Fear In 'We Have Always Lived In The Castle'

Fear is an unexplainable feeling that is caused by a certain someone or something. Fear plays a significant role in the novel We Have Always Lived in The Castle. With tiny details she gnaws away at things that seem unimportant until the ending of the book. As Shirley Jackson first introduces Merricat, making the reader love this strange, broken girl, then revealing her true nature, one will see how everyone fears Merricat. Constance’s fear of Merricat, the fear that the villagers have for the Blackwoods, and Merricats fear of being without Constance, shows it is evident that fear caused all the major issues in this book.
Like all compelling characters, Merricat is both strong and weak, both villain and hero. If you spoke to her, she might sprint off into the woods with her cat Jonas, but if you anger her she might set one’s room on fire. Merricat would be impossible to live with, which is why Constance fears her. As some may say Constance is weak and is still paralyzed by the townspeople, Charles their cousin, comes to town to challenge her ways and is tested to see if she will follow him into the outside world or be subsumed into Merricat’s fantasy. As the novel goes on, the reader learns that Merricat killed her whole family except Constance. This shows that Merricat

was never in the right state of mind. Constance was too afraid to admit it to herself, but charles makes her realize their ways of living isn’t normal. This doesn’t change the way Constance treats Merricat because she doesn’t know what Merricat is capable of doing.
“ I want to say that I’m sorry, i\i was wicked last night.”
“ I was very wicked,” she said. “ I never wanted to speak about it, ever, and I’m sorry I did.” (Page 106, Shirley Jackson)
This quote shows the reader that Constance was afraid of Merricat and what she would’ve done if Constance didn’t apologize. Constance always knew it was Merricat who killed their family the whole time, but never brought it up because she feared Merricat. We Have Always Lived In The Castle is a novel of female power and the bond of sisterhood, no matter how twisted or feared of one another is, sisterhood always wins.
Fear also comes into play with the Townspeople and Blackwoods.

The Blackwoods are feared and hated by the Villagers, who simultaneously rescent the Blackwoods privilege, and the transgressions against the mysterious poisoning. Fear goes both ways in this novel, the Blackwoods have blocked off everyone except Helen Clarke, which provides a safe haven for them all. When Merricat goes into town the reader can see both sides of fear between the two of them. Near the ending of the book, the Blackwoods secluded world is torn apart after the fire is started by Charles cigar. this gives the Villagers a chance to finally pass through the fence and put their fear into frustration, by destroying the

house.
“ Don’t you put that stuff in your mouth,” the mother screamed, and the little girl dropped the a handful of constance’s spice cookies.” ( Page 106, Shirley Jackson)
This quote shows that the Villagers still fear them even while they’re destroying their house, They fear eating the poison when the incident happened six years ago. It’s evident that the villagers had fear of the unknown, but also the Blackwoods had fear of the villagers as well.
After examining the fear of both sides, the reader learns Merricat’s fear of being without Constance. Merricat killed her whole family except Constance, this shows the reader that Merricat wanted to be with Constance with nobody else in the picture. Constance was the only person who stayed loyal throughout the years and never talked back to her. Merricat is a disturbed women who found comfort in manipulating her family to get what she wants, especially Constance who is a people pleaser. When Charles comes, Merricat becomes threatened by him and does everything she can to make him leave, this is because she fears that constance will like Charles more than her. Merricat constantly tells Constance how happy they are together and drowns her in comments that aren’t necessarily true. At the end of the book the reader clearly sees Merricat’s true motive and that was to have Constance all to herself.
“ Poor strangers,” I said. “ They have so much to be afraid of.”
“ Well,” Constance said, “ I am afraid of spiders.”
“ Jonas and I will see to it that no spider ever comes near you. Oh constance.” I said, “ We are so happy.” ( Page 146, Shirley Jackson)
This quote shows how much Merricat is content with life now, having constance to herself. When merricat says “ No spider will ever come near you.” The reader can infer that instead of spiders, they’re talking about people, and no one will ever come near Constance with Merricat around. Merricat seems to think so has ownership over Constance and nobody will get in the way of her and Constance.
The fear that everyone has of each other caused most of the issues in this novel. Characters are subtle showing their fear with one another, but at the end of the book everything becomes clear as to why things were done, the reader sees that fear was the background in all of the problems.