We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson


We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, first published in the USA by Viking Press in 1962.

This is a short novel/novella about mental illness, social pressures and isolation. Mary Katherine Blackwood, known as Merricat, lives in the family's large house in an unnamed New England town, with her elder sister, Constance, and her invalid uncle. Six years previously, her mother, father, brother and an aunt died from arsenic poisoning. The arsenic was in the sugar bowl. Constance was arrested, but acquitted. The townsfolk, however, believe she was guilty and only got off because the family were rich and influential. Since the trial, Constance has not ventured from the house and its garden, devoting her life to looking after Merricat and her uncle and spending most of the time cooking.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Merricat, who was twelve when the murders occurred. She was not at the table as she had been sent to her room for misbehaviour. She is now eighteen, but her thoughts and actions remain childish. She believes in various superstitions - burying objects for luck, or nailing them to trees, and making up magic words. She hates most people, apart from Constance, thinks she should be kinder to her uncle, and adores her cat, Jonah. 

Kindly neighbours encourage Constance to socialise a little, but things do not change until cousin Charles comes to stay. Charles is only intent on getting his hands on the large sum of money kept in the house safe, and he ingratiates himself upon Constance to achieve this. Merricat detests him and plans to get rid of him, with devastating consequences.

Oddly, although from a rational viewpoint, the ending looks bleak, the sisters are perfectly happy with the situation. The reveal, near the end, is not so much that, as a confirmation of what the reader has assumed from early on in the book.

The opening of the story, when Merricat has to run the gauntlet through town to go to the library and buy groceries, sets the scene. The sisters are outsiders; taunted and feared. Merricat's thoughts and behaviour add tension and a little creepiness to the mix. As in all good Gothic novels, there is a family secret and doomed love.

Jackson packs a lot into the 150 odd pages, and it is certainly worth a read.

Gothic Rating:

isolated setting:                    🕱

brooding atmosphere:          🕱

mental illness:                      🕱

religious reference:

supernatural element:           ðŸ•±

murder:                                 ðŸ•±

family secret:                       ðŸ•±

genius/madness:

doomed love:                        🕱


We Have Always Lived in the Castle receives a Gothic rating of    🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱


 

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