In the novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” there are many extremely important themes such as, domesticity, rich vs. poor, and sibling relationships. There is a brilliantly atmospheric vibe to this novel. Study Guide for We Have Always Lived in the Castle. 30 likes. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Shirley Jackson’s deliciously creepy 1962 novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle demonstrates the power of the Gothic in the hands of a master craftsman. Use the HTML below. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Merricat and Constance are associated with female power that is possibly magical in nature, and that is in direct opposition to the patriarchal power of the town. We Have Always Lived in the Castle explores the opposite idea: how a home becomes a haunted house. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson is her haunting 1962 novel of a family who all died from the effects of a lethal dose of arsenic. Learn and understand all of the themes found in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, such as Female Ambivalence. "Bow all your heads to our adored Mary Katherine" (Jackson 96). Major Themes in Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. We Have Always Lived in the Castle study guide contains a biography of Shirley Jackson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. All of these themes help to portray the message of Shirley Jackson’s novel, “We have Always Lived in the Castle.” In the novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” there are many extremely important themes, such as domesticity. tags: colors, perspectives. The theme of persecution of people who exhibit "otherness" or become outsiders in small-town New England, by small-minded villagers, is at the forefront of We Have Always Lived in the Castle and is a repeated theme in Jackson's work. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is very reminiscent of Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” in its themes of mob mentality. One of the many, many fascinating things about this book is the way it could have been approached in a completely different way. Brief History of Gothic Literature The first Gothic novel was Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto (1764), set in a medieval castle featuring dark stairways, mysterious rooms, trap doors, and underground passages. An artist, the old saying goes, “pounds the same nail, over and over again.” So the generations exposed to Shirley Jackson’s most famous work, the short story that became a play that became various TV movies, “The Lottery,” will pick up on her favorite themes in the Netflix adaptation of her 1962 novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle.” 28 likes. We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) was the last published work by Shirley Jackson during her lifetime.