English

I am attracted to this line because the phrase implies so much about the meanness in Eleanor’s life and how it has affected her thinking. It leaves a lot unsaid so that readers can use their imagination. Jackson goes on to describe how Eleanor has spent most of her life caring for her invalid mother, in not very nice circumstances. For me, this hints of darkness past and yet to come. The word ‘underside’ implies a place where sun doesn’t shine, just as Eleanor’s life has been a place where sun didn’t shine. Jackson says that Eleanor even had “an inability to face strong sunlight without blinking” (p. 2). So Eleanor has led a very isolated existence up to this point and is not familiar with social settings. Therefore why would she decide to accept the invitation to Hill House? Growing up, we may all have had times when we felt like we were experiencing the underside of life, so does that make us better able to reach out for new experiences? Or does it make us even more cautious? There seems to be a stubbornness in Eleanor’s character that shows up here. She has been repressed for so long, and thus reaches out for this trip as if to save herself. This could be a dangerous moment for her as she has no experience living on her own.