity, and the relationships between the Hill House researchers. The

phantom effect also appears as a major theme in Jackson’s novel. Eleanor, our main character

and the victim of the house, carries with her the burden of an unhealthy relationship with her

mother, paralleling the relationships ascribed to the Crain family that inhabited the house. As the

novel develops, it is evident that Eleanor’s history merges with the history of the house, causing

the reader to question the reason for her experience. As these sections of the novel are analyzed,

it becomes clear that repression of female identity is instrumental in the hijacking of

consciousnesses that takes place, particularly between Theo and Eleanor, as well as how the

Eleanor’s life is intricately connected to Hill House.

The phantom effect appears in the novel continually, particularly as a manifestation of

Eleanor’s past (and her mother’s). In one instance, Eleanor hears the voice of a crying child in

the night. She is enraged that a child is being harmed, but is unable to voice her anger, finding

herself in a paralytic state. Eleanor states that she would “take a lot from [that] lunatic house” but

would not “let anyone hurt a child” (Jackson, 120). It is curious that Eleanor is the only one who

hears this child, Theo being fast asleep on the other side of the room (not holding Eleanor’s hand

as she is believed to be). There is only Eleanor’s word on what the child-ghost relates to her. The

cries for help made by the child are curious, especially considering that Eleanor is the only
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auditor. The child cries “Please let me go home” (120). If the reader assumes that the crying

child is the ghost of the home’s former inhabitant, the child of the abusive and terrifying Hugh

Crain, then this plea would be strange. The child’s home was in fact Hill House, making this plea

confusing and incongruous to the child’s history. If, however, Eleanor is the child, the child’s

voice being a part of her consciousness that is crying out against the sins of her mother, this

scene is illuminating. Eleanor has already subconsciously voiced her desire to go home (if she is

acknowledged as the writer of the wall messages), making this third plea for home quite familiar.

Eleanor is projecting her own childlike fears onto the spirit in the house, and is in fact outraged

at her own abuse and neglect on the part of her mother.

According to psychanalysists Nicholas Abraham and Maria Torok’s book The Shell and

the Kernel, a child can bear the guilty past of his/her parents in a way that manifests itself in the

child’s consciousness. The child is, in a sense, “haunted” by a family phantom, working similarly

to a family curse. The phantom effect is evident in the consciousness of Eleanor. At several

points throughout the book, she is “haunted” by the sound or smell of her mother. In one

instance, Eleanor cannot even enter the library because the smell of it is connected to some

unspoken, but likely guilty, memory of her mother. After hearing Theo calling for her one night,

Eleanor flashes back to an instance in which she ignored her ailing mother’s calls, questioning

her own intentions for doing this. Eleanor wonders if perhaps she acted in a way that led to her

mother’s demise, but seems uncertain about her own role in the matter. Jodey Castricano’s

article, “Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and the Strange Issue of Trans-

Subjectivity,” views these audible noises as “a manifestation of [Eleanor’s] guilty conscience”

complicated by the fact that “Theo hears it to” (90.) Castricano also points out that Dr. Montague
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and Luke do not hear these bangs and bashes; this is a moment intimately shared by Theo and

Eleanor.

This integration of consciousnessses is explored by Castricano as she delves into areas of

the text where a breakdown of Eleanor’s agency and identity occurs. These breakdowns occur

frequently when Eleanor is in the presence of Theo. On the night the group discovers Hugh

Crain’s macabre scrapbook of morality, Theo teases Eleanor about her potential feelings for

Luke. Specifically, Theo mentions Eleanor’s home, asking if she would have Luke come stay

with her. In this banter, Theo notes the “white curtains” and “tiny stone lions” that Eleanor

claimed to own, a fact we know is a lie. The important question here is how does Theo know?

Eleanor’s response to this is equally strange; she repeatedly insists that she “had to come,”

frantically justifying her presence at Hill House. Although it could be argued that Theo simply

sees through Eleanor’s lies because of her fragile confidence, this is unlikely considering the

other places in the text in which Theo has intimate knowledge of Eleanor’s thoughts and

insecurities regarding her presence among the rest of the group. Castricano’s article claims that

these moments of shared consciousness are “shared, yet equally unconscious,” meaning that

Theo is not even aware of moments of shared thought (91). Although this may be true through

portions of the novel, it seems that Theo gradually becomes an active agent in these moments,

shown by the maliciously mocking behavior she exhibits towards Eleanor.

