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Title
Like Mother, Like Daughter: Evaluating Jungian Archetypes in Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House
Description
A mother’s treatment toward her child has a direct influence on the happiness, companionship, and maturity of that child in adulthood. In Shirley Jackson’s 1959 work The Haunting of Hill House, I argue that the most effective way for the heroine of the story, Eleanor ‘Nell’ Vance, to find happiness and live a fulfilling life is by overcoming the trauma she experienced from her overbearing mother. Nell, who begins the story as a single woman in her thirties with no place of her own, is drawn to Hill House as it is a chance to mingle with others her age-- making Hill House an opportunity for Nell to find companionship, belonging, and happiness. After arriving at Hill House, she meets the sexually-charged Theodora, greedy Luke, and rational Dr. Montague. No matter how Nell presents herself to these characters, she is always just short of taking her companionship with these characters to anything past a non-emotional, mutual acquaintance. Just three months after the passing of Nell’s mother, it is evident that her mother’s influence continues to affect her, and is malicious and parasitic in nature. Ultimately, it is her mother’s lasting influence that causes Nell’s sexual repression, as evident through her character foils of Theo and Dr. Montague. Sexual repression, for my purposes, can be understood as the inability to form and maintain romantic and sexual relations with another person. Further, the continuing influence of her mother, as well as the novel’s direct application of the supernatural, causes Nell to be highly susceptible to the supernatural within Hill House-- catalyzing her untimely death.
Date Created
2019-12
Contributors
- Nungaray, Jasmine (Author)
- Barnard, James (Thesis director)
- Fonseca, Vanessa (Committee member)
- Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor)
- College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor)
- Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
21 pages
Language
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Series
Academic Year 2019-2020
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.55037
Level of coding
minimal
Cataloging Standards
System Created
- 2019-11-11 11:00:06
System Modified
- 2021-08-11 04:09:57
- 3 years 1 month ago
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