The Tower by Marghanita Laski

Marghanita Laski was an English journalist and novelist who also wrote plays and stories. The
short story “The Tower” (1955) is one of her most prominent works. This story portrays
victimization as a result of male dominance through the exploration of various themes such as
fear, isolation, control, and freedom.
There is a wonderful developing spookiness to Laski’s tale, beginning in such an ordinary way and
ending with understated terror. The reader shares in that terror, as although the story is narrated
in the third person, it closely focalises Caroline’s perspective. That begins without warning in the
first paragraph, which we read, with Caroline, from a travel guide. The informative style is
immediately recognisable, with description of the ‘pleasing olives and vines’, the directions, and
the parenthetical placement of extra detail – ‘(470 steps)’. That serves as a narrative trick. The
style is so like a guidebook, the detail so innocuous-sounding, that the reader does not realise that
it is a key piece of foreshadowing.

Analysis
In “The Tower” by Marghanita Laski we have the theme of fear, control, freedom, perseverance,
independence and change. Narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator the reader
realises after reading the story that Laski may be exploring the theme of fear. Through the setting
Laski manages to highlight to the reader the fear that Caroline feels while she is climbing both up
and down the tower. It might also be possible that Laski is using the tower itself as symbolism to
highlight the control that men have over the lives of women. Something which is very true when it
comes to Caroline’s relationship with her husband Neville. Though Neville is not present in the
story he still has the ability to control Caroline and she appears to be working off Neville’s time
frame (his meeting and getting back home). This could be significant as Laski could be suggesting
that Caroline is not only controlled by Neville but that she lacks the real freedom needed to live
her life. Something that is also clear to the reader by the way that Caroline is bored when she
tours the country with Neville to see some of the country homes.
It is as though Caroline is obliging Neville because it is her role to do so. Though ironically when
she is climbing the tower she has all the freedom in the world. The ascent of the tower is also
interesting as symbolically Laski could be suggesting that Caroline is reaching the pinnacle when
it comes to gender roles. She is the equal of a man. She has overcome her fears and is not being
controlled by anyone. There is also no doubt that Neville would disapprove of Caroline’s activities.
Mainly because he is unable to control Caroline’s environment. Though what happens to Caroline
is sinister, she still nonetheless has the freedom to be independent of Neville while she is climbing
the tower. However, this independence comes at a price. Caroline is lost forever as soon as she
begins to descend from the tower. Something that is noticeable to the reader by the fact that
Caroline climbs down more steps than she originally climbed up when she began to climb the
tower.
It may also be a case that Laski is exploring the theme of perseverance. Despite being afraid
Caroline continues to climb the tower. Even though the rewards are not as she would expect them
to be. When Caroline reaches the top of the tower there is no moment of realisation or epiphany.
Nothing has changed. Which may symbolically suggest that despite all the difficulties a woman
may encounter to reach the top of the gender ladder things will still be the same. Women will
never be the equal of men despite the struggles they might endure. This could be significant as
Laski might be suggesting that at the time the story was written the efforts of women to achieve
equality or to be on par with men would be fruitless. If anything things would remain the same.
Something that is a little bit clearer to the reader when Caroline begins her decent sitting down on
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the steps. It is as though she is unable to move or that she may be somewhat paralysed. In reality
Caroline has achieved her goal and nothing changes and if anything the descent is more
frightening to Caroline than the ascent.
What is also interesting about the story is the fact that Laski appears to be using foreshadowing
when Caroline and Neville are looking at the portrait of Giovanna di Ferramano. Neville compares
Caroline to Giovanna who died aged only eighteen and the reader is assured that Caroline herself
when she descends the tower is also due to meet an unfortunate end. Which may be the point
that Laski is attempting to make. She could be suggesting that despite the passing of time the
roles of women have not changed. They still remain subservient to the male regardless of any
efforts that they might undertake to change the status quo. Another similarity between Giovanna
and Caroline is the fact that just as Giovanna died mysteriously so too will Caroline. Though
Caroline has tried her best to control the environment around her (the tower) she has failed in
doing so. Which may suggest to some readers that symbolically Laski is highlighting a woman’s
inability to control a male dominated environment. Caroline’s life is to end with her crawling or
walking around in circles (descent) with no fixed point of change (exit) being available to her. Just
as many women prior to Caroline have attempted to achieve change very little if anything has
actually changed.

