I have recently finished reading Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” and I felt like it has the strangest ending of any book I have ever read. There are still many questions I have about the events that took place before the beginning of this novel, such why did Merricat kill the rest of their family? What was Constance’s and Merricat’s relationship with their family like before the incident?

I have a feeling that Merricat had actually decided to kill her family on behalf of Constance. When being questioned by the police, Constance had stated that “they deserved to die” and she ended up cleaning the bowl where the arsenic was placed. Uncle Julien claimed that she did all this because she was “excited” but I believe that Constance was trying to cover for Merricat. Several times throughout the story, Constance expresses moments of regret that she should have done things differently, such as putting Uncle Julien in the care of a hospital and doing something about Merricat. Although, Constance never clearly expressed what the deal with Merricat is and what exactly she should have done differently.

Merricat is very unlike how someone of her age is expected to think. She believes in magic and has fantastical daydreams about living on the moon with her sister Constance and a winged horse. Not only that, but she is quite morbid, wishing death upon the townspeople and reciting various facts about deadly mushrooms and plants to Charles whenever her patience with him runs short. It is obvious that some sort of psychological phenomenon is at play here, however I did not figure out exactly what it is yet.

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