I think, personally, and could be totally wrong, that that is the way she actually saw it. It's in her eyes, from her perspective.
I think those are the "real" Shirley Jackson. Or the way she would have liked it to be vis a vis her insufferable, snobbish and definitely not in her league husband.
I have always had a great deal of empathy and respect for her, and after reading the various books out on her, tho I haven't read the latest one, (I need to), I developed a great deal of distaste, which remains, for Stanley Hyman.