We Have Always Lived in the Castle: Buried Treasure
The members of our society have a desire to keep the details of their lives to themselves. Many people keep the things they are ashamed of to themselves. Others refuse to share the best parts of their lives with others. The human desire to hide the good and the bad of their lives from society is demonstrated by the reoccurring motif of buried treasure in Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The good represented by the buried treasure is the solitude and the increasing love between two sisters. The bad the treasure represents is the horrific event that caused the death of most of the family. Jackson also explores the consequences for uncovering this treasure. Merricat and Constance are sisters who live out their lives isolated from the rest of the world. This is the life they enjoy. The motif of buried treasure is used to represent the solitude that the sisters share and how this solitude causes an increase in the love they share. On Sunday mornings I examined my safeguards, 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; so long as they were where I had put them nothing could get in to harm us... All our l
The motif comes into play in reference to the family's burial. Living out their lives in solitude, buried away from the rest of the world, the love Merricat and Constance have for one another has increased and "turned to jewels. Jackson's novel and its motif show the importance of solitude and love to humans and society. The motif of buried treasure also is used to show the bad aspects of the sister's lives. "I could bury him in the hole where my box of silver dollars had been so safe until he came; if he was under the ground I could walk over him stamping my feet"(130). Jackson uses the motif of buried treasure to emphasize Merricat's feelings. perhaps Charles was engaged in systematically digging up every inch of our land. Solitude and love are also important to the members of our society. As the tangible treasure was uncovered, the metaphorical treasure was also being discovered. I am walking on buried treasure, I thought,. "'I certainly did think he was buried in it'"(112). Solitude and the strong bond this solitude results in are both important themes in Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Constance and Merricat, in this way, are keeping the incident buried from even their own lives.
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Acceptance Essays
