Women's Classic Literature Enthusiasts discussion

This is where we discuss the end of the book!

So what are your thoughts on the book? Was the house haunted or was Eleanor delusional? Did Eleanor invent everything? What did you think of the ending?

I personally liked Mrs. Montague. She brought the book out of tedium and breathed life into the story.

My impression was that the house was alive and Eleanor was susceptible to it. I'm sure she invented some things but not everything.

I'm kinda confused. Did she commit suicide....?

That was what I thought. She became lucid right before she hit the tree, but it was too late to change course.

Did they have a collective hallucination about the blood in Theo's room or was that all in Eleanor's mind?

Another thing I wondered about after she ran up those steep stairs was how much she had to drink.

I agree with Anastasia, that Eleanor was particularly susceptible to the energy in the house. I like that description of the house being "alive". I never thought of ghosts being alive before. But if the energy is operating in the world, interacting with, and sometimes consuming the living, then alive it is.

Theresa wrote: "Did they have a collective hallucination about the blood in Theo's room or was that all in Eleanor's mind?

I thought at first it was a collective hallucination, but why was there no blood in Theo's room when Mrs. Montague inspected it?

There were so many crazy and contradictory events in the book, that it ended up making no sense to me at all.

I think she did a brilliant job of making both possibilities be true - depending on how you want to read it. Perhaps the house was indeed haunted and Eleanor was simply the most susceptible, or perhaps it was all caused by Eleanor's mental illness, along with huge doses of suggestibility, a little telepathy/extreme empathy (on Theo's part) and some poltergeist-type activities. As an example of how superbly Jackson has executed this, I would use the example of the "automatic writing." This is clearly presented as laughable, an example of the power of suggestion, that the reader is seduced into laughing at along with the Doctor. Yet when you stop and think about it, how is his entire "experiment" any different than that? Jackson seduces us into treating his exercise seriously - then throws this counter-example into our face and waits to see if we catch on to her tricks. I'm not sure I've ever seen two opposing contradictory possibilities presented so completely!

Theresa wrote: "Did they have a collective hallucination about the blood in Theo's room or was that all in Eleanor's mind?..."

So, I see this as another example of how both could be true. It could have been a collective hallucination, and Mrs. Montague wasn't susceptible to it, not having been there when the ground-laying events were set in motion. Or it could have been supernatural activity, which simply doesn't have the power to make permanent physical changes.

Or it could be that the house bloodied everything and cleaned it up later to freak everyone out.

☯Emily wrote: "So what are your thoughts on the book? Was the house haunted or was Eleanor delusional? Did Eleanor invent everything? What did you think of the ending?

I personally liked Mrs. Montague. She b..."

I thought that Eleanor was disturbed or unbalanced. I began to suspect this after I read the paragraph that I posted in the thread for the previous section of this book. I became mistrustful of her perceptions of realty. But her point of view is the only one that is given to the reader. SJ does not reveal the thoughts or perceptions of the other people in the house.

I was starting to think that Eleanor was delusional. Then I was convinced of it when she told Theodora that she Eleanor, should go home with Theodora. To fantasize about going home with Theodora was one thing, to actually give voice to this notion under the circumstances (in a house full of strangers) is not sane in my view.

I enjoyed Mrs Montague. Until she was introduced, things were starting to get a little monotonous with the repetition of meals and evenings of chess. Mrs M. was very entertaining.

Anastasia wrote: "My impression was that the house was alive and Eleanor was susceptible to it. I'm sure she invented some things but not everything.

I'm kinda confused. Did she commit suicide....?"

I think that Eleanor was susceptible or sensitive to the energy of the house combined with a disturbed mind and a perception of reality that is not always the same as that of the others'.

I think that she did commit suicide.

I think she committed suicide as well. Her inner voice told her to run away when she met the first obstacle at the gate. She knew she was being given a chance to turn back. When she saw the house and how vile it was, her inner voice was almost yelling at her to run away. Sadly, she didn't have anything to turn back for, so she ignored it. I've heard it said recently that many women suffer from a condition called 'compulsory altruism'. I understood it to mean a need to be needed that eclipses the survival instinct. So she sacrificed her 'self' to the needs of the desperate souls in the house (or whatever it was that she felt needed her). Funny how her destiny was identical to the destiny of the heroine in the last novel we read and yet for nearly opposite reasons (the other heroine found herself and didn't want to compromise that new feeling of self).

I find this book is a good reminder to myself to listen to my inner voice and try to be aware enough to distinguish it from the voice of paranoia, suspicion, and fear.

Wow, Theresa!