Instead of focusing on paranormality, Jackson conveys a “vast intimacy with everyday evil, with the pathological undertones of prosaic human configurations: a village, a family, a self”. The novella disinterred the wickedness in normality, cataloguing the ways in which repression tips into psychosis, persecution, and paranoia, into cruelty and its masochistic, injury-cherishing twin.
Synopsis
Set in a secluded town, the novel chronicles the lives of the Blackwood sisters, Merricat and Constance, who are both outcasts in their community. Despite the antagonism they face from the townspeople, the sisters are able to find comfort in each other and in their ancestral home, where they live in relative seclusion.
Through the character of Merricat, Jackson examines the psychological impacts of isolation and persecution. Merricat is an eccentric and paranoid young woman who has been ostracized by the townspeople, who view her as a witch. Due to her isolation, Merricat's mental state begins to deteriorate, leading to an increase in her paranoia and delusions. Despite this, she remains fiercely protective of her sister and their home, and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe from the outside world.
Jackson's incorporation of Gothic elements, such as the eerie and dilapidated Blackwood estate and the supernatural beliefs of the townspeople, adds to the novel's atmosphere of unease and isolation. The novel also explores the consequences of societal persecution, as the townspeople's mistreatment of the Blackwood sisters ultimately leads to tragedy.
Genre and narrative conventions
Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a work of gothic fiction, known for its eerie and uncanny atmosphere. The novel explores themes of isolation and madness through the eyes of the protagonist, Merricat Blackwood, who lives with her sister, Constance. The Blackwood family's remote, crumbling house serves as a symbol of their own decay and isolation, adding to the novel's gothic mood. Jackson also uses elements of the supernatural, such as the mention of Merricat's ability to "put things right" with her mind, and the use of symbols, such as the black cat, to depict the relationship between the natural and the unnatural.
The risk of nature’s revolting is challenged through the construction of Merricat as the embodiment of sympathetic magic — naturalising the unnatural. Particularly, she confronts nature’s anger through raw and natural elements: soil and leaves being scattered, fire being lit up. The fire symbolically incinerates the female stronghold and feminine power, preventing it from being invaded.
The distinction between reality and fantasy is also blurred, which only adds to the sense of unease. The house symbolises both the physical and mental isolation of the Blackwood sisters, and the way in which they have cut themselves off from the outside world. By characterising Merricat as the antithesis of her sister, the archetypal fairytale “princess”, Jackson also highlights the themes of repression and rebellion, which are central to the Gothic genre.
Constance Blackwood is characterised as hypersensitive and afraid, whereas Merricat Blackwood, the fable’s first-person narrator, is attuned to “nature, to the rhythm of the season, and to death”. As the culprit in the unresolved crime that takes centrality in the narrative, she challenges patriarchal institution and the law of proprietorship, acting as the antithesis of a docile, domestic woman. Merricat’s ingenuous and defiant voice helps foreground the disintegration permeating the story.
Themes
The persecution of outcasts and its consequences
The novel's isolated setting and its exploration of the psychological effects of isolation and persecution on the main character, Merricat, highlight the ostracisation of those who exhibit ‘otherness’. The protagonist and her sister Constance, who is afflicted by an anxiety disorder, are strongly attached, and their isolation is a defence mechanism against the social norms and rules propagated by their community. The characters' voluntary seclusion is partly a product of internalised class antagonism and snobbery. Manifestations of this include the physical barrier of the fence and their derisive attitudes towards the village folk, reinforcing their physical and emotional distance from the outside world.
The tragic consequences of the townspeople's treatment of the Blackwood sisters further underscore the theme of the dangers of societal persecution. The novel suggests that isolation can lead to madness and self-destruction, as the Blackwood sisters are unable to cope with their isolation and gradually become more and more isolated from each other and from reality. Female self-sufficiency, Jackson suggests, specifically women's forceful establishment of power over their own lives, threatens a society in which men hold primary power and leads inevitably to confrontation. This also echoes the Salem witch trials—there are allusions to the persecution of witches throughout the novel, do keep an eye out for them!