The novel does not make clear Theo’s motivations for invading Eleanor’s consciousness,

aside from the fact that she wishes to possess Eleanor’s identity. This may be surprising,

considering the confident nature of Theo’s character. However, through a close reading of the

text, it becomes clear that Theo arrives at Hill House already somewhat lacking an identity.

When Eleanor and Theo first meet, Eleanor introduces herself with her full name, Eleanor
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Vance. Theo instead says that she is “Just Theodora,” oddly omitting her last name (Jackson,

30). If this is an attempt on Theo’s part to be informal and intimate, it is strange that she would

not give Eleanor her nickname to call her by, as she does later in the novel. As the two women

get to know each other, Theo quickly decides that she and Eleanor are cousins and that they are

not to be separated. While this declaration could be viewed as a part of Theo’s vivaciousness, it

could also be viewed as a desperate grab for identity and familiarity.

Considering Theo in this light is contrary to most views of The Haunting of Hill House,

in which Eleanor is depicted as “guilt-ridden, lonely, and loveless,” her “own fragile self

dissolving and fusing with the substance of Hill House” (Parks, 25). This paper does not attempt

to deny the timidity and fragility of Eleanor’s character, but merely takes a closer look at Theo’s

character and how she also plays a role in this “dissolving” of Eleanor’s consciousness. As the

novel progresses, Theo makes several odd statements concerning her relationship with Eleanor.

During a fit of teasing, Theo begins to say “I am Eleanor” repeatedly, giving reasons such as, “I

am Eleanor because I am wearing blue” (Jackson, 165). This statement echoes an earlier chapter

in which Luke identifies Eleanor by her red sweater. Oddly enough, at the end of the book, as

Eleanor is forced into the car that she ultimately uses to commit suicide, Theo is described as

“wearing Eleanor’s red sweater,” an obvious token of Eleanor’s identity (175). Theo’s

possession of this sweater represents the completion of her takeover of Eleanor’s consciousness.

The remarks of Mrs. Montague during the planchette reading also hint at this shifting of

identities, as she remarks to Theo, “We thought you were Nell,” referring to the thoughts of

herself and Arthur (author’s emphasis, 143).

The planchette’s revelations hint that Eleanor is speaking (seemingly unconsciously) to

the other inhabitants, making clear her desires for home and her mother. After Eleanor is shaken
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by the plaintive demands of the planchette, Theo becomes Eleanor’s spokesperson, voicing her

wants, saying that Eleanor “wants her warm bed and a little sleep” (143). In this situation Theo

switches from her aggressive, competitive attitude towards Eleanor and instead mothers her.

Theo’s alternating treatment of Eleanor is interesting in this regards. Eleanor’s mother, who is

described as proficient at heaping on Eleanor “small guilts and small reproaches,” is now

represented by Theo, who is proficient at similar methods of manipulation (3).

The relationship between Eleanor and Theo, while potentially that of a mother and

daughter at times, also could be viewed as an instance of doppelgangers. The two characters

have opposite traits in many ways, and there are sections of the novel in which they appear to

switch characteristics. Eleanor is anxious, eager to please, and easily manipulated. Theo,

however, is confident, sensual, and protective. Their relationship mirrors that of the

doppelgangers in Elizabeth Gaskell’s short story, “The Poor Clare.” In an article by Maureen

Reddy, the topic of female repression and sexuality is represented by the two forms that the main

character, Lucy, takes on in Gaskell’s story. Reddy calls this story a “myth of female power and

powerlessness,” a theme that fits well with The Haunting of Hill House. In “The Poor Clare,”

female sexuality, when recognized and embraced, is demonized (261). In fact, two of the women

in the story, characterized by their sexuality, are deemed witches. Lucy, an innocent, virginal

woman in “The Poor Clare,” is contrastingly viewed as angelic and valuable. Lucy eventually

discovers the existence of her doppelganger whose sexual promiscuousness is working to ruin

her pristine reputation. Eleanor, with her timidity and inexperience with men (as seen by her

