#merricat is a ghost?

[ladyswartzrot]

“My niece Mary Katherine has been a long time dead, young man. She did not survive the loss of her family; I supposed you knew that.”

- Uncle Julian

We have always lived in the castle - Shirley Jackson

This would explain everything honestly...

[anchorhcld]

finished we have always lived in the castle

[starzonez]

save me merricat and constance living as ghosts of themselves in a ghost of their home. locked away in a rotting carcass as their way of life spirals into something objectively worse but which gives them relief and a sense of security stronger than they’ve ever felt before. save me merricat constantly checking the locks and nailing cardboard to the windows to push them further and further into isolation. save me dark kitchen with mattresses on the floor where most of their life takes place save me merricat homemade tablecloth dresses and constance wearing uncle julian’s clothing save meee

[lokiinmediasideblog]

I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I LOVED IT! I'm so glad I chose it in my quest to read more books. I've been scrolling through Reddit discussions.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I know some people interpret Constance as being afraid of Merricat, but I don't think that's the case. I think Merricat is the only one Constance, the agoraphobic, isn't afraid of. I think in some way, she can see WHY Merricat poisoned their family members (there is clear abuse subtext to me). I've heard some say it's also likely that Merricat was spoiled and indulged, citing the fantasy about her being loved and never punished, but I strongly disagree with that. I think that's indicative of what Merricat wanted rather than what happened.

A good piece of evidence for Merricat and Constance being abused is that Constance is incredibly meek and very much a Stepford smiler. She is ALWAYS doing household chores such as cooking and cleaning. Merricat claims she only reads about cooking in the first chapter. Why does Constance act like the ideal housewife if they're spoiled?

Also, Merricat seems wary of Charles from the get-go because he looks like their father. And when the villagers ransack their home, the imagery invoked is that of violation. I think the clear abuse subtext is made even more so by the heavy implications that their father not only abused his daughters but financially abused his brother as well.

Uncle Julian (who survived the poisoning and was disabled as a result, often refers to his brother as not being generous). Julian constantly claims that they'd try not to eat so much in his brother's house. And Uncle Julian is in many ways framed as a "failed patriarch." Before the poisoning, he failed to provide for his household and had to move in with his brother. After the poisoning, he is dependent on Constance for his basic needs, and he often laments about the loss of his physical health and strength.

I really loved when Constance would say "Silly, Merricat." I just found it funny. I love the ambience of being stuck in time, like a bug in amber, because they refuse to move on from the traumatic events that happened in the house. I love how living characters are referred to as ghosts by different characters. Uncle Julian seems to think Merricat is dead. That she died at the orphanage she was sent when she was 12 during Constance's trial. Merricat thinks Charles is a ghost and a demon that she must ward off. Charles looks A LOT like her father. And in the end, it is Merricat and Constance who end up living at the ruined house, their domain further reduced, haunting the place like ghosts.

[lakewithnofish]

top five tragedies...🩶 or ghosts whichever you'd like to pick

TOP 5 TRAGEDIES

king lear

black sails

interview with the vampire

house of atreus extended universe

giovanni’s room

TOP 5 GHOSTS

catherine and heathcliff

tain hu from baru cormorant

merricat and constance

laura palmer

claudia s3🙏

[algolagniaa]

1 and 4?

I don’t know if I really understand the concept of a “comfort character” tbh I have several characters I relate to/project on but I don’t really think of it as a comfort thing or a coping mechanism?? but I might be overthinking it idk I googled comfort character over this tbh. short list of characters who are me: Phedre no Delaunay (obviously), Merricat Blackwood, Maeve Fly, Kaye Fierch, Daria Morgendorfer, basically every Disney Princess, Rebecca Bunch (actually might be the closest to an actual comfort character now that I think of it), Lady Amalthea

cryptids are another thing where I’m like. how much do we want to quibble over definitions?? bc I don’t really believe in Bigfoot or Mothman or chupacabras or anything like that (although I wish I did). I do however have a very strong belief in faeries, and ghosts, and spirits, and mermaids and all kinds of magical/ethereal beings (although I don’t think there are any dragons or unicorns left tbh I think they all died long ago). some of these I have experience with firsthand. I also believe that pretty much every living thing (I am not sure about human men) has a spirit and so do many inanimate things, and it’s pretty easy to talk to any of them if you try at all. I’m not sure if that counts as a cryptid creature at all but I think to a lot of people it would

[resident-rats]

Top ten favourite female characters!

