Merricat Mystery And Suspense

Having an engaging or suspenseful plot is important, as it keeps readers interested and looking forward to the remainder of the story. Jackson succeeds

“We Have Always lived In The Castle” is a novel in which Mary Katherine Blackwood (known as Merricat), the narrator, presents herself and reveals that all of her relatives are dead, except for her sister Constance. Mary Katherine Blackwood, the main character, begins the novel with her story on the day she brought home the library books that still were on her shelf, long overdue. During that part of the novel, it was Merricat’s job to go into town for groceries, but she doesn’t like socializing with the villagers, who are hostile towards her. Merricat tells the reader in the beginning of the novel that, “Everyone else in my family is dead,” (Ch.1). Just by the narrator including this quote made the readers think that this novel would have a direct tone, which means that it had a tone that was very dark, grim and mysterious.

In the novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” there are many extremely important themes, such as domesticity. This novel focuses heavily on domesticity because it portrays characters who are highly devoted to their home. In this novel, Constance Blackwood, Mary Katherine Blackwood, and Julian Blackwood are three of the only Blackwood’s which are still alive. However, the cause of death of the rest of the Blackwood’s causes many of the townspeople to hate Constance and Mary Katherine Blackwood especially. Although very hated in the village, the two girls and their uncle Julian remain in

First of all, John, the narrator’s husband, has taken them to a colonial mansion for the summer, to help her improve her health and state of wellbeing, yet he seems to dismiss her own opinions about her health as well as her feelings about her fragile state and her thoughts on where to stay in

The inner workings of the mind are always wired to be apprehensive towards deceit, especially when this deceit is coming from the mind of a murderer. Shirley Jackson’s gothic novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle revolves around the obscure life of a deceitful 18 year-old girl, Mary Katherine Blackwood. Mary Katherine, nicknamed Merricat, narrates the novel and lives with her older sister Constance as well as her wheelchair-bound uncle Julian. The novel tells the story of Merricat’s isolated life after the mysterious poisoning of the remaining Blackwoods, and how this “incident” affects character interaction within their household and the rest of their village. The mystery genre structure along with Merricat’s unreliable narration creates the central conflict of the novel, in which readers must look beyond the the information the narrator provides to discover the truth about the foregrounded murders as well as the plot of the novel.

In society today minorities often find themselves confined within institutionalized systems of adversity. Women particularly often find themselves oppressed and their voices silenced, denied from making their own decisions regarding their lives. The blame for this can be primarily attributed to the patriarchal forces that dominate society. This is exactly what character Mary Katherine Blackwood, called Merricat, tries to dissolve in Shirley Jackson’s final novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle. She maintains this idea of an escape to the “moon” throughout the novel. The lunar philosophy encompassing Merricat’s mind is one that would finally free her from the confines of the patriarchal-dominated society surrounding her. The Blackwood Estate

In We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Jackson shows that her protagonist, Merricat, faces severe distrust when she goes into town for books and supplies. She even wishes “that I could walk home across the sky instead of through the village,” which shows that she dislikes the townspeople as well. After Merricat burns part of the house down, the locals are briefly bold, temporarily turning their fear into rage as they destroy the house and harass the sisters. The rage quickly dissipates back into fear, and the villagers apologize with offerings of food.

In the 1960s, as displayed in the novel, social roles are a prominent influence in how people act in society. Despite the supremacy of these roles, the Blackwood family disregards these standards, acting out of norm for what women would do during this time period. This disregard for social roles displays criticism from an outsider's perspective since Merricat and her sister, Constance, do not follow the set beliefs in society and in fact show that social roles are not a relevant aspect in life. This neglect for roles can be seen in how the two sisters act after having their house destroyed by the townspeople and their family friend comes to invite them to her home, “‘They cannot be left alone,

“My Grandma the Poisoner” is about a grandmother that has more to her than what it seems. Growing up during the Great Depression, she has many unique ways to be able to save money. Everyone is afraid to eat her cooking because, mysteriously, everyone around her seems to die. Although it causes her causes her a life of heartbreak, the author believes that through her unconventional cooking, she poisons and kills all of her past lovers and tries to kill her own children and grandchildren. The grandmother in “My Grandma the Poisoner” finds fulfillment in the feeling of grief when a loved one dies.

The narrator's declining mental health is reflected through the characteristics of the house she is trapped in and her husband, while trying to protect her, is actually destroying her. The narrator of the story goes with her doctor/husband to stay in a colonial mansion for the summer. The house is supposed to

Jackson creates suspense during her short story by dragging out dialogue and certain points in her writing. She writes, "’Tessie,’ Mr. Summers said. There was a pause, and then Mr. Summers looked at Bill Hutchinson, and Bill unfolded his paper and showed it. It was blank” (Jackson 6). In this quote, Jackson has just revealed

Suspense is the deepened feeling that an audience goes through while waiting for the outcome of certain events. Suspense leaves the reader wondering what or when something is going to happen next. The authors of both “ The Scarlet Ibis” and “ The Most Dangerous Game” build suspense through a sundry of literary devices. The use of literary devices are important. Without suspense, the reader will quickly lose interest in the book and become bored.

Every story has been constructed in a unique way. However, there were also ways that authors can use to construct a great story. Saki’s story, “The Interlopers”, and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” demonstrates the elements of tension and suspense, specifically through the use of the techniques like ordering of events, description of settings, and dialogue between characters. Saki and Jackson both used similar techniques when it came to creating the effect of surprise within in their stories. These techniques really help the author write and the reader understand the story.

Uncle Julian dies in the fire and Charles is scared away for the moment. At this point Constance and Merricat have their first discussion about what really did happen the night their family died. Merricat upset about the way the townspeople treated their housefire comments on poisoning all their food inevitably killing them. Which is when readers discover that Constance has known all along that her baby sister murdered their family and has never spoken a word about it to anyone. They return to the half-destroyed house and continue to live out their days there with the windows boarded closed both becoming free in their self-imprisonment.

Heather O’Neill portrays the narrator with a sad tone throughout her essay in order to seduce readers to feel sympathetic towards the young woman. The narrator often recalls certain scarring event which occurred,