FX1STENTIALISM lN SHIRLE Y : AC~SON'S LAST NOVELS Guy :\~['Ln . ~;_a n o :'o.. The ' ,_ t:' ~ · ~J b mi t t:: 12 d t c· c he F a c 11 l t\ or t :-, 2 Cl, ll e g e of HlllTIC:m i r i <=: s In PJrr:1 -:. l Fulfill:nenl of the Ker1 uireme.<Ls for the uep,rce of Master a: Ar t s Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton . rlo.·iJa DecemlJer lY8J @ Copyc:-igh t by Gu y Argenziano 198 3 ll EXISTENTIALISM IN SH I RLEY JACKS ON ' S LAST NU:ELS by Guy Arg enziano This the sis was p r epared unde r che direction of lhe candi­ date ' s thesi~ a dvisor , Dr. Ann Peyton, Dep a rtmen c of Engl{sh, and has been approved by the memb c~·s of h i s supervisory committee. It was s ubmitted to che f a cul ty £ the College of Humanities and was accepteJ in partLal fulfil lment of the requirements for the deg ree of Masrer of Arts. SUPERVISORY COi'!:;"1l1TEE · -~ - ~~ --- Thesi s Ach i .-;t)::\ · of English ,((, "!.t~ "-.-­ of Huma nities ~ ~ -- - ~,- L qg_3_ _-- - - Studies Date iii F'o r Luke . lV ABSTRACT Author: Guy Argenzian o Title: Existentia lism in Shirley Jackson's Last Novels Institution: Florida Atla ntic University Degree : Ha ster o f Arts Year: 1983 The existential philosop hy o f the post-war per i o d i s re - fle ted i n Shirle y Jackson ' s l a s t novels. The Sun di al mirrors the anguish 1.nJ intellectual aliena t ion of a f21nil.v 1 tryi ng L o come to cerm.s vj ch che a nnihila tion of t- H"ir world. The H.:wnLing of Hill Ho us e deals with t he fo.clo::-; ' - ness and emoti onal alienatio n that result from t he di~crv- ery tha t man i s comp l eteLy alone beca use there i s n o God. We Have Always L"ved in he Cas tle i s concerned wi th c e psychologica l a l ienati on and the despair that ari s e f r ont the rea lizallon :::hat the potential for happiness i s l i mj Led by man's s e lf- de stru ctive tendencies. Examined togetr er, these novels presen t a n e xi s tential viewpoint thac c orre- sponds to the ~ urmo i l of the pos t-war world. v Table of Contents ABSTRACT . v INTRODUCTION. l Chapter I. THE SUNDIAL . ll II . THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. 30 III. WE HAVE AL\VAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE. 44 CONCLUSIO N. 58 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 6.') vi Introduc t ion Shirle y Jackson lS an unacknovde<lge d existentia lis t and a ma jor Arne r i ~....a n nove 1 i ~ t. Thou gh '"e 11 known for her short stot y "The LctteL"v" ( l9tf8), t he rest of her work tends either to be forgot L~n o:- di smissed as unimportant. Ironically . it may be tLe popuL1rity o f that story which acco unts for the fact thJ.t.. other "-''orks of Jackson ' s have faileJ t u achie,,e critic...al. a~tention. "Th e Lottery, " however, doe s not en Le r into cuns i dera t ion h ere because it does not contain the existenLLal theme s found in her last three no\ els, The Sunc:Ld (l95b), Tne Haunting of Hill House ( 1959) , and We Have Always Lived in the Castle 1 (1962) . It is the purpr) ~;e H this thesis to examine Jackson's treatment of existential themes in these books. To define her work in terms of existentialism wi ll prove that she is nLlt s imply an "entertaining" author, but an important one \-Jhu s e \v o rk mir:..-ored her turbulent times. The roots of existenti alism are buried deeply in the 1 References to these •xo rks will be cicecl jn the t e xt as Sundial , Hous_§_ , and Castle . l 2 ruins of the post-war world, and critical to any discussion of existenti alism are t he c o ncepts of dread and despair, anguish and absurdi ty, forlornness and alienation . The s e themes a r e c entral to the ac tion of The Sundial , a nihil ­ istic account of nine isolated people waitin g for an apoc ­ alypse from wh ich they a lone, out of the entire world, a r e to be spa.red. The dominant theme in this novel is alien- ation. T~e inhabitant s of the Halloran house are alienated physically fro m the surrounding v illage, a nd emot ionally and intellectually from each othe r . Characters in the novel mo ve and speak in a dream-like state a nd find lt impos sible to communicate 1.vi th one