Thanks for the tag @goodpointsandbadpoints !!

Tagging: @b0n3d0g @ghostdice @vizishereig @courtofparrots @welcome-leon and literally anyone who wants to do it, consider yourself tagged 🫡

[theiliad]

Tagged by @asmeninas ty!

Rules: Make a poll of your favorite female characters (no limits - as many or as little as you want) and see which your followers like the most

tagging @tallahasseemp3 @sumquiasum @lesbojughead @taylorswiftserialkillergene @livvyofthelake @wetwibuwution and anyone else who wants to do this, just say i tagged you <3

[flammenkobold]

Eighth Book read in 2025

This one was recced by the lovely @aneilert and read for a hecking bookclub.

We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson

After the death of her family Merricat lives with her sister Constance - who was suspected of murdering the rest of the family - and their uncle Julian in the old family manor. Shunned by the town and tucked away into their own little world the odd little family has their own quiet way of life, overshadowed still by the past. One day their cousin Charles turns up and turns everything upside down in the worst ways.

This is an incredibly well written and haunting book and I still keep gnawing at aspects of it from time to time. A lot of things are left unsaid but so heavily implied that they run as an everpresent current under the actual narration. The characters are all well developed and fascinating and most of them are sympathetic (except for Charles, who I frankly think should have met a horrifying end). The book is both a tragedy, a dark comedy and the beginning of a horror novel all rolled into one.

One of my thoughts near the end was: How to turn into a ghost story in 10 steps by Merricat.

[brother-father]

daddy's little girl he broke in thirty: a dean winchester mix

1. abuse me - silverchair 2. adam raised a cain - bruce springsteen 3. alcohol - sisyphus 4. alibis - marianas trench 5. animals - nickelback 6. anyone who knows what love is (will understand) - irma thomas 7. black-eyed - placebo 8. blown wide open - big wreck 9. blunt force concussion - the dirty nil 10. break me - mcfly 11. burn & shine - the posies 12. call of the playground - shudder to think 13. carry that weight - the beatles 14. christian brothers - heatmiser, elliott smith 15. colossus - idles 16. coward's son - the ballroom thieves 17. daddy - korn 18. daddy's daughter - merricat crellin 19. damage control - the dirty nil 20. degenerate - the jesus and the mary chain 21. the devil you know (god is a man) - face to face 22. discipline - nine inch nails 23. don't let the sun catch you cryin' - jeff buckley 24. the drowners - suede 25. father - the front bottoms 26. father and son - cat stevens 27. father figure - george michael 28. father of mine - everclear 29. feel the pain - dinosaur jr 30. fiddle about - the who 31. forgiven - alanis morissette 32. fortunate son - creedence clearwater revival 33. freak - silverchair 34. friends in the sky - the dirty nil 35. fuckin' up young - the dirty nil 36. ghost - sky ferreira 37. girls - the dare 38. good boy - patriarchy 39. hang yer moon - the dirty nil 40. hard times - ethel cain 41. he needs me - shelley duvall 42. i burn - toadies 43. i know it's over - the smiths 44. i'm with you - avril lavigne 45. i need somebody - the stooges 46. infra-red - placebo 47. i woke up in a strange place - jeff buckley 48. judge yr'self - manic street preachers 49. last night i dreamt that somebody loved me - the smiths 50. life becoming a landslide - manic street preachers 51. lightsabre cocksucking blues - mclusky 52. loverboy - you me at six 53. low self opinion - rollins band 54. monster side - addict 55. moodswing whiskey - jeff buckley 56. mr. self destruct - nine inch nails 57. nancy boy - placebo 58. o death - rhiannon giddens, francesco turris 59. oh comely - neutral milk hotel 60. pain - four star mary 61. papa was a rodeo - the magnetic fields 62. please hurt me - the crystals 63. please please please let me get what i want - the smiths 64. prayer - big wreck 65. pretension//repulsion - manic street preachers 66. renegade - styx 67. runnin' with the devil - van halen 68. samarians - idles 69. send the pain below - chevelle 70. sex and violence - the exploited 71. the shining - badly drawn boy 72. simple man - deftones 73. slab - silverchair 74. song against sex - neutral milk hotel 75. story of isaac - leonard cohen 76. (they long to be) close to you - carpenters 77. thoroughfare - ethel cain 78. a trophy fathers trophy son - sleeping with sirens 79. two-headed boy - neutral milk hotel 80. two-headed boy pt. 2 - neutral milk hotel 81. unloveable - the smiths 82. wanted man - ratt 83. the weight - the band 84. western nights - ethel cain 85. what will you say - jeff buckley 86. whipping post - allman brothers band 87. you are a runner and i am my father's son - wolf parade 88. you can't always get what you want - the rolling stones 89. your flesh is so nice - jeff buckley 90. youth gone wild - skid row

