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Character List for Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House”

Hill House

Make no mistake: Hill House is perhaps the central character in the novel and it is a living, organic being in the sense that acts upon the narrative. One of the first lines in the novel has the narrator telling the reader that “Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within.” While not a character in the cartoon sense of being an actively engaged master of ceremonies, the house is quite clearly intended to be a living entity with a pervasive influence over its inhabitants.

Eleanor Vance

Aside from the house itself, Eleanor Vance is the most important character. Eleanor is one of the characters who is in Hill House as part of the parapsychology experimentations being conducted by Dr. John Montague and she seems to possess a preternatural connection to the sanity of the house itself. She is also the emblematic of Jackson’s continuing fascination with repressed women struggling to break free of the hold authoritarian figures have upon them.

Dr. John Montague

Dr. Montague’s job is to investigate supposedly haunted houses. This has naturally left him in the unenviable position of being suspected of quackery at every turn. At certain points in the novel, it is entirely acceptable for the reader to suspect that the “haunting” of Hill House may in fact be located entirely within Montague’s ambition. At other points, this assertion is more ambiguous.

Theodora

Artist and free spirited potential possessor of the powers of ESP. She is usually viewed through the lens of being the dislocated double of Eleanor that ultimately stymies that character’s aching desire to piece together her fractured consciousness. Others, however, merely view Theodora through the lens of sublimated lesbian desire on the part of Eleanor.

Carrie

Not exactly telekinetic like the character in Stephen King’s novel, this Carrie does possess some remarkable powers herself. Foremost among them is her ability to engage in a persistent pattern of passive-aggressive behavior toward her sister, Eleanor, without Eleanor resisting the urge to kill her.

Mr. Dudley

While he may not always have been the caretaker, Mr. Dudley is the caretaker of Hill House now. And you will be glad, because he provides the much needed humor to keep the suspense and tension from becoming almost unbearable.

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Written by Tsexton

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