 Marghanita Laski was a feminist, left-wing author who contributed through her writing to the
feminist movement. It was a time when women were pursuing equal rights in a patriarchal
society
 The story is about a young newlywed woman who is struggling with real and psychological
challenges in her new relationship with her ambitious and pompous husband. The theme of
feminism explores deep emotional scars that the protagonist is dealing with
 Caroline, the protagonist in this story, has taken her car for the first time outside of
Florence, where she has moved after her marriage to her husband, who constantly tries to
overshadow her with his own knowledge.
 The husband had lots of souvenirs due to constant travel and nature of work, and uses this
knowledge as a way to throw his weight around. She shows that she can be his equal when
she goes alone in this exploration of the countryside. She has her guide-book but she is not
fluent with her Italian.
 A power struggle is seen – she is annoyed by his “know it all” attitude, to make a point to
him and herself she travels outside of Florence and explores the countryside. She is
intrigued by the tower and secretly hopes that he does not have any knowledge about it so
that she can win his respect by sharing her experience
 She wants to escape his influence, and works on her own initiative and individualism by
driving on her own, taking pride that she follows all the traffic laws. She wants to make a
statement … to show autonomy
 Strong symbolism:
Tower:
 male domination
 Symbolises power and control
 The bats inside the tower symbolise the emotional scars she has
Going out alone:
 She wants to be alone, in search of her identity
 The husband seems to take quite a lot of pride in his knowledge, using it to prove his
superiority. He is pompous, overbearing and self absorbed. He is also condescending
when he compared his wife to the young lady in the portrait
 She doesn’t want to be classified as an “ordinary tourist”
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 She resents the fact that her husband took her to famous, extraordinary places showing off
elite Italian pieces while she just wanted to learn about ordinary art. She feels controlled
and overpowered
 There is sarcasm in the calling of these trips “pilgrimages” – for her husband Neville they
exude elite aura
 She is quite done with Italian art – the excitement had waned, as seen in the usage of
“dutifully” “politely” ~ every line is reeking of passive-aggressive sarcasm
 She is irritated by his refusal to admit even the slightest bit of ignorance, when he talks
about Giovana and her husband and the history behind it
 Foreshadowing:
 Repeated mentions of Giovana, black magic
 She is “rather like” the young girl ~ like her, she was young, beautiful,
and asked too many questions, and perhaps like her, she will be
doomed to the same fate
 The reader is then moved back to the present time, driving to the tower
 It was barren around the tower, indicative of what was to come… no life (symbolism and
foreshadowing)
 She enters it, thinking it’s going to be a quick visit for the proof of independence, and starts
climbing the stairs
 The voice of reason (the inner instinct of survival) tells her to turn back when she reaches
quite high near the top
 A buildup of suspense – hesitation, shivering – despite her sixth sense pushes on into
uncharted territory
 She is doing this only to prove to herself and her husband that she is mature
 The breaks in the rail symbolise the uncertainties of life
 The danger increases when the rail crumbles away, creating more suspense in the
atmosphere
 To create tension for the reader, every step she takes to ascend is highlighted – it marks
the passage of time, and the steps down are perhaps a final countdown to her death
 The time span is stretched to make this dull act of climbing steps more interesting, as now
the reader is wondering what would happen with each passing step..
 In her descent the twos exceed the actual number of 470… the count goes up to 523. Does
she literally fall to the dark pit and die?
 The fact that the reader knows that there are 470 steps in total but the count continues
indicates the possibility of Caroline falling off
 There is constant tussle between the voice of reason and her desire to prove herself. Her
ego is badly bruised.
 When she reaches the end, there is nothing but a piece of broken railing, creating even
more fear, which has paralysed the reader as well as Caroline
 She realizes as she is emotionally and physically spent that it was pointless for her to go
through this ordeal just to assuage her broken ego
 Once she reaches the platform at the top, the self-destructive feeling takes over
momentarily but the voice of reason prevents her from doing anything drastic or dangerous

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  She finds herself in a dilemma should she end her agony or be forced to return to her
suffocating marriage. If she lets her ego control her actions she will put an end to her
miseries. She is experiencing fright which is real and also psychological
 She tries to keep her nerves under control, talking to herself positively to make herself step
back
 Eventually, she begins to go down, she decides to move down cautiously to show the
strength of her conviction to prove a point. The descent is dangerous and she is dizzy if she
misses a single step, she would perish. There is no safety net

Setting:
 In Florence, Italy and the Italian country-side
 The village was annihilated due to superstition after the mysterious happenings at the tower
there is no life or greenery in its surroundings. The reader picks up on the tension.

