How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
[…]; I will find a little house, or maybe an apartment like hers. I will see her every day, and we will go searching together for lovely things—gold-trimmed dishes, and a white cat, and a sugar Easter egg, and a cup of stars. I will not be frightened or alone any more; I will call myself just Eleanor. (8.71)
Eleanor's freedom comes from her fantasies, in which she projects herself out of the constraints of her current life situation. Is that real freedom?
Quote #8
Eleanor sat, looking down at her hands, and listened to the sounds of the house. Somewhere upstairs a door swung quietly shut; a bird touched the tower briefly and flew off. In the kitchen the stove was settling and cooling, with little soft creakings. (8.157)
At this point, it becomes almost impossible to tell if Eleanor is free or confined in Hill House. On the one hand, she seems freer than ever before, with her heightened sense of awareness and all. But that awareness only comes from within the confines of her home—and what a "home" it is.