rather awkward interactions with Mr. Montague and Luke) is similar the “good” Lucy. Theo

represents the demonized doppelganger whose sexuality and boisterous laugh are her defining

traits. It is odd, considering the typical view of expressed female sexuality in the gothic narrative
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(consider the comparison made between Jane Eyre and Bertha Rochester) as being a kind of

madness, that Jackson concludes the novel with Eleanor going mad and killing herself. Theo,

who was able to recognize and embrace her sexuality, remains alive and seems to have absorbed

some part of Eleanor’s identity. Eleanor, defunct and deficient of identity and sexuality, is unable

to maintain any agency regarding her actions, hence her wild, unanswerable question, “Why am I

doing this?” while crashing into the tree (Jackson, 182).

Reddy’s article also addresses the appearance of nuns in gothic tales, saying that “all

women who approach the female ideal are essentially no different from nuns”; in other words,

the characters of good Lucy and Eleanor are nun-like in their chastity and repressed sexuality.

This interpretation of nuns, specifically the ghosts of nuns, is pertinent to The Haunting of Hill

House considering Mrs. Montague’s insistence that a nun was buried in the house. The

planchette identifies the nun and Nell as haunts (or haunt), hinting that the two are one and the

same. The idea of the “walled up” nun bears even more significance. Eleanor’s repressed

sexuality—and even more broadly, her repressed identity—is symbolized by being buried alive.

The relationship between Theo and Eleanor is multi-faceted and is made increasingly

complicated by the history of Hill House. The former inhabitant, the eldest daughter of Hugh

Crain, was sick and tended to by a companion. After the death of the daughter, the companion

killed herself because of suspicions surrounding her role in the death. The fate of the companion

immediately strikes a chord with Eleanor. Eleanor’s own role as caretaker, as well as her guilt

about her mother’s death, makes her eerily comparable the companion, as does her eventual

suicide. In fact, Eleanor, upon hearing the story, is aghast and asks, “She had to kill herself?”

revealing the lack of control that is present in both suicides (58). The story about the Crain

family also tells of the younger sister and her husband who pester the older sister and reportedly
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steal her belongings, specifically a set of gold rimmed plates. This detail is reminiscent of

Eleanor’s own relationship with her sister and brother-in-law, as well as their fight over the

possession of the shared car. Once again, the phantom effect shows up in the story, working

alongside a curse motif. Although no familial connection is made between the Vance family and

the Crain family, it is clear that there is a repetition of history occurring between the two

families. Eleanor’s fear of her overly critical mother is seen repeated in the story of Hugh Crain

and his monstrous moral boundaries that he set for his daughters.

How and why this repetition of history occurs is unclear. The house itself seems to be a

source of possessive power; however, Eleanor’s life was already paralleling the Crain sister’s

before she came to Hill House. It is worth noting that the house could still possibly be viewed as

the agent of destruction, as Eleanor describes the feeling of being drawn to the house, almost

without control, as though Dr. Montague were “guiding her from some spot far away, moving

her car with controls in his hands” (16). It is not likely that Dr. Montague is actually

manipulating Eleanor, but her limited knowledge of the house and its inhabitants informs her

thoughts. The story of the house, and Eleanor’s fate regarding it, seems to be the only thing

drawing her near to it. The parallels between her own life and the life of the Crain

family/companion indicate that Eleanor lacks the agency to alter her fate. Her autonomy is

questionable in the story and therefore, according to Carol Margaret Davison’s article on haunted

houses and haunted heroines, Eleanor’s “possible dangerous aspects of the self…ma y be allowed

expression” (54). Clearly, by the end of the story, Eleanor’s repressed self finds a kind of mad

freedom. She runs throughout the halls of the house, having embraced her role as a haunt, and

bangs on doors, exulting in her new sense of belonging. The house has become her new mother,

as she has left behind her biological mother and her stand-in, Theo. This embracing of her
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possession brings out the reckless and repressed side of Eleanor, the “haunted…maze-like

interior involv[ing] confrontation with mysteries whose ultimate unravelling signifies a process

of self-discovery” (Davison, 51). This freedom is temporary, for after discovering her on the

library bannister, the rest of the team forces Eleanor to leave her new home. It is in this scene

that Theo dons the red sweater, though her blood-stained clothes have been found clean and

unspoiled.