Narration:
 The story is told from a 3rd Person narrative.
 The reader is able to look at the story as an independent observer.

Plot:
Conflict:
 Within the protagonist, there is a battle taking place between the voices of insecurity and
her ego
Climax:
 The Climax is at the end, when despite the voice of reason, she continues to climb,
eventually reaching the top, only to realise that she has no escape she must go down the
treacherous path that she climbed up in the hope that she will have some memorable and
valuable experiences to share with Neville
Ending:
 It is a cliffhanger – perhaps Caroline has succumbed to her injuries, her spirit broken, or
perhaps she has survived and will go back to her unfulfilling marriage

Literary Devices:
Symbolism:
 The tower - depicting male domination
 The stairs represent the challenges of life and climbing up the ‘gender ladder’
 After reaching the top of the ‘gender ladder’, nothing changes for Caroline. She is still very
dependent and does not become self-reliant – she is still someone’s wife
 The descent is more frightening as she faces reality and the impediments which lay ahead.
These are symbolized by the bats
 When she realizes there’s no railing it is symbolic of her dead-end relationship with Neville

Alliteration:
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  ‘timeless time’ highlighting the fact that this climb seems like forever
 It could also be allocated to her dull marriage, which is like a dragging dead weight
attached to her ankle

Imagery:
 Of Giovana’s portrait: “The picture was painted…calm brown eyes under plaits of honey-
gold hair”
 Her husband? Niccolo is described to have “A thin white face with deep-set black eyes that
stared intently into hers”, presenting him as an intimidating man
 Of the tower: “It was built of narrow red bricks…arched doorway”

Parallels (Between Giovana and Caroline):

 Giovana died at eighteen – is her life remotely linked to Caroline’s fate, this thought lingers
throughout the story
 This is foreshadowed by the husband’s comparison of the two
 Despite the generations between them – 400 years – both Giovanna and Caroline have
similar challenges with an impending presence of domineering husbands.
 In their fight to mark their identity, both young women disappear into oblivion

Suspense:
 The counting of the steps draws attention to each passing moment
 Attention is drawn to Caroline’s uncertainty with “pressed” and hesitantly” to describe her
search for the rail
 Her conflicted mental state is shown by the usage of dashes in her dialogue with herself,
highlighting how loose her train of thought was
 The alliteration when she reaches the top
 Her paralysis

Characterization:
Neville:
 He is a pompous, domineering man who is desperate to prove his intellect not only to his
wife but also the people he meets.
 This is seen when he often visits cultural attraction not to gain new knowledge – he already
knew it all, as seen when he is able to provide a description and history of every art piece
being displayed – but to show off to his wife that he knew this knowledge.
 It is also portrayed by the fact that these trips were a sort of “pilgrimage” for him – they
were not passionate endeavours but a habitual, almost religious event that he placed high
importance on (for it was a way to prove his place in society).
 His condescending nature is shown in the way he treats his wife, acting like a teacher
congratulating a child for doing well in class
 He also has a superiority complex, which is why he wants to bring his wife to his standard
and class, which he sees as better than hers

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Caroline:
 From the beginning, we can see that she is unhappy with her marriage, taking what little
victories (such as writing) that she can get
 Despite this, she is still forced to follow him around on his endeavours, even taking the
Italian guidebook she was “urged” to take,
 Due to this, she decides to rebel against her husband and the patriarchy by climbing the
tower

Themes:
Dependence:
 In everyday life, Caroline is dependent on her husband for everything from food to a status
in society and knowledge about high art
 Even when she does manage to rebel against it by climbing the tower, she has to convince
herself to return, for the only alternative to this dependence on the patriarchy was,
ultimately, death

Fear:
 Of her husband – she feels overwhelmed in his presence.
 He is not presented to the reader but his presence is a very strong antagonistic force that
drives the protagonist to action which results in the suspense builds up
 Agoraphobia

Control
The Patriarchy:
 This forces Caroline to suffer through the trips he takes to educate her due to her “duty as a
British Council wife”.
 It inhibits her ability to express herself, forcing her to “listen politely” to the monologues
about art she did not want to hear.
 If these subservient expectations and social rules did not exist, she certainly would not
repress her own individualism to become who her husband wished to be.
 These rules and expectations are symbolically represented by the Tower, which stands tall,
a symbol for male dominance.

