More about Eleanor: she plays bridge, she likes apple pie, she can swim. Is she telling the truth now? It sounds like it, at least in contrast to the description she gives Theodora of her apartment, which we know is fantasy. Speaking of queer subtext: note Theodora’s laugh after Eleanor asks if she’s married.
Again we notice how important the trappings of home are: “We found an old place and fixed it up ourselves,” Theodora says, inviting Eleanor (and the reader) to picture the happy domestic scene. Eleanor picks up her previous fantasy of the house with the white cat and stone lions and runs with it, down to the cup of stars. What does that magical cup suggest now—abundance? Beauty? Something else altogether?
One of Jackson’s most clever touches here is that Hill House, in its own way, is inviting, or at least Eleanor finds it so: “the soft bed, the pleasant lawn, the good fire.” And for just a moment we get a glimpse of the world outside the house—Mrs. Dudley, back in Hillsdale; Luke’s aunt, hundreds of miles away—as if to reassure us that it’s still there.
‘Pamela’ is an interesting choice of reading matter for the doctor: sexual violence and issues of class. Suitably soporific according to the doctor - even - potentially - for young children? Makes me wonder about him. As already mentioned, the echoes of the sisters continue. Theodora sulking and then teasingly (?) declaring her jealousy of Luke’s supposed interest in Eleanor. Although Eleanor claims that the inheritance she and her sister received was not as problematic for them as it had been for the sisters we know her relationship with Carrie (Stephen King?) isn’t good. I’m also interested that the group is already splitting - the doctor and Luke with their games and the women’s seemingly light chat by the fire.
"Speaking of queer subtext: note Theodora’s laugh after Eleanor asks if she’s married." Not just a laugh, but a little silence after the question. Feels very much to me like Theo is worried she said too much, or maybe even considering for a moment if she could safely confide in Eleanor, before brushing it off with her laugh and answer.