The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: Day 17
Chapter 8, Part 4-8
I knew Arthur reminded me of someone, but it took me until now to figure out who. His speech patterns—“Mark of a man,” “Leave all that kind of thing to the teachers”—are similar to the way Jackson, in her household memoirs (Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons—absolutely hilarious, if you haven’t read them), depicts the speech of her eldest son, Laurie (Laurence), when he’s trying to sound older than he is or otherwise impress someone. Although there she does it lovingly, I suppose. Here Arthur just sounds like an idiot. There’s a similar dynamic in the scene in which he interrupts Dr. Montague at his reading, exactly as a small child would.
I see why some of you think he and Mrs. Montague are a bit too much. Although I am fascinated by the ambiguity of their relationship, as well as the fact that there’s no question of Mrs. Montague and her husband sharing a room.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Montague companionably helps Mrs. Dudley out in the kitchen, almost as if they were old friends. The two women chat, Mrs. Dudley’s voice “comfortable and easy,” and share a cup of tea. Why does Mrs. Montague’s presence put Mrs. Dudley at ease?
According to Jackson’s children, she used to sing “The Grattan Murders,” an Appalachian folk ballad, to them as a lullaby. Here’s a recording of Sarah Hyman, the younger sister, singing it. She sang it once for me in exactly the same way.
The passage in which Eleanor listens to the house is another of the loveliest moments in the novel.
“Somewhere upstairs a door swung quietly shut; a bird touched the tower briefly and flew off. In the kitchen the stove was settling and cooling, with little soft creakings. An animal—a rabbit?—moved through the bushes by the summerhouse. She could even hear, with her new awareness of the house, the dust drifting gently in the attics, the wood aging.”
By the end, Eleanor is thrilled by her ability to see and hear things the others don’t, by the touch on her face: the child-spirit coming to her in peace rather than banging on the doors or laughing through the keyhole. For this moment, at least, she belongs.
Join us on October 30 for a virtual discussion of The Haunting of Hill House with Ruth Franklin.
 | A guest post by
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Hi everyone! I read ahead and wrote these comments last night, and am posting them first thing this morning due to time constraints today. I’m just loving this group so much, and am so sad it’s almost over.
First off!!! When I read the macabre song that Luke sings to Theo, I knew I had read about it before, and thought about it- and remembered that SJ would sing a lullaby about a murderer to her children in her darkly humorous way. Was this it? (No, I didn’t look in Ruth’s book. I made a pact with myself I wouldn’t do that for this group)- but I did a search on You Tube to hear the song- and I found a You Tube video of SARAH JACKSON, Shirley Jackson’s daughter, SINGING THE SONG!!!!!! If Ruth already posted this, my apologies, but I’m posting it here. Enjoy 😉
https://youtu.be/O-25GcHnOu8?si=Q0IW1bO4K8s9rMFg
These sections are short. The pacing is faster; more clipped. Like we’re being led quickly to the grand crescendo/finale, even though not a lot of action happens here.
I also found 2 versions of the song that E. hears in the center of the parlor that was a children’s circle game. I’m not sure if SJ changed the lyric to “Lover,” because all I could find was “partner.”
I’ll see if I can post one of the videos of that song.
https://youtu.be/7w5gcHVgd5s?feature=shared
My question regarding this is: Why does Theo want Luke to sing it to her? Are they messing with E? Is this all in E’s mind? I’m thinking we may have gone completely “unreliable narrator” at this point, if we haven’t already- Lol.
Just prior to this scene, we had the comic relief of Mrs. M nagging Dr. M.
And then after the scene with Theo and Luke, the hilarious scene with Dr. M. and Arthur in the library. It would seem Arthur needs a break from Mrs. M as well, and cannot read Dr. M’s obvious social cues to leave him alone.
MRS. DUDLEY CAN CONVERSE!!! What a revelation! And we were all so worried about her.😂. Of course, it’s with Mrs. M about the inappropriateness of the guests of opposite sexes staying at HH together. Or, since E. is listening in on this conversation, is this conversation even real?! Is E. now fantasizing about romance and sex (our guilt about it) since she had the experience of being held by the invisible presence? Did it stir up sexual or even romantic feelings in her?
Final section:
(If any of this is reality, or a vision in E’s mind at this point, who knows?)
Theo is wearing E’s (wait for it) BLUE DRESS- !!!!!!!!!
(Please Ruth!!! Help me with all the blue; especially the blue dresses that so many of SJ’s protagonist’s wear. If you missed one of my earlier posts, I am absolutely haunted by all the the blue dresses so many of SJ’s female protagonists wear in her novels and stories-I have some ideas on the earlier post.. )
But I digress.
Theo is mocking her.
She uses alliteration with “E” for “Eleanor”
“Ethereal” who
“Lives in Expectation”
E. can hear all sounds in house, even down to the the dust in attic. (Doesn’t dust come from dead skin?) But she can’t hear anything in the Library. (The one room she was too frightened or repulsed to enter)
And then, this is when, above the bickering of Dr. and Mrs. M., she hears the circle dance song, and after the line “Go forth and face your Lover,” she feels the unseen figure come to her, brush against her check, and sigh on her face as it passes by.
She’s being seduced by her Deamon Lover. I think it’s the House.
Just a side note: I mentioned in an earlier comment about the deck of Tarot cards that SJ favored. When the tower was mentioned in this reading, and I’ve noticed how often the word “Fool” has been used to describe Eleanor, I decided to look at the Major Cards of that particular Deck, and found several images that coincide with this book:
Tower
Fool
Stars
Cup (Not a major card, but has its own section of 10 cards)
Devil
Hanged Man
Hermit
Lover
Chariot
Death
Judgment
Force
Just some interesting images SJ may have played with…..or personally related to?
The use of the song “In and Out the Window” was marvelously scary. I am oldish and sang that song/played that game in school. The first and third verses here are not part of the original--and that first verse, “go walking through the valley” (you almost can’t help but add the next words from the famous psalm, walk through the “of death”)--the spirit or house or whatever is now explicitly calling her to die,. The third verse links death to the lover at the end of the journey. Aiyeeee.
I have a sense now of why Mrs. M. and Arthur are structurally necessary to the book. Their presence establishes that the house’s hauntings can be withheld from some while heard by others. That prevents us from being pushed to the assumption that Eleanor has simply (“simply”) lost her mind here. I mean of course why-not-both-dot-gif, but to me it feels like the house has zeroed in 100% on her. At the same time she becomes the poltergeist, a living ghost. It’s all so well done.