Horror In Shirley Jackson's The Haunting Of Hill House

Horror is a genre that is often overlooked due to vacuous reasons. Readers tend to think of vampires or werewolves, but it is so much more. Horror is a genre that if assimilated, can help the reader understand the correspondence to society. The Horror genre has been around since the 1890s when Georges Méliès was credited for creating the first horror film, which emphasized the idea that horror films have a deeper meaning. In Georges Méliès famous short film, Le Manoir du Diable, or The Haunted Castle, the main character confronts Satan and has nowhere to run. This represents self conflict within oneself and this idea of a deeper meaning is prevalent throughout Shirley Jackson's work. In the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson,

Characters actions are a reflection of the time period, which means the whole novel is just a mirror image of the time period. Angela Hague, who wrote a paper on reexamining the work of Shirley Jackson, said, “In this discussion I want to position Jackson as a quintessential writer of the 1950s whose work dramatizes the concerns and fears of that decade in ways that are not always immediately obvious” (73-96). Hague emphasizes the idea that in Jackson’s novel she uses the setting to reflect the time period, which in turn shows the reader how the characters will interact with each other. This shows how important the setting is to this novel since if it was not a reflection of the time period, then the reader would not comprehend why the characters act how they do. The actions that have occurred at Hill House also foreshadow to the reader incidents that will happen to the characters. In the novel on page 48 it says, “The last person who tried to leave Hill House in darkness- it was eighteen years ago, I grant you- was killed at the turn in the driveway, where his horse bolted and crushed him against the big tree” (Jackson). This quote reveals to the reader the impact the setting has on what will happen to the characters and affirms the influence of the darkness of the setting on the characters. The appearance of the house gives insight

Women during the 1950s experienced a great deal of hate towards them and were treated poorly by society and this is reflected in the characters of the novel. During this time period women were often thought to be crazy or psychotic. Angela Hague said, "By focusing on her female characters' isolation, loneliness, and fragmenting identities, their simultaneous inability to relate to the world outside themselves or to function autonomously, and their confrontation with an inner emptiness that often results in mental illness, Jackson displays in pathological terms the position of many women in the 1950s" (73-96). Women during the time period that the novel was written, experienced treatment towards them that often made them appear to be crazy or strangers. This relates to the setting because Eleanor started to go crazy in the house and felt like an outcast. Also, Since society treated women poorly they would treat each other poorly. On page 33 of the Haunting of Hill House Jackson said, "But she looked oddly well, it seemed to her as she stood by the long mirror on the wardrobe door, almost comfortable.” Women would turn against each other and try to be better than each other. This is shown by the relationship between Eleanor and Theodora in this novel. Men during the 1950s played a huge role in the daily lives of women, which is shown the