Shirley Jackson, in her two gothic novels, reflects the theme of persecution and isolation on characters. This includes the two female protagonists Merricat & Eleanor. They have both been alienated or marginalized by their family & society. Jackson uses this novel to represent her own feelings and agoraphobia.
Jacksons’ 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House is widely considered to be his most successful and well-known work. The novel was inspired by psychic reader reports in a similar nineteenth-century setting. It focuses on four characters who have different reasons for temporarily living in the Hill House. Unexplained happenings occur when the Hill House is present. The house is thought to be possessed by supernatural forces. Eleanor who is the heroine of the novel, is the one most affected. She experiences more severe and sometimes fatal disturbances. She abandoned her family for the purpose of living in a house with a few other people to get away from her domesticity. The hostile environment she found in the house, however, possessed her. She became physically as well as mentally isolated. There is no way to determine if her suicide was caused by emotional instability or supernatural influences from Hill House.
Jackson published her last novel in 1962. It focuses on the Blackwoods and the ongoing torment of the remaining three members. Merricat in particular is subjected to taunting by the villagers as she is their only means of communication with the outside. This, despite them believing that Constance had poisoned deceased family members. Merricat is aware of the villagers’ hostility and wishes them torture and death. Merricat has a strong protective nature towards Constance. Constance suffers from agoraphobia. Merricat suspects anyone who tries to interfere in Constance’s life. She reacts violently when her estranged aunt provokes her. The house is then set on fire. They help resolve the problem but continue to torture their cousin. The villagers later regret their actions and offer food as a form of peace offering. The two children choose to isolate themselves from society.
The Haunting of Hill House focuses on psychological isolation. The Haunting of Hill House focuses more on physical isolation. Eleanor’s isolation in the Haunting leads to her death in the Haunting. Merricat, on the other hand, welcomes it.
Merricat speaks out about herself at the start of this novel. She mentions a mushroom that is deadly.
“I love my sister Constance. Richard Plantagenet. And Amanita Phalloides. The death-cup mushroom.”
Merricat likes many things, but mentions an odd mushroom. Her liking for the Death-cup Mushroom is an indication of how she poisoned everyone in the Blackwood Family. The Blackwoods are socially outcasts and alienated by the villagers. Merricat does not like visiting the village as she is constantly taunted and reminded of her family’s past by village children.
“Merricat,” Connie said, “would you like some tea?”
Merricat, I’m poisoned, you said.
Merricat, Connie said, would you like me to put you to sleep?
The boneyard is ten feet down!”
This nursery song is used to suggest Constance Merricats older sibling was responsible for the poisoning at the Blackwood Estate several years back. The entire Blackwood family died, except Constance Merricat, Uncle Julian and Constance. Merricat is kept away from the village by villagers who terrorize and taunt her. Shirley Jackson uses the rhyme as a foreshadowing of the truth, which is that Merricat was the one who poisoned the water and not Constance.
When Merricat visits the village, her actions are very childlike.
Crossing the street (lost one turn) and “I was playing a game as I did my shopping”.
This image suggests that she thinks of the village in terms of a gaming board. As if she made a mistake in a video game, it could affect her negatively. This suggests that she is not her friend and that villagers could be at an advantage if they make a bad move.
Shirley Jackson’s novel, Merricat, uses the first-person point of view to reveal Merricat’s inner monologue. It is dark and appears childish. This suggests Merricat may be the real poisoner. She has dark thoughts about the village and wishes for them to die.
“I wish they were dead” or “I walk on their bodies”
Merricat repeats it several times, as if to emphasize her determination that this be true. Her sinister inner monologue prefigures Merricat being held responsible for her family’s deaths. The monologue also highlights Merricat’s desire to be totally isolated from the society. She wants this torture to end, but she also seems to want revenge. This disturbing imagery highlights her revengeful and gruesome thoughts, as she appears to want to walk over their corpses. The Haunting of Hill House characters are more isolated psychologically. Jackson stresses that at the start and the end, the characters were reliant on themselves psychologically to not be vulnerable.
“Whatever entered there alone”
Jackson uses the same phrase again to emphasize how the character’s isolation is a circular process. The word “whatever”, used in the sentence, implies that not only humans but also supernatural beings could enter. Jackson asks Eleanor to repeat the same line throughout the novel.
“The lovers meet at the end of their journey”
This line from William Shakespeare’s The Twelfth Night predicts Eleanor’s life, as she will meet Hill House and die at the end of her journey.
The use of symbolism in these two novels is repeated. Shirley Jackson uses the houses in We Have Always Lived in the Castle to represent imprisonment in both novels.
“Hill House stood against the hills by itself, holding darkness in its interior.”
The house personifies isolation and disconnection from society. This is a sign that the house has abnormal characteristics and is not connected to the outside world. “Holding dark within” suggests that the house is a prison for evil.
“The gates have been locked.” “The gates are locked.” Hill house is known for its hospitality. They don’t like to let their guests leave.
The house could represent the family. It is personified as a home that welcomes people and wants them to stay. Eleanor was a mother who spent most of her time caring for her. She wanted to be free. In the same way that gates can keep people away from enclosed spaces and prevent them from entering, gates can also keep people in. Eleanor was killed because she tried to flee the house.
Merricat sets fire to Blackwood House and the sisters take up residence in the rooms that remain. Villagers that visit the house regularly to deliver food comment on its ruined appearance.
“Now it appears to be a tomb”
The Blackwood House is filled with death, as the corpses rot in a tomb. Uncle Julian died from the fire, and there have been many poisonings. Tombs can also be confined and sealed off from the outside, which implies that the house and sisters are isolated.
Merricat’s desire for complete isolation is symbolized in the Moon, a symbol which appears repeatedly in We Always Lived in the Castle.
“On the Moon, we wore rubies and feathers on our hands.” Gold spoons were used on the moon.
Merricat’s wish to escape the village and her surroundings is similar to the fact that the moon has no inhabitants. This is an unrealistic and childish dream. Most of all, she wants to be isolated on the lunar surface.