How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"[…]: 'Honor thy father and thy mother, Daughter, authors of thy being, upon whom a heavy charge has been laid, that they lead their child in innocence and righteousness along the fearful narrow path to everlasting bliss, and render her up at last to her God a pious and a virtuous soul; […]'" (6.18)
In the novel, parents are often portrayed as domineering control freaks. Hugh Crain tries to control his daughter by means of horrifying bedtime stories, and Eleanor's mother controlled her daughter's life by means of her illness. Even Mrs. Sanderson tries to control Luke's life, and she's just an aunt.
Quote #8
"What do you want?" Arthur read.
"Mother," Mrs. Montague read back.
"Why?"
"Child."
"Where is your mother?"
"Home."
"Where is your home?"
"Lost. Lost. Lost. […]" (7.125-132)
Here we link the themes of "The Home" and "Family." The home and the family (mother) become one, and the "ghost's" sense of loss comes from the disappearance of each.
Quote #9
"You [Dr. Montague] and these young people may rest, of course. Perhaps you do not feel the urgency which I [Mrs. Montague] do, the terrible compulsion to aid whatever poor souls wander restlessly here; perhaps you find me foolish in my sympathy for them, perhaps I am even ludicrous in your eyes because I can spare a tear for a lost abandoned soul, left without any helping hand; pure love—" (8.94)
Mrs. Montague joins the surrogate family as a comedic type of mother figure. She acts out of a sense of love (or so she says), but you get the feeling she's doing more harm than good for the occupants of Hill House. Perhaps Hugh Crain and Eleanor's mother were similarly misguided. Or maybe they were just jerks.