Gossip says she hanged herself from the turret on the tower, but when you have a house like Hill House with a tower and a turret, gossip would hardly allow you to hang yourself anywhere else.
Shirley JacksonRead
We moved together very slowly toward the house, trying to understand its ugliness and ruin and shame.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the idea of confronting and understanding the imperfections and flaws in something or someone.
In this quote, Shirley Jackson expresses a contemplative journey toward a house that embodies ugliness and ruin, symbolizing deeper themes of shame and discomfort. The slow movement toward the house suggests a careful examination of this ugliness, implying that acknowledging and understanding imperfections is a necessary part of confronting reality and perhaps revealing hidden aspects of beauty or truth within it.
Themes
UglinessUnderstandingShameRuinBeauty
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about art and architecture, this quote could illustrate how beauty can coexist with imperfection.
More from Shirley Jackson
All quotes βIt watches," he added suddenly. "The house. It watches every move you make.
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There had not been this many words sounded in our house for a long time, and it was going to take a while to clean them out.
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Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.
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I can't help it when people are frightened," says Merricat. "I always want to frighten them more.
Shirley JacksonRead
I was pretending that I did not speak their language; on the moon we spoke a soft, liquid tongue, and sang in the starlight, looking down on the dead dried world.
Shirley JacksonRead
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