Journeys end in lovers meeting.
I feel like people make too much of the sapphic nature of Nell and Theo’s relationship in The Haunting of Hill House. I won’t deny that there are elements of romance between them, at least on Nell’s end, or that Theo is strongly hinted to not be straight. But Nell also has a brief infatuation with Luke, and Theo also seems to have latched onto him by the end. Bi erasure, all the time.
But either way, zeroing in on their possible romantic relationship misses the real point - Eleanor’s isolation. She has spent her life as a doormat to first her mother and then her sister, and she has never had friends. And then she arrives at Hill House and latches on to Theo - this charismatic cool girl, who is an instant friend to her due to forced proximity. Eleanor is finally part of a group, happy to just be included she does spend more time with Theo, but Luke and the doctor spend more time together as well, as that is what is considered proper. As time goes on, Theo becomes suspicious of Nell, and frankly annoyed by her. Socially awkward Nell becomes more and more para pod that she is being pushed out of the group, and clings on harder.
It’s still one of my favorites. I listened to it last night at work. I can never decide if the house is even haunted, or if Nell is doing everything with her telekinetic powers. Pretty much everything that happens could be explained by this and her ever slipping grasp on reality, other than the part where Theo looks back and tells Nell to run. Or how Theo’s room and clothes are magically made whole by the end. Since Nell doesn’t look back, and the book doesn’t explain what Theo saw, it’s possible she didn’t see anything at all. The latter is harder to explain away though. The part where Nell dances through the house literally gave me goosebumps. I had forgotten that that scene from the show was inspired by the book.
“She had taken to wondering lately, during these swift-counted years, what had been done with all those wasted summer days; how could she have spent them so wantonly? I am foolish, she told herself early every summer, I am very foolish; I am grown up now and know the values of things. Nothing is ever really wasted, she believed sensibly, even one's childhood, and then each year, one summer morning, the warm wind would come down the city street where she walked and she would be touched with the little cold thought: I have let more time go by.”
But either way, zeroing in on their possible romantic relationship misses the real point - Eleanor’s isolation. She has spent her life as a doormat to first her mother and then her sister, and she has never had friends. And then she arrives at Hill House and latches on to Theo - this charismatic cool girl, who is an instant friend to her due to forced proximity. Eleanor is finally part of a group, happy to just be included she does spend more time with Theo, but Luke and the doctor spend more time together as well, as that is what is considered proper. As time goes on, Theo becomes suspicious of Nell, and frankly annoyed by her. Socially awkward Nell becomes more and more para pod that she is being pushed out of the group, and clings on harder.
It’s still one of my favorites. I listened to it last night at work. I can never decide if the house is even haunted, or if Nell is doing everything with her telekinetic powers. Pretty much everything that happens could be explained by this and her ever slipping grasp on reality, other than the part where Theo looks back and tells Nell to run. Or how Theo’s room and clothes are magically made whole by the end. Since Nell doesn’t look back, and the book doesn’t explain what Theo saw, it’s possible she didn’t see anything at all. The latter is harder to explain away though. The part where Nell dances through the house literally gave me goosebumps. I had forgotten that that scene from the show was inspired by the book.
“She had taken to wondering lately, during these swift-counted years, what had been done with all those wasted summer days; how could she have spent them so wantonly? I am foolish, she told herself early every summer, I am very foolish; I am grown up now and know the values of things. Nothing is ever really wasted, she believed sensibly, even one's childhood, and then each year, one summer morning, the warm wind would come down the city street where she walked and she would be touched with the little cold thought: I have let more time go by.”