The Haunting of Hill House: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

Hill House is a “place of despair,” a house which seems almost “awake” to Eleanor. She feels the house is “without kindness” and was never meant to be inhabited by humans. There is something about it which tells her it will not be changed unless it is “destroyed.” Eleanor wishes she would have turned back at the gate, and though a voice inside her tells her to leave, she convinces herself to press on.

As Eleanor puts her foot on the bottom step up to the front door, she finds that doing so takes a great deal of strength. She tries to sing a small song to herself—the refrain “Journeys end in lovers meeting” lifts her mood as she approaches the “enormous and dark” manor. She uses a heavy knocker in the shape of a child’s face to rap at the door. A woman answers it—Eleanor realizes this must be Mrs. Dudley, the caretaker’s wife. As the woman lets Eleanor inside, Eleanor senses an “air of dirtiness” about the woman in spite of her tidy appearance and clean apron. She realizes the murky energy she’s feeling is a product of Hill House itself.

Eleanor asks Mrs. Dudley to show her to her room, willing herself not to cry—she feels abject horror as she looks around the house’s main hall, which is “overfull of dark wood.” Mrs. Dudley wordlessly begins climbing the stairs, and Eleanor follows, clutching her suitcase. At the top of the stairs, on the second floor, Eleanor looks around and gets the impression that the upper floors of the house were finished hastily during its construction—the ornate carvings found in the wood on the first floor are mirrored upstairs in a hasty, deranged manner. Mrs. Dudley shows Eleanor into her room—"the blue room”—which is filled with a “clashing disharmony” just like the rest of Hill House.

As Eleanor sets her suitcase down, Mrs. Dudley robotically explains the schedule at Hill House. Mrs. Dudley states that she sets dinner out at six o’clock sharp and leaves shortly thereafter. Breakfast is ready at nine o’clock each morning. Mrs. Dudley and Mr. Dudley live in town, six miles away, and never stay on the grounds after dark. She is sure to tell Eleanor that there won’t be anyone around should she or the other guests need help—and no one in town would “even hear [them] in the night.” No resident of Hillsdale will come near the manor.

Mrs. Dudley leaves the room. Even though she doesn’t want to stay in the “awful” house and is off-put by the blue room’s “chillingly wrong” atmosphere and dimensions, Eleanor tries to shake off her fear and get in a cheery mood as she unpacks her suitcase. She admires the clothes she’s brought along—including several pairs of slacks, which her mother, she knows, would have disapproved of. As soon as Eleanor is finished unpacking, she feels a sense of fear and dread creep in again—she is relieved when she hears the sound of a car approaching, and another person entering the front doors of Hill House.

Eleanor runs downstairs to greet the new arrival—a woman who introduces herself as Theodora. Despite having just set foot in the house, Theodora is clearly already experiencing the same fear and dread Eleanor is. Eleanor introduces herself and leads Theodora upstairs to the green bedroom adjacent to hers. The two are connected by a shared bathroom. Mrs. Dudley comes upstairs with the two women, and begins giving Theodora the same speech about the meal schedule she gave Eleanor in the same flat tone.

After Mrs. Dudley leaves, Eleanor shows Theodora her room, and the two discuss how hungry they are. Despite how “terrible” the house is, Theodora and Eleanor quickly bond over their shared horror of their new surroundings. Theodora suggests they go outside and explore the grounds for a little while before dark, and Eleanor puts on a red sweater and matching sandals. Theodora changes, too, into a bright yellow shirt. Eleanor feels envious of Theodora’s beauty.

Eleanor and Theodora step out onto the veranda and take in the expansive grounds of Hill House. The house is aptly named—behind the manse there are many green, rolling hills. Theodora predicts that she will be terrified of the hills falling down on the house during the entirety of her stay at Hill House. Eleanor becomes afraid that Theodora is going to pack up and leave, but Theodora excitedly runs off onto the lawn, calling to Eleanor to come help her find a brook somewhere on the property where they can have a picnic.

The girls follow a path through the trees until they reach a pretty stream. They lie down in the grass together, at peace for their first time since setting foot on the Hill House grounds. As the girls discuss their childhoods, they find similarities their lives have shared—Theodora jokingly declares them “cousins.” The girls’ laughter is cut short, though, when Theodora spots something moving in the grass and grows frightened. She clutches Eleanor’s hand, but after a moment declares that she must have just seen a rabbit. Eleanor suggests they hurry back up to the house in case Doctor Montague and the others have arrived. As they walk back, Eleanor pauses, and tells Theodora that she’s afraid to set foot in the house. Theodora embraces Eleanor and encourages her to have courage—she jokingly adds that they can’t be separated now, just when they’ve realized they’re “cousins.”