Jackson, through the theme of persecution, also challenges the boundary between good and evil, underscoring the coexistence of polarities. This deconstruction reframes the conventional, myopic view of the world and calls into question the static nature of moralism. Merricat, for instance, embodies as much innocence as she does “evil”, as seen in her “wish[es]” that the villages would all be “dead”. Here, Jackson suggests that morality serves as an ideological veil, obscuring the rigid nature of social structure and averting anarchy.
Witchcraft and sympathetic as symbols for feminine power
In "We Have Always Lived in the Castle," magic and witchcraft are presented as a means of coping with and resisting the difficulties and isolation faced by the main characters. For Merricat, her practice of sympathetic magic can be seen as a way of trying to exert some control over her circumstances and to find a sense of agency in a world that often seems unfair and unpredictable. By engaging in magical practices, Merricat is empowered to create some sense of order and meaning in her life, and to connect with a world that is beyond the narrow-mindedness and judgment of the villagers. Magic and witchcraft characterise resistance and subversion of the expectations and norms of their society.
In the context of post-war America, the dichotomy between the physical and ethereal or spiritual realm also enables Jackson’s critique of shifting social mores as a result of the emerging sexual revolution, where traditional values are rejected in favour of female freedom. The narrative presents a physical world ruled by social institutions like patrilineal laws, marital systems, and biological determinism—ideals that defined traditional systems of belief. In this archetypal view, men are considered physically superior to women, relegating women's roles to the domestic sphere and linking them closely with nature. Domestic duties and their association with the natural world are trivialised as ephemeral, and intangible, and thus inferior.
However, the Romantic perspective celebrates the grandeur and sublimity of nature, which elevates women's status as its embodiments and aligning them with mythical beings. Thus, the sisters' ability to access the spiritual or ethereal realm is not a weakness but a source of spiritual power. Moreover, the narrative makes use of unreliable narration to infuse elements of consciousness and psychic power, notably through Merricat's homicidal thoughts. The concept of sympathetic magic is a prominent motif, with Merricat exercising it as a means of personal and symbolic resistance.
Here are some examples:
- The act of nailing a notebook to a tree, an action taken by Merricat, is a symbol of her anti-capitalist stance. It represents her rejection of the emotionless quid pro quo transactions and tokenistic favours typical of capitalism, as embodied by her cousin Charles.
- Merricat's act of planting things represents a paradoxical blend of nurturing and deadly force, a powerful symbol of her connection to both life and death.
- Her link with the moon, considered a feminine symbol, further strengthens her status as a rebellious female character.
- Arson serves as a tool for radical purification from evil. It marks a definitive break from the oppressive patriarchal stronghold and sets the stage for a new beginning for the women in the story.
The representation of masculinity and power
The novel also provides a critique of the causes and consequences of female victimisation and alienation (which have been explored briefly in the previous section). Jackson subverts masculine authority from the outset of the novel, which has already suffered a defeat at the hands of the protagonist through her poisoning. This poisoning has resulted in a transfer of power from Blackwood men to Blackwood women. The victim, John Blackwood, is a patriarch who "took pride in his table, his family, his position in the world" (p. 47). His preservation of wealth and material possessions is represented through the narrator’s description of the ways "he used to record the names of people who owed him money, and people who ought, he thought, to do favors for him". Acts of altruisms are replaced by quid pro quo transactions; John views all loans as financial investments and benefits the town’s scarcity of resources. Jackson establishes John as the archetypal patriarch and proprietor that dominates society.
Julian, John’s brother, is characterised as the antithesis of John, dependent on his brother's charity. He is emasculated by the lack of authority and the failure to accumulate private wealth. In a society that defines wealth as a male prerogative, Julian is outcasted, rendered both legally and symbolically powerless. His invalid state confirms that financial failure for men leads to powerlessness, dependency, emasculation. However, whilst his emasculation ensures the empowerment of Constance and Merricat, his insistent denial of Merricat’s existence is a reminder of her invisibility to the Blackwood men.