It is odd that Eleanor, the repressed, comparably virtuous, and timid female (the classic

Gothic heroine) is in a position of punishment by the end of the novel. Although her fate is not

exactly set up as a direct result of anything she did wrong, it is clear that her impressionable

character has doomed her in some sense. Theo, the exact opposite of Eleanor and the Gothic

heroine, remains seemingly unscathed. This ending, with its odd shift from the normal outcome

for its characters, ironically highlights a principle of the Gothic: “the self is revealed to be other,

and the Other an aspect of the self” (54). Or, in the words of Eugene DeLamotte, “x becomes y,

the line dividing them dissolving” (21). This principle provides both context for understanding

the relationship between Theo and Eleanor as well as the ties between Eleanor and the former

inhabitants of Hill House. What was Other to Eleanor—whether a confident, sensual female

identity, or a confrontation with the supernatural—is eventually revealed to be something within

her own identity. According to Gary Farnell, author of the article “The Gothic and the Thing,”

there is a human desire to experience the sublimity of the Other, or the unknown. He compares

this desire to the impulse that Emily of The Mysteries of Udolpho has when she discovers the

mysterious black veil. She is “eager to uncover what has long been veiled” so as to know and

be admitted to the mysteries of the Other (Farnell, 117). Farnell warns, however, that the

Other is both subliminal and horrifying, as it is extimate—having the appearance of

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intimacy but still retaining its alterity. Eleanor, in this context, is punished by the house for

attempting to make intimate what was extimate and claiming the house as her home. Theo,

on the other hand, retains her ability to distinguish between the Other and her own reality.

Theo’s “triumph” at the end of The Haunting of Hill House, can also be read as a

celebration of the “New Woman” over the Old. Theo’s attributes, which have been

thoroughly discussed, could be viewed as forthright and progressive compared to the

dependence of Eleanor’s. Much of Jackson’s fiction focuses on the limitations placed on

women’s identity and sexuality, and this novel is no different. The ending of this book can

serve as a warning to those women who remain trapped in their traditional roles and

identities and are unable to embrace a new era of women. Though Theo often acts as a

manipulative and aggressive figure in the book, her wearing of Eleanor’s sweater as well as

her kindness towards Eleanor as she leaves Hill House can ultimately be seen in a

compassionate light. Theo’s wearing of the sweater symbolizes not only her absorption of

Eleanor’s identity (for she too must face the Other inside herself), but memorializes the

women, like Eleanor, who were unable to meet a new set of feminine ideals. The “phantom”

of the house returns to “[bear] witness to the existence of the dead (experience, memory,

secret)” through the fate of Eleanor (Abraham, n.p.). Her death represents the death of

repressed female sexuality, and likewise, repressed female identity.

Works Cited
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Abraham, Nicolas, and Maria Torok. The Shell and the Kernel: Renewals of Psychoanalysis.

Chicago: U of Chicago, 1994. Print.

Abraham, Nicolas, and Nicholas Rand. “Notes on the Phantom: A Complement to Freud’s

Metapsychology.” Critical Inquiry 13.2 (1987): 287-292. MLA International

Bibliography. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Davison, Carol Margaret. “Haunted House/Haunted Heroine: Female Gothic Closets in ‘The

Yellow Wallpaper.’” Women Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 33.1 (2004): 47-75.

MLA International Bibliography. Web. 4 October 2015.

Castricano, Jodey. “Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and the Strange Question of

Trans- Subjectivity.” Gothic Studies 7.1 (2005): 87-101. MLA International

Bibliography. Web. 3 October 2015.

Farnell, Gary. “The Gothic and the Thing.” Gothic Studies 11.1 (2009): 113-123. MLA

International Bibliography. Web. 3 October 2015.

Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.

Parks, John G. “Chambers of Yearning: Shirley Jackson’s Use of the Gothic.” Twentieth Century

Literature: A Scholarly and Critical Journal 30.1 (1984): 15-29. MLA International

Bibliography. Web. 3 October 2015.

Reddy, Maureen T. “Female Sexuality in ‘The Poor Clare’: The Demon in the House.” Studies in

Short Fiction21.3 (1984): 259-265. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 4 October

2015.