Inner Demons:
 Caroline to question her identity without society and her husband, thus introducing a third
power – her own conflicted internal monologue.
 It is a reactionary force, arising in response to Neville and the society he represents.
 All of this made her question who she really was, making her try to carve out a niche for
herself.
 With each step, it becomes more and more extreme, till she reaches the top, where it tries
to get her to jump off (“it would be much easier to fall”), tricking her into believing that that
was the only way to become who she wanted to be.

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Husband:
 Neville attempts to establish control over her by establishing his intellectual and artisanal
superiority and attempting to bring her up to his standard

Rebellion:
Against the Patriarchy:
 When Caroline decides to climb up the Tower, her opinion that “There ought to be a
wonderful view at the top” highlights how delightful it would be to cast off her chains, she is
directly opposing a system backed by decades of sexism and tyranny.
 Each step she takes is a direct blow against what she has been taught to do by society.
 The writer makes this seemingly mundane action of climbing stairs extremely tense and
dragging by highlighting every step she takes with a number.
 When the further danger of a lack of railings is introduced at the 375th step (a
symbolization of how she was moving away from the safe routine of everyday life), the
magnitude of this endeavour is characterized.
 However, even though she does manage to reach the top societal control is so all-
encompassing that she is not elated but rather feels nothing, even convincing her that she
wanted to drop this useless quest, making her believe that “the reality must be that she was
safe at home with Neville”.

Against her Inner Demons:

 It is at this point that when the call of the void becomes overbearing that her voice of
reason finally kicks in, initiating an internal struggle between suicidal tendencies caused by
an absolute lack of self-confidence and self-preservation
 It is depicted by her verbal conversations with herself, which makes it seem like she was
trying to convince herself what to do.
 The tenseness of that moment is highlighted extremely effectively with the usage of
alliteration – it is described as “timeless time”, making it seem to go on forever.
 When it initially starts to win, an ally of her self-doubt, the bats in the tower, attack her,
again causing her extreme fear and pain.
 The author purposefully leaves it ambiguous as to how this struggle ended – perhaps she
fell to her death, or perhaps she exited to her car, so scared that she still counted her
steps.

Against her Husband:

 Caroline is obviously frustrated by her husband’s ‘pilgrimages’, having become
“anaesthetized to Italian art”.
 These trips and guidelines are quite stifling for Caroline, which instigates in her a wish to
find “something of her own to contribute”.
 This is expressed physically manifests in her visiting The Tower despite its ominous history
in an attempt to one-up her husband’s constant quests.
 This wrangle against her husband’s authority was quite important for her, illustrated by her
“explosive relief” upon conquering them.

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  She feels inconsequential that she has nothing to stay and contribute, for her is bigger than
life
 The tower represents her terrible marriage
 The step she takes up the tower represents her everyday struggle against the patriarchy
and her husband
 The literal struggle was the climb up, an attempt to have some feat to boast about
 The patriarchal society expected her to be subservient to her husband

The Mystery of Giovanna di Ferramano

There are other little clues, like the ominous title of ‘the Tower of Sacrifice’ and the destruction of
the village. These are developed later, when in flashback, the narrative recounts the conversation
between Caroline and her husband Neville about the portraits of Giovanna and Niccolo di
Ferramano in a private gallery. With references to Giovanna’s early marriage and death, the
mystery surrounding her husband and the suggestions of his involvement with the occult, Laski
creates a strong sense of unease. She adds Neville’s uncertainty over whether Giovanna was
‘lost’ or ‘damned’ in the Count’s story. Threads across the story interconnect when Neville claims
a connection between Giovanna and Caroline – ‘Do you know, she’s rather like you.’ Laski uses
the adverb ‘casually’ for Neville’s comment, but it could be equally well applied to Laski herself
and the almost offhand way she makes the link between the two women through a stray comment
of dialogue.

Climbing the Tower

Laski builds the importance of those 470 steps as Caroline climbs the tower. Her counting of the
steps punctuates the final pages of the story. A sunny day in the Tuscan countryside could not be
less gothic, but as soon as Caroline enters the tower and begins her climb, the mood changes,
acquiring gothic elements and a growing sense of claustrophobia. There are immediate
constrictive architectural details such as the ‘low arched ceiling’ and the ‘narrow stone staircase’.
Each window is only a ‘narrow slit’ and as Caroline notes, it gets ‘dark very quickly.’ The breaks in
the ‘rusty’ handrail increase the tension, as does Caroline’s counting of the steps. As the reader
shares Caroline’s consciousness, we are also aware of her increasing doubts – ‘It would be much
more sensible to give up and go home’ and ‘I really ought to go down now’. Laski also uses verbs
carefully; as Caroline ‘climbed’, she also ‘groped’, ‘pressed tightly’, ‘clutched’ and ‘fumbled’, all of
which indicate a lack of physical security.

