We Have Always Lived In The Castle
- Shirley Jackson -
Right from the first paragraph of this book we are dunked and drenched in the world of Mary Katherine, or Merricat as she is referred to, and it is one strange and creepy world! Some of the first descriptions of herself are that 'she should have been a werewolf, I dislike washing myself, I like death-cup mushrooms'...and to top this off she casually mentions (multiple times) that 'everyone in my family is dead'. She says it with no emotion, no whining, no tears, just a fact to her. This gives the impression we are dealing with a Hannibal Lector type serial killer character, or someone from the Adam's Family...I just can't pinpoint which one.
The gothic tone continues throughout the book with the characters and story stringing together strange behaviours and thoughts, very anti-social living, occult thinking, evil mob mentality, and of course death. I like Stephen King books, so this kind of story was right up my alley.
But, was Jackson just following typical gothic lines or was this story an inside look at the world of someone suffering from agoraphobia? I say this because apparently Jackson suffered from the condition.
Most of the summaries and comments on this book do mention agoraphobia, but it is always a point about the sister Constance who is afraid to leave the house (the most well known symptom of agoraphobia).
I was not familiar with agoraphobia, so I did a little research before I started reading - to get me really primed to experience the full breadth of this book.
What I noticed right from the start was that Constance was not a big part of the story, and her agoraphobia was pointed out rather blatantly and one dimensional (she could not go into town because she was afraid to leave the house and the yard/garden). Now, this is a very definite sign of agoraphobia, I'm not arguing that. But, that is where it kind of ends.
Merricat, on the other hand, is never really mentioned when it comes to agoraphobia...however, she seems to display a whole whack of behaviours and thoughts that are agoraphobic-ish. She may in fact be suffering from Agoraphobia, a kind that Jackson knew intimately.
People with agoraphobia are often afraid of open space, crowds, new environments, and travel. They will often go to great lengths and make big sacrifices to avoid these situations. They often have a fear of being looked at, which manifests into paranoid thoughts; they think everyone is judging them.
Merricat shows a lot of these symptoms at the beginning of the book when she goes into town. It is very obvious that she does not enjoy making the trip to town, but someone has to do, so she forces herself. But, while she is walking around she is constantly making paranoid remarks, thinking that people are looking out their window and hiding behind curtains to peer at her, and that everyone in the town hates her and her family. At the time it seemed like very extreme remarks. She also makes an elaborate plan to avoid the general store because people are sitting outside. She does go into the diner for a cup of coffee but has a plan that as soon as anyone else comes in she will leave. She also mentions that the family has stopped getting mail and cut their phone line, severing connections to the outside world.
When she actually gets into uncomfortable situations she has techniques to deal. Since she doesn't like the trip she turns it into a game. She assigns landmarks as goalposts. She challenges herself to make it to the blackrock, then make it to the diner, etc. When she is at the grocery store and has to order over the counter she stares straight ahead and ignores everyone else around...even if they are making remarks towards her.
Agoraphobes also fear being trapped. Merricat has a run-in at the diner with Jim Donell. He is giving her a hard time verbally, but what Merricat mentions is that he 'stretches his legs out so she could not get past him'. Was it a big deal? Maybe, maybe not. But, Merricat felt trapped and pointed it out. Along these lines, later on in the book, Merricat seemed to like to escape to the outdoors and the wide open space whenever something tense happened in the house. The family also only used the backyard which was out of view of the road and nobody could see them.
There are a lot of strange thoughts and behaviours throughout the book, so I could be looking too deep into this. But, maybe I'm not? Maybe this was Jackson letting us know what living with agoraphobia was really like.
Anyway, great book that I'd recommend everyone to read at some point in their life.
Interesting fact - Brian Wilson suffered from agoraphobia as well. Maybe that is why he never wanted to leave his bed?
