American Literature: Romanticism Student Midterm Submissions 2016 (midterm assignment) 2b. Short Essay 2b. Choose a previously-read literary text . . .

Victoria Webb
October 3, 2016

Shirley Jackson: A Post-Renaissance Romantic

          During the Romantic era, authors like Poe, Hawthorne, or Cooper defined the “American Gothic Novel”. A hundred years later, author Shirley Jackson began to publish her work; writings that would shake readers to their core nearly 50 years post-publication. Deemed the creator of “female gothic literature” (Showalter), Jackson’s narratives have enticed readers with heavy gothic elements and displays of post-renaissance romanticism. Her final novel in particular, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, is comparable to writings during the American Renaissance, and contains easily identifiable traits associated with romanticism.

          Jackson’s psychological horror contains not only overt gothic themes, but many romantic traits that are seen from the beginning of the novel. In the exposition, the reader is introduced to the two sisters Constance and our protagonist, Merricat. They live in their family farmhouse, Blackwood manor, and are outsiders to the rest of the townsfolk. Similarly to Poe’s Usher duo, the Blackwood sisters live a life of isolation and agoraphobia. Unlike the housebound Constance, Merricat thrives in nature. Throughout the novel she basks in the land that is owned by her family, talking to her cat, Jonas, with a childlike demeanor. In traditional romantic stylings, opposition of society, connection with nature, and childlike innocence are features that are seen throughout the era. Romantic authors embraced the idea of reverting back to nature and embracing one’s inner child; however, the fact that Merricat is actually an adult makes her behavior unsettling to the audience. Jonathan Lethem writes in his introduction to the novel that Merricat is an archetype of the “feral, presexual tomboy” (pp. x); this perception enhances the madness of the novel while maintaining traditional romantic elements.

Though the women are cast out from society, they don’t feel the need to be part of the town. Early on in the novel an old friend of Constance visits her and encourages her to invite people into the house and reconnect with society; both Constance and Merricat are hesitant and resistant to the idea (Jackson, 29-31). It was very common during the romantic era to depict society as evil and nature as good, and Jackson does that in her novel. Since the story is told through the point of view of the protagonist who is shunned by her town, nature is romanticized often by Merricat, who reminisces frequently about picnics with her sister and uncle in the garden; she does this typically when the townsfolk are ridiculing her in public. These fantasies are Merricat’s childlike way of disassociating herself from society and the reality of what is happening.

Fantasies and imagination are common elements that are seen throughout the entirety of Jackson’s novel; from Merricat’s conversations with her cat to reimagining her past in a way that is idealized. Closely related to fantasizing would be nostalgia. Romantic authors during the renaissance would often write literature that is heavily drenched in nostalgia. Nostalgia, by definition, is the reminiscing of happier times than the present; this romantic notion is seen in throughout famous gothic texts, from Poe to Jackson. Jackson was known to be an extremely depressed woman who would write in a way that allowed her to escape the reality she lived in (Showalter). Nostalgia, in the case of Merricat, is not exactly remembering the past for what it was. It is evident in the novel that she was the one who poisoned her family, and she did so because she felt unloved by the rest of the Blackwoods. However, contrary to the reality of her past, Merricat fantasizes fond memories. In one scene, Merricat is sitting on the floor of her kitchen and begins to imagine her family at their table, and while she fantasizes, she imagines their dialogue as:

          “Mary Katherine should have anything she wants, my dear. Our most loved daughter
          must have anything she likes”
          “Mary Katherine, we love you.”
          “You must never be punished.”
          “Must never be sent to bed without her dinner”
          “Bow all your heads to our adored Mary Katherine.”  (Jackson. 95-96)

What is ironic about this nostalgic moment is that the night that Merricat murdered her family was a night when she had been punished and sent to bed without her dinner. Therefore, she is imagining that night all over again, but this time it is idealized. Merricat’s memory and perception of reality is distorted, and this is evident from start to finish as her nostalgic moments are sometimes real and other times fabricated

          It is easy to label We Have Always Lived in the Castle as a gothic novel; from agoraphobic sisters on the brink of mental breakdowns to the mystery behind a murder of a family, the tale is littered with gothic elements. Jackson was an educated woman and was more than likely versed in the works of Poe. In Poe’s tale, Fall of the House of Usher, he gives us an agoraphobic duo who reside quietly in their family manor, hidden away from the rest of the world. Jackson gives us a similar family with the Blackwoods, Merricat and Constance. More so, in Castle, we have family on family murder that may or may not have been an aftermath of mental breakdown. Rodrick in Usher, suffers from a particular illness, and his sister also suffers from a strange ailment the doctors have no name for. Merricat herself is clearly suffering from some sort of psychosis while her sister deals with anxiety and agoraphobia due to the trauma from the trial for the murder of her family. Keeping with the similarities between Usher and Castle, the fall of a great legacy is evident in both of the pieces. In Jackson’s novel, the Blackwood manor “falls” when a fire is started mysteriously and the house burns partly. While firefighters manage to extinguish the flame, the townsfolk finish the job by ransacking the house and destroying their items, and in essence, their legacy. In Usher, the fall is through the forces of nature, but the end result is not so different than the forces of the angry mob in Jackson’s novel. Prior to the fall of the great houses in both stories, the House of Usher and the Blackwood manor are both symbols of rich legacies and deeply rooted families.

          Shirley Jackson’s legacy lives on with her novels. While she has been deemed an unfortunately underrated author, her stories are in no way forgettable. Perhaps Jackson would have been more notable had she been born during the American Renaissance when romanticism was rising, and gothic authors thrived. Even though reminiscing over the past is romantic in itself, romanticism did not die after the 1860s; authors like Jackson have taken ideas and ideologies of the time and transformed them into modern classics that continue to inspire writers.