Throughout a person’s life they will do something very ignorant or say
something very stupid hundreds of times. Most of the time it is because they are
trying to impress somebody or change their ways to make someone or others accept
them. The story “Haunting of Hill House” has great examples of people
changing just to fit in. The author Shirley Jackson, who died in 1965, was one
of the most brilliant writers of her time. She was widely acclaimed for her
hair-raising stories and novels of the supernatural. Although the “Haunting of
Hill House” fits this description perfectly with its eerie description of
supernatural tales of the happenings of Hill House; there is a more to it than
hauntings. The story starts out with three guests being invited to the house to
monitor any out of the ordinary occurrences in Hill House. Throughout the story
the guests experience some ghostly moments. However during this one of the guest
named Eleanor changes her ways to fit in with the guests. Her actions show that
society’s views on a person can lead that person to things they would never
have thought of. One example would be when Eleanor told lies about herself and
her past. Another example would be when Eleanor went around the house alone
having no fear. Finally Eleanor became open and spoke out what was on her mind.
An example of society’s views on a person leading them to things they never
thought of was when Eleanor became a liar and lied about her past. Today a lot
of people are pressured so much by society to be a certain way they will lie
about themselves to fit in with those certain people. In the story Eleanor feels
that she does not fit in with the group of people who are staying at Hill House.
She is a person with a lack of confidence so she feels she has to lie to feel
accepted. “Theodora came through the bathroom door into Eleanor’s room; she
is lovely, Eleanor thought, turning to look; I wish I were lovely.” This quote
shows the lack of confidence she has. One of Eleanor’s lies was when she told
the others she lived alone in an apartment. This is not true because she lives
with her sister and her boyfriend in a house. The reason she told this lie was
because Theo lived in an apartment with a friend so she felt Theo would not
accept her. Throughout the story there were instances where everyone in the
house had an opinion of something. Eleanor would not tell anyone about the way
she really felt because she didn’t want anyone to reject her. So she would say
what everybody else would say. If Theo favorite color was blue, so was
Eleanor’s. If Theo hated something so did Eleanor. Eleanor would have never
thought she had to lie to fit in. Being pressured to fit it she felt she had no
choice but to pick an identity the others would like. That is one example of how
society’s views on a person lead them to things they would have never thought
of. Another example of society’s views on a person leading them to things they
never thought of was when Eleanor lost all her fear of Hill House. There are a
lot of instances where people try to be someone they are not and are still not
accepted so much they stop to care about everything else. This happened to
Eleanor. She felt so isolated from everyone else and felt she stopped caring
about everything. She did not think of the fear she had of Hill House. She
didn’t care. Since the others rejected her she felt the only thing she had was
the house. Eleanor quotes,” I Have broken the spell of Hill House and somehow
come inside. When Eleanor first came to the house she hated it. She was scared
of every room and would not dare go anywhere alone. Since she felt isolated from
the others she felt apart of Hill House. One night Eleanor got out of her room
and quietly went out of her room and roamed the halls alone. She knocked on
doors and would wake everyone up. The others finding Eleanor’s room empty went
searching for her. The house that Eleanor would not dare explore alone felt like
home to Eleanor. The house was all Eleanor had left. Eleanor felt the others did
not accept her even when she tried to be someone else. This pushed her further
and further away from the group so she stopped caring and basically went crazy
and climbed a high broken-down staircase in the library of Hill House. This
another example of how the views on a person can lead them to do things they
would not normally do. The last example of how society’s views on a person can
lead them to do things they would have never thought of before is when Eleanor
became more open. The views on a certain person can lead them to do many things.
Over time it will help them figure out it does not matter what other people
think. This is what happened to Eleanor. “Eleanor was quiet for a minute,
wanting to tell them exactly how it was.” Eleanor finally figured out she did
not have to be a certain way and started to tell it like it is. She confessed to
lying about where she lived to the other individuals. She felt she did not need
to hide anything away from them. She also told Theo what was on her mind. She
wanted to go live with Theo so she asked her. Before she would have never asked
her or even thought of confessing about where she lived. Eleanor did not care
what the others thought anymore. I did not matter to her. She also confessed to
stealing her sister’s car and told them everything she owned was in her
suitcase. With this new attitude the others thought Eleanor had gone mad. They
failed to realize that it was their views and comments on her slowly brought out
the type of person she really was. They finally got to meet the real Eleanor
instead of a fraud. Therefore this is another example of how society’s views
can make a person do things they would not ordinarily do which is being more
open. The “Haunting of Hill House” does provide the reader with a chilling
tail, as a horror book should do. It can also serve as another purpose by
teaching the reader that society’s views on a person can lead that person to
things they would never have thought of before. The character that gave examples
of this lesson in the story was Eleanor. Other people’s views lead her to lie
about her past. Their views also lead her to forget her fears and roam Hill
House alone. Finally they also caused her to be open and honest. It is important
to our society to have people who criticize and judge others, although it may
not seem like it. This criticism can help people become stronger individuals.
What does not kill us, makes us stronger.