Essay+Topics

=//The Haunting of Hill House// by Shirley Jackson (due Friday, February 26 by 3:00pm)= Please email me your essay from you school address.

1. According to Laura Miller, "Eleanor Vance, the young woman around whom the uncanny events of the novel constellate, is no mere snoop. She is drawn into this adventure, the narrator implies, by the house itself, and the terrible things that happen there emerge from and express her inner life. Eleanor is a genuine literary character rather than a device of the narrative. She is a complicated and distinctive individual, peculiar even, although not so peculiar that she fails to engage the reader's sympathy. We experience the novel from within Eleanor's consciousness, and however unreliable we know her to be, we are wedded to her. When the house infiltrates her psyche, the reader, so thoroughly bound up in her, is also invaded" (Introduction IX). Study the definition of psychological horror and analyze Eleanor's character within this sub-genre of horror ficition. What is it about her psyche that changes during her stay at Hill House and how does it evoke fear for readers?

2. Dr. Montague has leading role in the novel. Continuing with the idea of psychological horror, how does Dr. Montague contribute to the psychological horror of the novel?

3. Although we know very little of her, Eleanor's mother plays an important role throughout the novel. Analyzing the relationship between Eleanor and her mother, and what do we learn about Eleanor through her relationship with her mother. Hill House's powers trap Eleanor by exposing Eleanor's true feelings toward her mother and what she yearns for in her life. How does the theme of maternalism expose Eleanor's true self to the readers?

= = =//The Shining (due Friday, February 12th at the beginning of class!)//=

1. Based on different interpretations of the novel, some readers believe Jack's eventual decent into mental illness is the result of the hotel's power over his mind, or a result of his own personality characteristics. Write a 3.5 essay that supports one of the two interpretations.

2. How does //The Shining// fall into the genre of **psychological horror**? You will need to understand the definition of psychological horror and apply your understanding to the novel.

3. How does Stephen King toy with the idea of "The Uncanny". Freud studied the idea of the uncanny and the development of the human brain. How has Stephen King adapted this theory and applied it to //The Shining//?