Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Sense of Belonging Mind Map”

After discussing the psychological effects of isolation, students design a mind map portraying the impact of social isolation in The Haunting of Hill House and how that isolation created Eleanor’s final circumstances.

Create a mind map presentation that portrays Eleanor’s state of mind throughout the novel. Include details from Eleanor’s development before, during, and at the end of the novel, and how her circumstances might have been different if she had had a place to belong.

• Review the text of The Haunting of Hill House and make a list of the ways in which Eleanor is isolated from others. Consider her relationships with her mother, sister, and brother-in-law and the years she has spent caring for others without creating a space or partner relationship of her own.
• Using a graphic design tool or pen and paper, create a mind map with Eleanor at its center. List details of Eleanor’s character surrounding her image or the symbol you choose to represent her.
• Surrounding the image of Eleanor, create at least five bubbles that include evidence of her gradual possession.