A House Isn’t A Home: The Horrors of Domesticity in The Haunting of Hill House Willie Blevins College

True literature has two purposes, the first is to show a reflection of society, and the second is to encourage social change by showing an unflattering reflection. In 1959, Shirley Jackson published her acclaimed novel The Haunting of Hill House, a gothic fiction story revolving an allegedly haunted house. Horror stories are often used as instruments of critique on society and its destructive morals. After looking under the surface of Jackson’s novel, the central theme seems to be based around the domestication of women. The Culture of Domesticity is a term used by researchers to reference the specific value system that emerged and reigned during the nineteenth century. During the Cult of Domesticity, women’s role in society were said to be centered within the home and women were discouraged from pursuing any form of personal growth if it risked outshining their male counterparts. Although the Culture of Domesticity is said to have ended around 1865 along with the Civil War, its lasting misogynistic effects can still be seen within modern society. Within analysis that expands upon the underlying themes of femininity and social defiance presented within The Haunting of Hill House, one can discern that Jackson uses Hill House’s...