I believe that the occurrences in The Haunting of Hill House are due to Eleanor's imagination. I don't believe in object cathexis or person cathexis. For example, none of the other characters ever react the way Eleanor does to the manifestations. The story is told from Eleanor's point of view, therefore, the other characters are having the same reactions as her, in her mind. I believe their reactions are due to Eleanor's freak-outs. For instance, the night when Theodora had to sleep in Eleanor's room. I think Theodora had the panicked look on her face because Eleanor was restless. and screaming in her sleep, not because a ghost was banging on the door. Notice whenever the "ghost" knocks on the doors, Eleanor is in some state of sleep either before or after the incident. I also believe that Eleanor is paranoid in the first place. She is always worried about what other people think of her and what they are saying. When she, Theo and Luke took their walk she was very upset that Theo and Luke stopped following her. For the rest of the story she was untrusting of them. I was believing everything in the story, when in fact, I now realize that a lot of it was fragments of Eleanor's imagination. I don't think the house is haunted. It may be a damp, dreary place, but I think all the manifestations are in Eleanor's mind. I'm not even sure if Theo's clothes had blood all over them, because when Eleanor left, Theo said that she did not need Eleanor's clothes. So Theo could have just borrowed a sweater or two during their stay. As for me, I don't think there was any cathexis going on and the "events" as well as the growing uneasiness in the other characters where due to Eleanor's paranoia and trauma.

I believe that theory should be considered in literary texts, not necessarily applied. The texts are meant for people to interpret in their own way, but added information is always a good thing. If the writer intends for people to view their work in a certain way, they should create their work in an arrangement that conveys their point. I don't think applying theory to a piece is detrimental, because it is just a theory after all. If you are looking at a piece open-mindedly, you should be able to draw your own conclusions with or without a theory behind them.