The Descent
Even though Caroline has climbed in the expectation of ‘a wonderful view at the top’, Laski makes
no mention of a view at all; Caroline is only conscious of how ‘immeasurably, unbelievably high’
she is – it is terrifying rather than ‘wonderful’. Ominously she has to resist the ‘impulse to hurl
herself’ from the top. The descent is so painful that Laski devotes six paragraphs to six steps. The
language in this section is much more intense, with adjectives such as ‘unprotected’,
‘disappearing’ and ‘menacing’ for the staircase, verbs like ‘screamed’, ‘staring’ and ‘tearing’ with
adjectives and adverbs like ‘shuddering’, ‘stupefied’ and ‘tightly’ for Caroline. While bats are
traditional inhabitants of dark gothic spaces, Laski’s description of them, with three instances of

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the word ‘horror’ and the evocative ‘whispering skin-stretched wings’, makes them repellent. While
Laski uses speech marks for Caroline’s internal dialogue and her counting the steps, she makes
the internal voice urging her to death much more direct, with no speech marks: ‘It would be much
easier to fall, said the voice in her head… You cannot climb down.’ While she overcomes this
voice and compels herself to descend slowly, Laski keeps the real horror for the last few words,
the continuing step count – ‘five hundred and two – and three and four –’ Significantly, not only is
the count never completed, but Laski does not even end with a full stop.

The Gothic and Gender

It is not hard to see the tower as a symbol, representing masculinity. Caroline sets out to climb it,
to conquer it, but instead is overwhelmed by it. If we look back through the story, we can
recognise Laski’s careful threading of gender concerns. The first word of the second paragraph is
‘Triumphantly’. Caroline’s triumph is one of independent success – independence from husband
Neville, who in his well-meaning way has stifled her. The language used to describe Caroline
suggests caution and uncertainty – ‘hesitantly, haltingly… managed to piece out…’ – while Neville
‘was always urging’ her to take the guidebook, he was ‘certain to know all about the campaniles’.
Subtly, Laski makes the portrait of this knowledgeable, intelligent man quite unattractive. He has
‘brought’ Caroline to Florence, as if she were an item in his hand luggage. His knowledge of
culture seems acquisitive, as he wants ‘to accumulate Tuscan culture for himself’. He dismisses
Caroline’s idea of visiting galleries with contempt; to him they contain merely ‘stuff’, whereas he
has access to ‘privately owned’ culture. He never notices that his wife does not share his
passions, that she is ‘almost anaesthetized to Italian art.’ His mini-lectures in this ‘well-bred voice’
are mocked as examples of ‘dissertation’.
It is very appropriate, therefore, that the portraits of Giovanna and Niccolo di Ferramano are the
subjects of their discussion. Caroline’s response to Giovanna’s painting is personal, emotional;
she reacts to the woman herself, married and dead at eighteen. Neville is academic and
detached, able to supply historical context – ‘They married young in those days’ – and is able to
interpret the clues in the painting of Niccolo. Again, Caroline’s reaction is personal: ‘I don’t like
him’. We have a young wife and a husband who is interested in culture and books discussing
portraits of a young wife and her husband, who is painted with his hand on a pile of books. Laski is
making a very clear parallel between the two couples. Caroline is empathetic towards Giovanna
and Neville himself makes the connection between them. Although shrouded in mystery, the dark
arts of Niccolo are clearly linked with the death of his wife and the destruction of the village around
the ‘Tower of Sacrifice’. We should note too that an English translation of the name ‘Ferramano’
would be ‘iron hand’, another indicator of inflexible masculine control. Caroline’s never-ending
descent into the bowels of the tower confirm the link between herself and Giovanna and a story
about women controlled by men.

