The novel’s ending reveals that Merricat is not merely working within an oppressive system with the goal of overthrowing that system or liberating herself or others from it. Merricat increasingly assumes patriarchal power, taking on masculine tasks, adopting objects that previously belonged to male family members, and asserting authority in various situations. Even as items associated with the women constitute narratives of female history and thereby subvert the family’s patriarchal structure, objects in the text reveal the way patriarchy reproduces itself in the mundane and the personal. Constance, Julian, and Merricat Blackwood engage in repetitive, formalized handling of objects, and these ritualized interactions create family history. Throughout the novel, Jackson associates objects with either male or female legacies within the family. Shirley Jackson’s odd and unsettling novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, explores the relationship between family, gender roles, and property through the murdered and murderous Blackwood family.
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