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August 2009: Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- Thread starter Libra
- Start date
-Carlos-
New Member
I totally adored this story - the characters, setting, everything. Jackson was truly a master writer. I read it (and re-read it) but was not scared. I was facinated. Her style of writer is unique. If it is the first time you are exposed to Jackson, it will not be your last. Good pick.
beer good
Well-Known Member
OK, wow.
A few scattered thoughts; spoilers throughout.
According to some people, children are essentially sociopaths. They are unable to think of others as completely "real"; they may love them, fear them, depend on them, but they think of themselves as the centre, unable to fully understand how others work. They engage in magical thinking; "if I do this, then I will keep this from happening." Merricat keeps dreaming of going to the moon - the book was written in 1962, when going to the moon was still something for science fiction or fairy tales. They lash out at things they fear or think are unfair.
In short: there's a very good reason the townspeople speak in playground chants as they tear the house to pieces.
The reveal of who the murderer is isn't unexpected, but damn, it packs an emotional wallop. In one scene, it essentially shifts the focus of the entire novel - not because we necessarily believed Merricat to be completely innocent before, but because it essentially makes her sister the protagonist of the novel.
Like Jonathan Lethem notes in the foreword, sexuality is conspicuous by its absence. Merricat, at 18, is still a child, and while it's tempting to read her as the victim of abuse who struck back - because really, the alternative, that she was just a brat who got sick of getting sent to her room and so she killed her family, is even scarier - there's precious little text to support it. Since the whole thing is told from Merricat's perspective (and man, what a character she is), the why never gets any objective explanation; as a narrator, she's completely unreliable (note how she tells us what happens between Constance and Julian, even when she's not in the room?) She's constantly reshaping her life into a fairy tale or a game with fixed rules where she's the centre and everyone else is expected to play their own, fixed part.
We Have Always Lived In The Castle is a tragedy; whether it's a tragedy about man's goodness or evilness, or just about the way we sometimes fail completely to deal with trauma, is up for debate. But it's a delightful, chilling, bleak, playful read. Not completely flawless, but it grabbed me;
A few scattered thoughts; spoilers throughout.
According to some people, children are essentially sociopaths. They are unable to think of others as completely "real"; they may love them, fear them, depend on them, but they think of themselves as the centre, unable to fully understand how others work. They engage in magical thinking; "if I do this, then I will keep this from happening." Merricat keeps dreaming of going to the moon - the book was written in 1962, when going to the moon was still something for science fiction or fairy tales. They lash out at things they fear or think are unfair.
In short: there's a very good reason the townspeople speak in playground chants as they tear the house to pieces.
The reveal of who the murderer is isn't unexpected, but damn, it packs an emotional wallop. In one scene, it essentially shifts the focus of the entire novel - not because we necessarily believed Merricat to be completely innocent before, but because it essentially makes her sister the protagonist of the novel.
Uncle Julian thinks Mary Katherine died of neglect during the trial, and neglect seems to be a theme here; though arguably, the one who's died is really Constance (hello there, symbolic name) who to protect both her sister from others and herself from the realisation of what her sister did has walled them off, taken the guilt on herself - even going so far as to have Julian learn the "official" story and recite it to guests - and frozen them in time, preserved all three of them in a world where Merricat never has to grow up, uncle Julian never begins a new chapter, and she herself just keeps the house in order since she's unable to leave it. And as much of a selfish asshole as Charles is, he almost snaps Constance out of her fugue, to heartbreaking effect. But only almost.
Like Jonathan Lethem notes in the foreword, sexuality is conspicuous by its absence. Merricat, at 18, is still a child, and while it's tempting to read her as the victim of abuse who struck back - because really, the alternative, that she was just a brat who got sick of getting sent to her room and so she killed her family, is even scarier - there's precious little text to support it. Since the whole thing is told from Merricat's perspective (and man, what a character she is), the why never gets any objective explanation; as a narrator, she's completely unreliable (note how she tells us what happens between Constance and Julian, even when she's not in the room?) She's constantly reshaping her life into a fairy tale or a game with fixed rules where she's the centre and everyone else is expected to play their own, fixed part.
We Have Always Lived In The Castle is a tragedy; whether it's a tragedy about man's goodness or evilness, or just about the way we sometimes fail completely to deal with trauma, is up for debate. But it's a delightful, chilling, bleak, playful read. Not completely flawless, but it grabbed me;