another. The re s i dent s of the Hu 'loran house are a lone and looking o ut for t hem­ selves; there is no sense of loyalty or l ove a mong the family memb ers. Mrs . Halloran murders the son who stands to inherit her house, and i s murdered in turn by her grand- daughter. Furthermore , Mrs. Willow is willing to prosti- tute her two da u ghter s in return for personal physical com­ fort, and Aunt Fa nny pleasurably a n ticipates the destruc ­ tion of the world to prove to her sister-in-law that her prediction is correct. Traditionally , one of the first actions of the 3 existentialist has been to make each individual aware of what he is, thus making him fully responsible for his ex­ istence (Sartre 16). Consequently , the themes of awarenes s and responsibility are important in The Sundial, for when neurotic Aunt Fanny foretells the apocalypse, the Hallorans choose to believe her without reservation. Even so, with this choice comes an anguished awareness of the responsi­ bility the Hallorans have for the villagers who are to be destroyed. When Hiss Ogilvie tries to intervene, her ac­ tions are misinterpreted a nd descend into absurdity . Essex descends into a worlJ of introspection and guilt, yet ln spite of their awareness, there is no hope and little mourning for the old world. Despite its surface pessimism, existentialism can be a doctrine of hope, and there appears to be a tenuous shreJ of optimism for a new world built on the ashes of the old. The old world in Sundial is corrupt and beyond redemption, reflecting a world ravaged by genocide, global battle and cold war. The new world may have potential, but uncer­ tainty lurks; that uncertaint y is underscored by the in­ scription on the Halloran sundial: WHAT IS THIS WORLD? (Sundial 15). 4 With the characteriza tion of Elea n or Vance, the nov - el's lonely , repressed heroine, Jackson takes t he theme of emotional alienation a ste p further in The Haunting of Hill House (1959) . Here, Eleanor' s emotional alienation from the other characters , c ombined with the themes of forlornnes s and hopelessne ss that darken the book, create an existential world in which everything is futile. The characcers in Hill House gather in a remote, walled country manor ostensib l y to inves t igate p syc hic disturbances , but they soon b ecome victims of their own awarenes s of their capaci t y for e v il . The Haunting of Hil l House is a novel about the consequences of fr e e will in a chaotic world . Characters make their choices a nd stub - bornly stick by them in a world of haphazard e vents. As in The Sundial, there i s a drea~y quality to mu ch of the ac- tion in Hill Ho u se, punctuated by scenes of stark, terri - fying reality . The characters a re aware that by choosing to remain in a "haunted " hou se they are responsible for the consequences. Dr. Montague says : "I think we ' re incredibly s illy to stay . I think that an atmosphere like this can . break us apa rt in a matter of day s. We have only one defense, and that is running away. When we feel ourselves endangered, we can leave, jus t as 5 we carne . " (H ouse 89) The characters' awarenes s of their respon s i bi l ity, combined with their freedom , crea t es an unbearable anxiety which foreshadows an impendin g doom . When disas ter does strike, there is no one to blame. One of the fundamental questions of philosophy is whether or not l i fe i s worth l iving; the existential que s ­ tion may often be reduced to the question of s uicide (Camus 3). Alone and hopeless, Eleanor chooses t o die; her last conscious thought as she aim~ her car at the great tree at t he end of Hill House' s driveway echoes he r aware­ ness of responsibil i ty : .,.,vhy am I doing ~his? '" (Hous~ 1?Ll ). As in The Sundia l , Jackson does not offer hope f or s better worl d i n Hi ll Hous e. The c ombi nation of personal freedom coupled with per sonal re s ponsibi lity conspires to create a world s o oppre ssive an d overwhelming that Jackson offers death as the only a lternative for Eleanor . Even in death, however , J ack son does no t offer hope for pea ce or tranquility .