LaDonna Troullier

English 305

Dr. Oesterheld

March 1st 2019

We Have Always Lived in the Castle- Gender Roles

In the novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, we are introduced

to two sisters, Constance and Merricat, and their uncle Julian who is very ill. During the novel

we learn that Constance and Merricat lost their parents and brother due to poison consumption.

Later in the novel Merricat confesses to the crime of poisoning her family. We ask ourselves

why would a young woman kill her mother, father, brother, and attempt to kill their uncle. Could

it be the fact that Merricat couldn’t stand that women faced oppression during this time, and after

killing her family, especially the men of the family, she would now give her loving sister the

opportunity to go against the traditional family structure and show everyone that a woman could

do it all. Just when Merricat thought Constance would be the woman of the house they are

rudely awakened when their cousin Charles comes and tries to take over and fulfill the man of

the house, but the only problem with that is he lacked traditional masculinity. On the other hand,

it is evident in many ways that Constance has taken the role of being the woman of the house and

fulfills the gender expectations. In addition, Merricat doesn’t seem to be ready for adulthood and

does a poor job of fulfilling the expectations of a young woman.

Throughout the novel we learn that Constance fulfills the role of the woman of the house

very well. After her parents died Constance took the role of being the woman of the house by

taking care of the cooking, cleaning, and making sure Merricat and Uncle Julian had everything
they needed. If it wasn’t for Constance no one in the home would have a meal. Constance spends

most of her time in the kitchen preparing food or in her garden taking care of the food that is

growing. If she wasn’t preparing food for her family she was making sure Merricat had a good

head on her shoulders. When Constance wasn’t constantly telling Merricat she loved her, she

was always giving her motherly advice that every child needed to hear. For example, when the

children in the town would make fun of Merricat, Constance would tell her things like “never let

them see that you care” (Jackson, p.8) or “its wrong to hate them, it only weakens you” (Jackson

p.9) Its clear that Constance was trying to fill the void of Merricat not having her mother around.

In addition to taking care of Merricat, Constance also takes care of Uncle Julian. “Constance

always took Uncle Julian’s tray in to him in the morning because he slept painfully and

sometimes lay awake in the darkness waiting for the first light ad the comfort of Constance with

his tray” (Jackson, p.43) Uncle Julian relied on Constance to do everything he couldn’t do and he

even depended on her memory because his wasn’t that well. Uncle Julian would always have to

confirm what he remembers with Constance to make sure it was correct.

When it comes to masculine traits Cousin Charles does not fulfill them at all. Some of the

traditional masculine traits consist of being hard working and being the breadwinners for their

family. Charles didn’t seem to bring anything to the table and seemed to be nothing but a

moocher. “I saw that he was wearing out father’s gold watch chain, even with the crooked link,

and I knew without seeing that our fathers watch was in his pocket.” (Jackson P.80) It is evident

that cousin Charles wasn’t just a moocher but also a stealer. In addition, Charles tried to come

between Merricat and Constance’s relationship, and showed signs that he wanted to be with

Constance with the intentions of maybe marrying her, which would result in Constance and

Merricat loosing their power and once again facing female oppression. His intentions were to
break the strong bond between Constance and Merricat and essentially steal their inheritance,

that they didn’t seem to care much about. Another common trait of musicality is being able to fix

what is broken, and Charles lacked the handy man skills. “The broken step had clearly been to

much for Charles because the hammer and the board lay on ground and the step was still broken”

(Jackson, P.88) Towards the end of the novel, after the fire, Charles vanished and then suddenly

comes back one-day begging for forgiveness from Constance. “Connie,” Charles said, “you

don’t know what you’re doing to me; I never deserved to be treated like this. Please, Connie”

(Jackson, P. 144) A man of that time would never be caught begging for forgiveness from a

woman, and yet Charles is standing at the front door begging for another chance at love with

Constance. It is evident that Charles never showed signs of the tradition male gender role, and in

contrast became more feminized as the novel progressed.

Throughout the novel Merricat portrayed a gender identity that was very sneaky but also

significant. We could never understand why she wasn’t able to enter uncle Julian’s room to help

Constance clean it, or why she wasn’t allowed in the kitchen, until she confessed she put poison

in the sugar bowl. “I was allowed to carry dirty dishes but not to wash them, so I set the tray on

the kitchen table and watched while Constance stacked the dishes by the sink to wash later,

swept up the broken milk pitcher on the floor, and took out the potatoes to start for dinner”

(Jackson, P. 39. Throughout the novel it was clear to see that Merricat was afraid of adulthood,

and in that era by the age 18 you were an adult and should be interested in boys, cooking, and

taking care of yourself. She thought of life a big game, literally. She would make connections

with life and spaced on a game board such as saying “I though about the children’s gams where

the board is marked into little spaces and each player moves according to a throw of the dice;

there were always dangers, like “lose one turn” and “go back four spaces” and return to start,”
and little helps, like “advance three spaces and “take and extra turn” (Jackson, p5) Clearly

Merricat didn’t take life very serious and it was all a big game to her. Even when it came to

money, Merricat showed no interest at all and would even bury money all over their yard, which

is not something an eighteen year old should be doing. In addition, if it wasn’t for Constance

constantly remaindering her to brush her hair, eat, and even shower, Merricat would never do it.

Merricat’s traits were the total opposite of the traditional eighteen year old woman.

Overall, this novel gave us an insight on why certain characters were forced to fit

society’s gender expectations, like Constance, and also suggested to why some just didn’t care

about fitting societies expectations, Merricat.