[xxdrowninglessonsxx]

Book Review - We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I will preface this by saying that this is a masterpiece of a book. Personally what I picked up on at first was the foreshadowing because the reader is essentially told from the beginning that Merricat “did it” with the famous opening paragraph. It’s up to the reader to accept that Merricat is the murderer and an unreliable narrator. It’s evident she’s stuck in the headspace of when she committed the crime because she spends a lot of her time daydreaming and thinking about killing the villagers and walking over their dead bodies. The way Shirley Jackson writes the foreshadowing is, dare I say, perfect because it leaves the reader guessing as to what is going to happen next and what has already happened in the past. Not to mention, Uncle Julian’s dialogue is framed in a way that gives the reader just enough information to stay curious and keep reading. Personally, I guessed it was Merricat from the beginning but I truly knew she killed her family when Uncle Julian said the Merricat had died in the orphanage when Constance was on trial. Merricat and Uncle Julian never actually interact with each other once throughout the book if you go back and look, whether Julian believes her to be truly dead, or whether Merricat forbids herself, or even a mixture of fear from both parties. I suspected as well when Merricat would say things along the lines of how she isn’t allowed to prepare the food or do certain things, as if giving herself rules. The dialogue toys with the readers mind, as if interacting as the story plays out. I’ve seen other people on the reviews say that the story drones on, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The story, in fact, refuses to drone on; it gets straight to the fact of the matter. Every word, line, and paragraph have meaning. Shirley Jackson wrote a story so great within 200 pages what other authors couldn’t achieve in 500. The climax is phenomenal - the symbolism of the house burning shows the cruelty of the townspeople and how they see the Blackwoods as “other.” They destroy their house more after the fire is put out, breaking windows, destroying the property, forcing Merricat and Constance to flee with only strengthens what is best described as a trauma bond because they feel so ostracized. Then, once in the woods, Merricat states she wants to poison the villagers food, and Constance replies with “The way you did before?” And Merricat replies back and says, “Yes, the way I did before.” The long asked question is finally answered.

