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Haunting Of Hill House Essay

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The Haunting of Hill House is a novel containing many characters who possess childlike qualities. Eleanor, the main character, had her childhood stolen and therefore acts the most childlike. Eleanor’s job was to care for her ill mother, which resulted in her missing out on vital socialization along with her chance to enjoy her young life. The references to the characters and their childish behavior begins fairly early in the novel. There have been suspicions of a house being haunted, named Hill House, so a Doctor named Dr. Montague decides to look for participants to occupy the house for the summer. When the characters arrive at Hill House in order to participate in the experiment, Eleanor and another important character named Theodora immediately connect. The two girls …show more content…

Eleanor does not object to Theo’s care, showing that she is not an independent adult. Normally, you would not see an adult woman washing another woman’s face. The fact that this is normal behavior to the girls shows that the mental age of Eleanor may not correspond to her actual age, the effect of not being taught some basic life skills and lack of companionship from a young age. The reason for the often reference of adults to children in this novel seems to be to better demonstrate the dependency and immaturity of the characters, especially Eleanor, due to their past. It is very clear that Eleanor did not have an excellent childhood as it was spent looking after her mother. Eleanor was a lonely girl, desperate for friendship which made her act very childish when she finally had the opportunity to make friends. The emphasis on the childlike behavior of Eleanor also proves how new she is to the real world, she acts like a child because she is experiencing these new things such as friendships and attraction for the first time, much like a child

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