Womanhood and the treatment of the domestic space
Jackson uses Gothic tropes to marry the sanitised domestic space with psychological entrapment and horrors. Merricat and Constance “have always lived” in the castle, suggesting a sort of entrapment within the space. After her opening describing her character, Merricat remarks on the day to day life inside the structure with Constance and her family:
"We always put things back where they belonged. We dusted and swept under tables and chairs and beds and pictures and rugs and lamps, but we left them where they were… Blackwoods had always lived in our house, and kept their things in order… and so our house was built up with layers of Blackwood property weighting it, and keeping it steady against the world (Jackson 421)"
In this passage, the collective “we” is inescapable. The narrative reads almost like a cleaning manual, dusting and sweeping various locations. Jackson’s use of domestic imagery alludes to the duties of female members in the Blackwood family – constantly working to maintain the order of the household and its façade, but lacking power and involvement.
This depiction of domesticity is juxtaposed against Merricat’s rebellion, which culminates in her subversion of the Blackwood patriarchy. By establishing Constance as the head of the family through the murder, she replaces masculine power with feminine power. Constance and Merricat are contrasted in Jackson’s initial depiction, where Constance represents the domestic and traditional, and Merricat represents the creative and unrestrained. This depiction, however, is challenged through Jackson’s deconstruction of the domestic. Domestic tasks are portrayed as creative tasks instead of mundane, repetitive routinely chores. Constance, despite being relegated to the domestic sphere, discerns creativity. Similarly, Merricat’s rebellion is paired with self-imposed rules and insistence on routine, which helps Jackson further eradicate binary oppositions and rigid characterisations.
Female oppression and the patriarchy
Jackson also alludes to patriarchal mores throughout the novella. These restrictions disenfranchise the female characters, serving as mechanisms that limit their freedom and power. The boundaries set by patriarchal strongholds, although seemingly imposing, are not insurmountable and are shown to be fallible within the narrative. The character of Merricat, for instance, emerges as a counter-cultural figure. Endowed with magical qualities and supernatural powers, she becomes a symbol of resistance against patriarchal control.
The female characters respond to their oppressive circumstances by replacing the old order with an alternative, self-sufficient economy. The moon, the house, and their routine become symbols of this new, independent domain. Further, they leverage magic and psychic violence as tools to defy and disrupt patriarchal norms. In this light, Jackson's work not only illuminates the pervasive oppression inherent in a patriarchal society but also highlights the potential for resistance and subversion.
Patriarchy in Jackson's narrative serves as a powerful instrument of oppression, realised through social institutions, structural mechanisms, and physical subjugation. Women are forced to repress their anger towards patriarchal society and internalise its expectations, as seen in characters like Constance and other members of the Blackwood family.
A critique of capitalism?
Jackson also presents a critique of capitalism, as evident in the hierarchy and distinction between the wealthy, aristocratic Blackwood family and the poorer, working-class townspeople. The Blackwood family's history of wealth and privilege is portrayed through their large, grandiose mansion and their pride in their family's legacy and proprietorship of the town. This distinction is further emphasised by the antagonism between the Blackwoods and the townspeople, represented through representations of the Blackwood’s proprietorship and snobbery towards others, resulting in persecution and isolation. The family is conscious of their snobbery towards the village, and simultaneously conscious of the role persecution plays in confirming their elevated self-image. The forewords of the novella refer to this double confession of culpability, a typical feature in Jackson’s texts. She propounds that, to revel in injury is a form of exultation, and to suffer exile from conformist groups, is not an implicit moral victory, but a form of bohemian one-upmanship.
Merricat is aware of such animosity:
"“The people of the village disliked the fact that we always had plenty of money to pay for whatever we wanted; we had taken our money out of the bank, of course, and I knew they talked about the money hidden in our house, as though it were great heaps of golden coins and Constance and Uncle Julian and I sat in the evenings, our library books forgotten, and played with it, running our hands through it and counting and stacking and tumbling it, jeering and mocking behind locked doors.”"
The reference to “money hidden in [their] house” and the archaic comparison to “great heaps of golden coins” allude to the economic disparity between the people and the Blackwoods, which results in class antagonism. Private property is a falsifier of economic relations, and the mansion symbolises the family’s ability to accrue wealth. The perceived prestige attached with the Blackwood family’s ownership of property and wealth creates divisions within society and fuels conflict.