As I was saying before, every interaction and the behavior between characters has a meaning, and it is so crystal clear. Take a look at the OCD rituals both sisters exhibit. How Merricat feel “guilty” and wants to make a point to be kinder to Uncle Julian. I say “guilty” because I don’t believe she truly feels guilt. It should be noted that her goal is to be isolated with Constance. After the climax (the fire and the reveal of the murderer), despite what Merricat has done, Constance reprises her role and continues to choose Merricat, choosing to be complicit once more. Think of how Constance washed the sugar dish because “there was a spider in it.” Ultimately, Merricat gets exactly what she wanted because to my knowledge, Merricat allows Constance to believe that Charles was the one who burned the house down even though Merricat was the one who threw the pipe in the trash can. Because of this as well, the reader realizes Merricat doesn’t feel guilty because she met her end goal. She even tells Constance that she knew she would like “living on the moon.”

However let’s not forget about Charles. By no means is he a good person. Merricat equates him to a ghost and a demon after he arrives, comparing him to their father. He sleeps in John Blackwood’s room, wears his clothes and jewelry, and even eats at the same spot at the dinner table, and it’s implied that he has similar behaviors as John Blackwood. He’s a trigger for Merricat because he disrupts their isolation and he’s after their money. In Merricat’s mind, he intends to steal Constance away, and Merricat refuses to allow that to happen.

I could go on for longer, but whoever reads this review will understand the point. Shirley Jackson has a way with words, and I would be lucky to write a story with just an inkling of the power that this story holds. She deserves to be more appreciated. I’m going to read The Haunting of Hill House next.

[aaronstveit]

saw you and leigh talking about shirley jackson, have you ever read we have always lived in the castle? i read hill house, and liked it in concept (unfortunately fell flat for me in comparison to the show) but your thoughts on her other works?

hi lindsay!!! i have read we have always lived in the castle!! i really liked it <33 my shirley jackson ranking so far is probably:

hangsaman

we have always lived in the castle

dark tales (this is a short story collection, not a novel, but still very weird and creepy and fun)

the haunting of hill house

i tend to think of hill house the book & hill house the tv show as separate entities, definitely looking to accomplish different things. i enjoyed them both, though!

we have always lived in the castle is pretty different from hill house, i think. still weird and creepy, but merricat as a narrator is strange in a very different way from eleanor. i definitely recommend not watching the movie before reading it... in fact, i recommend not watching the movie in general. no disrespect to taissa farmiga or alexandra daddario, i just don't think it's a book that translates well to the screen.

i think shirley jackson's writing works best when you come at it expecting less capital-H Horror, and more lowercase-h horror. the real horror in her writing is not the ghosts or the murders, it is the characters themselves. eleanor of hill house, merricat of we have always lived in the castle, natalie of hangsaman, they all share a very personal sort of horror: they are isolated, lonesome women and girls. and they all react to their lonesomeness in different but horrifying ways.

not to say that jackson doesn't excel at creating some truly creepy atmospheres. she does! we have always lived in the castle particularly has a very fun and macabre setting, with a side of intense looming dread. it's just important to remember that in her writing, the personal is far more horrifying than any amount of outside forces.

i hope this makes sense literally at all 😭 TLDR i enjoy shirley jackson's work a lot and if hill house didn't work for you, i still recommend trying her other books! <333

[weremerricat]

i do like the idea of merricat is a ghost it fits the narrative it enhances it even my niece mary katherine has been dead a long time and i had not questioned why uncle julian does not call out to merricat i don’t recall that he acknowledges her merricat is not allowed in uncle julian’s room or to touch his wheelchair or any of his belongings if he sees merricat he does not give her acknowledgment if merricat is to be kinder to uncle julian and place a feather on the lawn where uncle julian will sit in the sunlight he will not be phased on how that feather came to be there because it is the very air of the house that has decided to be kinder to him

[mousebong]

we have always lived in the castle is a gothic fiction about the blackwood family who live in the castle. Merricat is a witch. Merricat experiences magical thinking ocd, she performs magic. she nails things to trees for protection, she buried things. she cannot touch certain objects. she cannot go into rooms. she can not wear her uncles clothes even after he dies. the can only go to the town and the lake on certain days. she is distrusting. she killed her family, her family punished her. she killed her family because she wanted to. codependency with sister she made her mother.

