By Julie Sara Porter,
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: Forget Stephen King, Anne Rice, and H.P. Lovecraft. The real Master of Horror in the 20th century is Shirley Jackson (1916-1965).
Jackson was obsessed with witchcraft and the Salem Witch Trials even as a child. She studied Tarot Cards, Ouija boards, and tea leaves, and spun fantasies based on psychic visions. She endured an unhappy childhood with a critical mother and an even more unhappy marriage to editor/literary critic, Stanley Hyman. While Hyman encouraged her proffessionally, he was extremely critical and borderline verbally abusive. patronized her writing career, kept her on a strict writing schedule, and derided her housekeeping and child care. To cope with her husband's bad treatment, Jackson turned to binge eating, alcohol, and tranqulizers. Jackson reportedly became so agoraphobic that before her death at age 49, she barely left her room.
From this troubled soul came some of the most frightening horror tales.What is particularly memorable about Jackson's works is that the horror does not come from outside sources: ghosts,vampires, or even serial killers. The true horror is found in the characters themselves through their own anxieties, paranoia, repressed frustrations, and adherence to brutal tradition.
Take what is probably Jackson's best known work, the short story "The Lottery." A seemingly peaceful small town's residents are preparing for a certain ritual, a lottery in which one of the residents receive some sort of honor. It is only until the Reader reaches the end of the story do they learn that the ritual imvolves one resident to be stoned to death. While there are some people saying that they hope so-and-so "doesn't get it" and the supposed Guest of Honor yells that "It's not fair", no real objections are raised. Instead the townspeople are so bound by this tradition that even the victim's children pick up rocks and gleefully hurl them at her.
Another example of Jackson's excellent writing is the novel, The Haunting of Hill House in which a group of people investigate a haunted house. The hauntings become more prominent in the presence of one of the guests, Eleanor Vance. Eleanor becomes a conduit for the supernatural forces because of her hatred for her bullying family members and her repressed urges for a female guest, Theodora. (who rudely tells Eleanor,"Do you always go when you're not wanted?") Finding no affection romantically or from her family and only madness in the house, Eleanor has no choice but to commit suicide.
By far the masterpiece of Jackson's works is We Have Always Lived In The Castle. This insightful wonderful novel gives new light into the Gothic Novel exploring the interior lives of the people who dwell inside those creepy walls.
The book is narrated by Mary Katherine "Merricat" Blackwood, the younger daughter of an eccentric family that lives in a dilapidated Gothic mansion with her older sister, Constance and senile Uncle Julian.
Merricat and Constance's back story could earn them a guest spot on the ID show, Deadly Women. Their entire family except Julian, Constance, and Merricat were murdered by poison. Constance was the prime suspect since she often did the cooking. Her trial was made public and even though she was acquitted, the court of public opinion made her a pariah. (Though her family was already held under suspicion by their eccentric ways.) The suspicions, including a catchy jump rope rhyme about the Blackwood Sisters, contribute to Constance's agoraphobia so that she never leaves the house beyond the family garden.
While Merricat goes outside to do the shopping, she is no less bizarre than her sister. Merricat is obsessed with black magic and fetishes and uses them to protect her home and family. She claims to have one eye for day and another for night. When her night eye is open to do dark things, her day eye remains dormant. (Perhaps her "separate eyes" are metaphors for schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder.)
Charles, Julian's nephew and the Sisters' cousin, wanders into their lives and begins to dominate the sisters particularly Constance. He derides the family especially Merricat for hiding valuables and constantly asks persistent questions about the Blackwood's finances leaving no doubt about his true intentions to Merricat anyway. Constance remains in blissful denial....or does she?
Once the truth of the early poisoning and other violent acts throughout the book is revealed, The Reader becomes aware that the Blackwood Sisters could not have accomplished their violent murderous deeds without each other. Merricat is the obvious doer living out her darkest fantasies and impulses but she needed Constance to guide her. In turn, Constance has repressed urges and needs that she could never do without Merricat achieving them for her. The two's obsessions with each other and their home become destructive as they are determined never to leave their home come hellish murder or high fire.
Shirley Jackson exposed the darkness in the human psyche and how it leads to her protagonists to commit dark deeds in a dark world.
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