Social Criticism In Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In The Castle

According to Elizabeth Lowell, “Some of us aren't meant to belong. Some of us have to turn the world upside down and shake the hell out of it until we make our own place in it.” Sometimes what every situation needs is an outsider to flip the script and create a new outlook on everything. In Shirley Jackson’s novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” the speaker, Merricat, is an outsider of society on many levels, such as mental health, gender, and that she is an upper class citizen in a poor area. Although Merricat is mentally unstable, her outsider’s perspective criticizes the social standard for women in the 1960s, indicating that social roles, marriage, and the patriarchy are not necessary aspects in life such as it is not necessary to have the same outlook on life as others.

Hannie Rayson explores different attitude on her play 'Inheritance'; Julia, a feminist. William, a gay man. Felix, a student activist. Girlie, a wog-hater. Lyle, coon hater. Maureen, an opportunistic race-based politician. And Nugget, an aboriginal man. Due to these various characteristic, lots of them suffered because of the thing called "prejudice" particularly William, Lyle, and Nugget. However, it doesn't apply to all cases because it was depending on the emotion and belief of the person involved. Hannie Rayson shows this in an explicit way; such as, when Lyle hanged himself at the end of the play. You can notice throughout the play that he is having difficulty in life that leads him to depression.

Q. What does this reference to the Devil and treasure suggest about period attitudes about wealth?

She did something extremely evil and discussing, but she thought her actions were absolutely right and beneficial to the town. “She was pleasant with the letter. She was fond of doing things extremely right.”(Jackson 38)

In this essay I would be writing about the memoir, the glass castle be Jeannette Walls . Throughout this essay I would be presenting the social issues, analyzing the decision making process and expanding on the issues resolved through resolution planning.

At some point everyone has judged someone or has been judged , and this leads to stereotypes and prejudice. In to “Kill a Mockingbird” Harper Lee displays how judging a man by his color leads to unfortunate events. Through symbolism , stereotypes, colorism , Harper lee shows that everyone eventually judges even if they don’t see it as judging .

The memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is the tragic story of Wall’s abusive childhood with her alcoholic father and living in poverty. One of the most important and memorable parts of her story of struggle is when she actually stands up for herself against her father on pages 236-238. Throughout Jeannette’s horrid childhood, she has always been loyal to her father, even though he has been highly abusive. It is at this point of the story Jeannette’s rhetorical strategies help convey to the reader her realization that she needs to stand up for herself and get away from her parents. Even in only three pages, Jeannette's strategies show how much better off she would have been without the help of her parents.

Jeannette Walls,subject and author of The Glass Castle, includes several social issues that she and her family come across daily during her childhood. However, the three most important social issues the memoir addresses is poverty, alcoholism, and child abuse. These social issues affect a large amount of children with their emotions and social development.

The value of participating in life, and society is particularly important and plays a major role in one’s health, and mental state. The two novels from our class display a clear image of the pain and agony you feel after being rejected, and looked upon differently. Stephen Chbosky’s, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, we witness how characters in both novels try to participate in life, and just want to be accepted like everybody else. However, they all encountered problems as the society refuses to accept them for who they are. They are either picked on or completely disowned and forced to stay away from civilization, and as a result, their mental state begins to decline, which leads to consequences. These consequences

Shirley Jackson’s novel, The Haunting of Hill House, explores the cultural anxieties in the mid 20th century. Specifically, men use womanhood (societal norms) as purposely infantilizing women in order to confine the female mind. Jackson utilizes symbolism, metaphor, and anaphora in her novel in order to convey the message for men to stop infantilizing women. Moreover, Jackson spreads awareness that women are being confined by a system that men developed: womanhood. Hence, in effect, the novel serves as an informal protest against male repression through a medium that can be read by a wider audience —more importantly an indirect challenge to male readers. According to Krolokke, Second Wave Feminism became prominent due to cultural discontent with patriarchy during the mid 20th century. Moreover, Krolokke informs the readers that Second Wave Feminism influenced women to challenge traditional family roles and male ideologies about women not belonging in the workplace (11-12). Mid 20th century is also when Jackson published The Haunting of Hill House. So, with these historical and cultural contexts in mind, Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House ends the novel with Eleanor killing herself because she wants women to challenge the ideas of patriarchy into effect. Hence, Second Wave Feminism has a connection to Eleanor having a childlike personality (can not think for herself) because she wants women (especially young and single women) to explore their rights (their choices) and

In the novel, The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, the Wall family encounters many hardships through the course of their lives. Many of the hardships they face pertain to poverty. The Wall children face many days of starvation and dehydration. Is all of this necessary? Or does it just take a simple choice to make it all better? The parents made many decisions through the course of their lives that forced the family to live in such awful conditions. St. John of the Cross reminds us, “Where there is no love, put love-- and you will find love.” Even in a situation where it seems there is no love present, we need to act out of love and we will find love in the end. Throughout the novel, it seems as though the parents do not love or care about their children with all the poor choices they make. As a result, Jeanette feels it is her obligation to make her siblings feel

Shirley Jackson writes about this social conduct in order to reflect her childhood trauma of being bullied by other kids, leading to her depression in school (Kellman 1213). Conveying the selfishness of man through her writings, Shirley Jackson displays her consciousness within “The Lottery” and shows how society can influence the conscious at developmental stages and leading examples through psychoanalytic lens.

Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.

Although a light read, her experience is heart-breaking as she is abused at home, institutionalized, and instead of being treated for her depression, doctor’s attempt to “feminize” her with eye shadow and lipstick. She is the type of advocate that makes noise in a silence because she tells a tale that would otherwise be unknown.

Conveying the selfishness of man through her writings, Shirley Jackson displays her consciousness within “The Lottery” and shows how society can influence the conscious at developmental stages and leading examples through a psychoanalytic lens.