schizotypal personality disorder? - loner, no friends but sister, flat emotional responses (little reaction when her house burned down), social anxiety (distrust, paranoia), unusual thinking, beliefs, mannerisms, tries to scare people (talks about what plants are poisonous)

antisocial personality disorder?

schizophrenia?

asd - fixations, heightened reactions, rigid schedule and routine

she’s on the moon — so far away they’ll never leave and talk to others again

patriarchal family - structure punishments - not liked by anyone in her family but constance

she surrounded the property with protection charms and charles appeared when a charm broke.

constance knew merricat did it the entire time - she washed the dish (there was a spider inside) constance tells merricat she’s afraid of spiders (poison) and merricat promises her she would protect her

jonas is merricat bestfriend - witch having familiar (cat)

sympathetic magic

wants the cousin to go so she creates 3 words she cannot say and if she doesn’t say those words no change will occur (not think of them and not say them)

buries marbles in the river to make

buries dollars in the ground to keep people away

delusions of grandeur- imagines her family praising her (in her memories she is a perfect daughter) - delusions of grandeur about their house and status (thinks she should be treated as elevated to them)

isolated so they would never be bothered again -

a love letter to agoraphobia

constance is agoraphobic and hasn’t left the house in 6 years

merricat is childish. constance is a victim (“it’s all my fault”) she’s trapped in the burnt down house horrified of the outside. her house burnt and the town danced around her, told it to burn. she’s a recluse in her house reduced to a kitchen and destroyed furniture. she’s forced to play mother to the sister who destroyed her life. who killed her family. who destroyed her mental health and reputation. who demonizes all others. who is violently protective.

“oh constance, we are so happy” - merricat is happy she has completely isolated constance and has her all to herself. merricat is so happy. constance wanted to see the world but never can. lives in the kitchen, cooking and gardening constantly.

blames herself for everything

enabling merricat

are the girls ghosts? - merricat is dead she was stuck in an orphanage and died

people start to use the language of talking about ghosts

charles acts as patriarch - charles says they have to put julian in a hospital and punish merricat

constance thinks this is all her fault and she hid and allowed julian and merricat to hide with her and the things charles said should have been handled

merricat thinks he’s creating sin and he needs to be erased from everything he touches

her house is a shrine - he is a ghost and a demon in her eyes

constance gives the cousin a plate - it’s out of order

merricat throws charles pipe in the garbage and it starts a fire

merricat takes over at fire and leads the

the uncle is chronically ill from the poisoning - he cannot walk, his health is declining, he is losing grasp of reality and constance is his care taker. he is obsessed with the crime - reminder of the tragedy it’s all he ever talks and thinks about.

[ugfriends]

Poor old Uncle Julian Blackwood It is imperative to be understood He used little sugar on blackberry He nearly took the river Styx ferry With Charon as Stygian tour guide From those berries he almost died You see his niece Merricat her goal Was to lace their silver sugar bowl With arsenic a family murder plan His moderation kept death on ban Constance to coverup and hide her Washes the bowl she said of spider Jonas doorway Constance by stove Ghost visit seeking a treasure trove Charles has Blackwood coins desire Merricat and pipe is a house on fire On a moon we in starlight unfurled Look down on the dead dried world In the Castle sisters are in fine fettle Grimm allusions to Hansel & Gretel Witch you have a gingerbread house Boys have gone too near that house You might make a gingerbread man Name him Charles and eat him plan They catch little boys and they ---- Hold you down make you eat candy I wonder could I eat a child well done Constance: I doubt if I could cook one

[hangingthoughts]

"I was thinking that being a demon and a ghost must be very difficult, even for Charles; if he ever forgot, or let his disguise drop for a minute, he would be recognized at once and driven away; he must be extremely careful to use the same voice every time, and present the same face and the same manner without a slip; he must constantly on guard against betraying himself."

— Merricat, pertaining to Charles, We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson