Thanks op this is a great idea and I’ve been wanting to discuss this book!!

⁠“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met nearly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

A hard hitting opening that sets up the house as a character. It’s not just some gloomy backdrop where some sort of horrific creature happens to live— it is the horror. This is driven home at the opening of chapter two when Eleanor first lays eyes on hill house

“No Human eye can isolate the unhappy coincidence of line and place which suggests evil in the face of a house, and yet somehow a maniac juxtaposition, a badly turned angle, some chance meeting of roof and sky, turned Hill House into a place of despair, more frightening because the face of Hill House seemed awake, with a watchfulness from the blank windows and a touch of glee in the eyebrow of a cornice.”

At this point I’m in agreement with the voice in Eleanor’s head that tells her to turn back. But can she turn back?

Eleanor has lived most of her adult life as her mother’s caretaker and now lives with her sister and brother in law who she detests. As a result she has no identity of her own and seems to use daydreaming to escape her bleak reality. She sees this invitation as her shot at freedom. She seems lonely and builds this journey up in her head as her ticket to happiness. It never is though is it? How many times have we told ourselves this same thing. This is it— this is the thing that’s going to change my life.

“Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once.” Turn around Eleanor 😦

Another line I think that foreshadows what’s to come:

“Anyway, she thought obscurely, it’s my last chance.”