English

Moeni 1

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The phrase that interests me is “ever since her first memory …” (p. 2). It makes me wonder what her first memory might have been. Perhaps she is haunted by lack of memories. Her life has been so confining, and memories might not be pleasant. It’s difficult to think back to childhood and try to pinpoint events that occurred. Everyone’s memories are a mix of incidents that they are not really sure about. For example, Eleanor does not remember the stone showers that fell on the house when she was 12 years old (p. 2). I believe that Jackson is just trying to get the reader into Eleanor’s mind, and in just this sentence gives us a brief summary of Eleanor’s past and a foreshadowing of events to come.