We Have Always Lived In The Castle Ch’s 6, 7 & 8 Discussion
First of all, Happy Halloween Everyone!!! Or I should say a belated happy Halloween to everyone as you’re likely reading this after Halloween. But I hope that everyone had a wonderfully spooky Halloween and that Ms. Shirley Jackson’s wonderfully atmospheric novel could add to your holiday. I have a confession to make….I finished the book! After reading these three chapters I could NOT put the book down. But I promise no spoilers for the last two chapters here :p But we certainly reached a climax with these three chapters and I found it so hard to just put the book down for another week. So let’s chat.
What did we all think of all of this craziness??? All of this unrest? It seems that everyone just exploded in these chapters. Everyone except for Constance who seems to just always stay as level headed as she can. I feel for Constance…I truly do. The more and more we see of her personality, the more we see that in her own little world, she’s the one that has to hold everything together but she feels a constant need to hide from the outside world. Yet everything around her is in unrest. We have Merricat just losing her cool completely with Charles and who can blame her. She tears his room apart which leads Charles to lose it on her which leads Uncle Julian to lose it on him while Constance just tries to act as the moderator. And then there’s the fire….oh the fire 
What a horrible scene, huh? Did anyone else feel just a huge surge of ANGER reading that scene?? As Charles tried to haul the safe out of the house and the townspeople went about smashing everything they could find in the house and even those in charge lost it. What’s left for Constance and Mary Katherine? Who are they truly safe with?
And then of course there is the big reveal at the end of Chapter 9. The reveal that so many of you had guessed from the beginning! This is a rhetorical question for some of you, but were you surprised by this? I guess even if you had guessed that it was Mary Katherine, what did you think of the way it was revealed?
I’m just head over heels in love with this book and am dying to get my hands on some more Shirley Jackson. What a wonderful writer she was, huh? I love the atmosphere and the emotion that she evokes with her words. Just perfect. And I couldn’t be happier with the discussions we’re having here. Thanks everyone 
Patti Smith 3:23 pm on November 1, 2010 Permalink |
I kept moving back and forth between anger and sadness during the fire. Of course, I was already having enough trouble keeping it together over Charles’ behavior. He is obviously there simply because he thinks he can scavenge something…I think he was planning to get rid of Uncle Julian and Merricat so that he could marry Constance…I think Constance was terrorized by the first trial…and I think that all of the commotion is probably going to cause her to lose it and Merricat will take over. I almost hope she does. The reveal was perfect…I actually got chills even though I already suspected what Constance finally says.
I assumed when Uncle Julian went to his room that he would die of smoke inhalation, not his heart as the doctor says. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
jendevourerofbooks 9:15 pm on November 1, 2010 Permalink |
When you told me last night that you couldn’t help but finish it I figured it was more a ‘well, it is almost over, might as well’ sort of thing. I started reading this week’s selection but was so tired I couldn’t quite make it to the end of chapter 8. Then this morning I was finishing my last few pages, got to the big reveal, and also couldn’t help but finish the entire thing.
I was sort of surprised that it was Merricat all along. I thought she was a little obvious, for one thing, with all of her strangenesses, but mostly I was withholding judgment on who might have committed the murders, other than being fairly sure it wasn’t Constance. I guess I was expecting some bigger twist about whodunnit.
Even so, I thought that these were some amazing chapters. The first particularly, with, as you said, all of the anger from the townspeople. It is amazing how, once things get rolling everybody’s inhibitions are lowered and fear is let turn to rage. Absolutely terrifying, particularly because it seems so realistic.
Frankie 11:55 am on November 2, 2010 Permalink |
I feel like I missed something with this story. I was excited in the begining, and it continued with Charles’ arrival, the power struggle with MaryKatherine and Charles, the fire and the behavior of the towns people. But I don’t understand why MK killed her family,why the town’s peple don’t like then and why they were so violent. I too finished the book and feel there are a few loose threads. so i’ll wait till everyone has finished.
jendevourerofbooks 12:08 pm on November 3, 2010 Permalink |
I see what you mean with why Merricat killed her family, but I think the townspeople make perfect sense. Someone killed a family that was one of the great families of the area and got away with it, and logically that must be one of the people still alive. If it was Constance, then Merricat is scary because she she seems perfectly happy leaving with Constance, and visa versa. Plus, there’s the whole fact that they live differently than everyone else and different = scary. Not to mention there may be something there with the fact that their family WAS so powerful in the area, if there were any resentments against the family it would make perfect sense for them to come out against the now largely powerless girls. When they are empowered enough to come to the house and see the girls even more vulnerable their fear turns to a feeling of power and they basically go crazy with that power.
Melanie 9:40 am on November 3, 2010 Permalink |
I tore through this whole book on the Readathon! I was shocked that MK was the murderer. I was leaning toward it being one of the people who’d died as a sort of murder/suicide situation. I really enjoyed this book.
jendevourerofbooks 12:08 pm on November 3, 2010 Permalink |
That’s where I thought it was going too, Melanie!
citytojungle 11:25 pm on November 3, 2010 Permalink |
Charles made me so angry in these chapters, what with his ‘oh, is this valuable?’ comments and his overwhelming need to rescue the safe from the fire. That fire scene was nuts – and some friend Helen Clarke turned out to be. True, she didn’t smash any windows, but she didn’t exactly offer any help either.
I wasn’t really surprised at the reveal, more just ‘Aha!’ What I did find interesting, though, was that it was the first time MK & Constance had ever talked about it. So, right from the beginning Constance covered for her sister, and MK went right along with it, without ever discussing it. Actually, MK probably believes that Constance did do it. I mean, she did keep referring to the fire as Charles’ fire. MK may have poisoned the food and knocked over the pipe, but she doesn’t find herself responsible for the outcome of those actions whatsoever.
Anyone know if throwing stones and mob mentality come up often in Jackson’s writing?
alitareads 10:20 am on November 4, 2010 Permalink |
Oops! I was logged into the wrong account! This should be an alitareads comment
Heather 9:02 pm on November 9, 2010 Permalink |
“Anyone know if throwing stones and mob mentality come up often in Jackson’s writing?”
Check out her short story, The Lottery. Lots of both. And it’s very creepy.
alitareads 6:23 pm on November 10, 2010 Permalink |
The Lottery is what made the mob scene in Castle stand out to me. Definitely very creepy. I’m wondering if that’s something she included in more of her writings.
Heather 9:04 pm on November 9, 2010 Permalink |
I have almost caught up, just in time for the end of discussion!
I’m totally loving the audio production of this book. The reader. Is. Perfect. Bernadette Dunne. Look her up.
I totally saw Merricat being the murderer a mile away, which did not make it any less chilling. These people are so messed up! And Charles! He just infuriated me!
I should finish the book tomorrow. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out!