Analysis Of Where Are The Children

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Where are the Children? “Come on, Nancy. Tell us the truth. Where are the children?” wrote author Mary Higgins Clark in her chilling novel, Where are the Children. Clark’s thrilling murder mystery describes a toxic relationship between a professor, Carl Harmon, the mentally insane and abusive husband of Nancy Eldridge, a beautiful young mother who is being accused of the murder of her children. Manipulative tactics and gender play key roles in creating discussion and open ended ideas toward the theme of this novel. The reader can see how Nancy has been unfairly accused for the murder of her first set of children. Although in the end Carl is finally identified as the murderer, the entire novel is set to make it seem as if Nancy was capable of harming her own flesh and blood. Mary Higgins Clark writes a happy ending novel to give …show more content…

Carl unmistakably has an obsession with his former lover. In the prologue of the novel, an unknown man (who later is identified as Carl) is seen spying on Nancy through a telescope from his fourth-floor window. The chilling first impression Carl gives the reader is that tomorrow morning, Nancy Eldridge’s life will be dramatically changed. “He could feel his mouth go dry and licked his lips nervously. She looked very young today. Her hair was pulled back from her face…She had an intriguing young quality, soft and fresh and silky”(Clark20) This quote causes the reader to feel an uncomfortable tension from the unidentified man. The way he describes Nancy so vividly with words such as, “fresh and silky” sets up the rest of the book to show the reader that Carl is obsessive and creepy. When that paragraph is being read for the first time readers may come to the conclusion that whoever this man is, certainly must be stalking Nancy. Throughout the book, it becomes clear to the reader that Carl Harmon is in fact obsessed with trying to ruin Nancy Eldridge’s new

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