Postmodernism in Jackson's Protagonist, Merricat

            An eerie simplicity is woven throughout We Have Always Lived In The Castle. When the reader is first introduced to Merricat, the character gives off a very childlike, almost innocent air. She states everything with great matter-of-factness, as if all her observations are self-evident, or all her thoughts and opinions are completely justified. Yet the simplicity extends beyond Merricat’s narration. Her household, with Constance and Uncle Julian, functions in a very ordered, simple, and completely unfettered manner. Merricat, her sister, and the Blackwood household exist in a sphere separate from the real world, shunning authority and conventional institutions thereof. Merricat’s family is mostly dead, authority has no place within the Blackwood property, and even formal religion is absent, its place filled by a childish faith in magic.

            No conventional standards exist for Merricat or her sister Constance. The pair exists in a twilight state of routine, and the idea of family does not exist in its traditional sense. The Blackwoods are stable, certainly, but almost impossibly so, and the only driving force they have is their strong sisterly love and peculiar confidence in a static lifestyle. Uncle Julian is not so much a part of the family as he is a piece of the routine that holds Merricat and Constance to some sort of structure. Yet when the fire disrupts the Blackwoods towards the end of the book, the “family” is desecrated even further. The sisters are tested immensely, yet they face their fate with an unreal amount of optimism and juvenile simplicity. Constance begins to lament over the loss of shelter, clothing, and food the girls are up against. The Blackwoods appear so far gone that Merricat is “dressed in a tablecloth like a ragdoll (Jackson 200).” Merricat quiets Constance’s fears, embracing the destruction of standards which the two have suffered. She speaks flatly that “We are going to be very happy, Constance (Jackson 200.”

            The annihilation of the Blackwood family, and a family structure in general, is accented by Merricat’s youthful fancies. As after the fire, she possesses an outlook that contradicts her circumstance. Her perfect world “on the moon” is a perfect metaphor for the Merricat’s simple optimism.  From the very start of the novel, Merricat preaches how “On the moon we have everything… All the locks are solid and tight… and the sun would shine all the time (Jackson 108).” Growing up without a true family after the night of murder, Merricat has never lost her childish tendencies. In many ways, her fantastical dreams give her strength, but mostly they act as goggles, warping her perception of life. After the fire, at the zeroth-level of existence for the Blackwoods, Merricat is practically at her most happy. With the family dead, living solely with Constance, Merricat says “I am thinking that we are on the moon, but it is not quite as I supposed it would be (Jackson 195).” Granted, she has not obtained the true euphoric state of her moon-kingdom, but murdered relatives and a half-burned house is the closest she has gotten. The notion that Merricat enjoys her situation represents the postmodern emphasis on the death of family.

            But beyond family, other forms of authority figures are presented in fairly negative light. Jim Donell solidifies the distrustful nature of authorities. In the great fire scene, after the firefighters quenched the flames, a sizeable mob has gathered outside the Blackwood house. Donell appears from the smoke, and “everyone knew him because of his size and his hat saying CHIEF (Jackson 155).” In this scene, Donell is clearly the authority, the most looked-to figure for the villagers. Of course, he sets an example. Before the mob, he picks up a rock, and “in complete silence he turned slowly and raised his arm and smashed the rock through one of the great tall windows of our mother’s drawing room (Jackson 154).” After this, the crowd goes rampant and destroys all that Merricat and her sister cherish. Authority is equivocated to evil in one swift motion.

            Charles helps to portray a rejection and general mistrust of authority, as well. From his very entrance into the novel, Merricat despises him. Merricat may be viewed as the antithesis of family and traditional norms, so a dichotomy is quickly established. Subsequently, Merricat tries everything in her ability to rid Charles from the house. While generally disagreeable as a stranger, Merricat also dislikes his decidedly “adult” and authoritarian perceptions. For instance, a point arrives in the book when Charles finds Merricat’s silver dollars buried by the creek. “This is outrageous,” Charles shouts, but Constance simply replies with, “She likes to bury things (Jackson 128).” The Blackwood sisters have a hard time understanding why Charles is so caught up on the concerns of wealth, a fact with only stoke Merricat’s hatred of him. Tormenting Charles “was a joyful sight, to see the first twistings and turnings of the demon caught (Jackson 137).” Without a doubt, Charles is rejected by the Blackwoods, and his rejection serves as symbolic rejection of authority by the sisters.

            In rejecting anything and everything that society has established as traditional, Merricat casts away religion and seizes upon a primitive faith in magic. Moments throughout Jackson’s novel are pocketed with allusions to power, sorcery, and artifacts that allow Merricat to shape and interact with her surroundings. Childish and fantastic, Merricat depends upon her magic for protection and warnings (a void left by destruction of her family, and the absence of authority). Merricat very simplistically believes that the Blackwood gate will protect the property, since “on the gate was a sign saying PRIVATE NO TRESPASSING and no one could go past that (Jackson 25).” Words possess a special significance for Merricat, as do random objects. She frequently arranges her material goods in peculiar fashions, calling them her “safeguards.” These objects include “the box of silver dollars I had buried by the creek, and the doll buried in the long field, and the book nailed to the tree in the pine woods (Jackson 59).” Forget God, or the Quran, or temples. Merricat has all the power she needs in rocks and letters and her cat, Jonas.

            Jackson’s novel conveys a great number of elements of postmodern fiction, and they all come out notably by way of Merricat. After all, the murder of the Blackwood family was by Merricat’s own hand. Merricat despises Charles, the central figure of authority in the narrative, and succeeds in driving him away. In a twisted sort of merriment, Merricat even seizes upon Constance’s and her own situation of a burned and broken house. And throughout all the experiences, Merricat maintains a staunch belief in youthful magic and is practically a pagan animist. The character of Merricat is a veritable personification of postmodern fiction in modern America.

Works Cited

Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Lived In The Castle. New York: Penguin Group, 1984. Print.