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Through the setting, Laski manages to highlight the fear that Caroline felt while she is climbing
both up and down the tower. Laski may possibly be using the tower as a symbol to highlight the
control that men have over the lives of women, even in the modern era.
Throughout the setting of the short story, the theme of control is vividly portrayed and explored
through the relationship between Caroline and her husband, Neville. Although Neville is not
present in the short story himself, he still has the ability to control Caroline, as she wanted to
explore the tower but simultaneously wanted to reach her home before Neville reaches home.
This example is significant in exhibiting how Caroline is devoid of the freedom required to live her
own life. It is as though Caroline is obliging her husband as a duty she has to fulfill. Neville’s
control is heavily imposed upon Caroline to the point where she depends upon him for her own
safety, “Caroline knew that she wanted to take the fork to the left, to Florence and home
and Neville and — said an urgent voice inside her — for safety.” In this particular sentence,
Laski employs a literary device known as polysyndeton, which uses several conjunctions such as
“and” to add a dramatic and artistic effect to the writing.
The readers view how Caroline possesses all the freedom in the world when she climbs up the
tower. As she begins her ascension towards the stairs of the tower, she notices how the staircase
is extremely narrow, “A narrow stone staircase clung to the wall and circled round the room
to disappear through a hole in the ceiling.” The repeated idea of narrowness in the tower may
symbolize the narrow-mindedness of the society as a whole to accept women and give them a
safe space entirely for themselves, where they do not constantly have to worry about their safety.
The repeated idea of narrowness in the story highlights and emphasizes the narrow mindsets of a
male dominant society where women are silenced and prohibited to voice their concerns.
Furthermore, Laski’s mention and emphasis on numbers in the short story creates a mounting
intensity whilst giving a statistical effect. As the energy of the main protagonist, Caroline, becomes
more tangible, it seems as if her feelings and emotions are also being recorded. The reader can
trace the character’s development or the lack of development of emotions by the given numbers,
as a way of data analysis. The numbers mentioned in this story show how Caroline receives a
sense of achievement through her ascension of the tower’s stairs, “’-four hundred and seventy!’
said Caroline aloud with explosive relief, and then she stopped abruptly because the steps
had stopped too.” A sense of achievement is gained as Caroline now stands at the top of the
world while breaking free of societal chains that held her back from gaining freedom.
Moreover, windows play an important role in developing the setting of the short story and the
position of Caroline herself. Windows usually talk about escapism, however, the usage of windows
in this particular short story seems ironic as those windows are shut down and opaque, “She
wondered why the narrow-slit windows in the wall had all been so placed that they spiraled
around the staircase too high for anyone climbing it to see through them.” Verbal irony is
employed here as the concept of windows is not what it seems to appear. The repetition of the
idea of narrowness in the tower shows how narrow-minded a male dominant society is, where
women have to bear the oppression imposed among them in silence.
Additionally, the setting of the tower shows Caroline’s mental state through the employment of
tactile imagery. “Then hesitantly she groped forwards, upwards, and at last her fingers met
the rusty rail again, and again she climbed.” Caroline’s sense of touch is involved when she
touches the railing to climb up the tower. The readers might also feel the rusty touch of the railing
underneath their fingers. The aforementioned railing in the tower is rusty, arguably due to the fact
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that none of the women possessed the courage to go near the tower, which is an extended
metaphor for male dominance. No woman had the courage to stand up to male dominance and
societal pressure and speak up against their oppression. They did not dare surpass it in order to
make a change. The rusty rail may also symbolize how women find comfort even in the faintest
hope of ascension towards light and being devoid of the darkness and pain that has surrounded
them. “Sometimes she had to climb several steps with her left shoulder pressed tightly to
the brick wall before her searching hand could find the tenuous rusty comfort again.”
As Caroline finally reaches the top of the tower, she seems to be rather disappointed. There was
nothing for her to see that might have been of any importance. This disappointment is expressed
by Laski when she writes, “’ But how idiotic,’ she said to the air. ‘The whole thing’s
absolutely pointless,’ and then the fingers of her left hand, exploring the wall beside her,
met not brick but wood.” The dissatisfaction in Caroline’s dialogue shows just how there was
nothing important to view. This disappointment might symbolize how there is no change made,
even if some brave women like Caroline challenge male dominance and decide to raise their
voices against their oppression by a patriarchal society.
Towards the end of the story, Caroline is shown tallying the steps of the tower to five hundred and
four, whereas, the tower only has the capacity for four hundred and seventy steps. This highlights
the idea and symbolizes that there is no end to male dominance and female oppression,
regardless of how much time passes by. “She could not think. She could know nothing but
fear. Only her brain remorselessly recorded the tally. ‘Five hundred and one,’ it counted,
‘five hundred and two — and three and four –‘”
Conclusively, it can be said that Marghanita Laski presents Caroline as a brave and a naïve
woman simultaneously, through the setting of the tower. The story is the epitome of women's
oppression by male dominance and how regardless of the passage of time, women continue to be
in the same position as they were centuries ago.

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