History Literature / WeHaveAlwaysLivedInTheCastle

* IncestSubtext: Charles to Constance, although Constance doesn't seem to notice. However, Constance also seems to have a vague idea that Charles will take the place of her dead father. [[FreudWasRight Freud would have a field day.]]

* BlackComedy: [[spoiler: The account of the death of Merricat's family.]]

* [[spoiler: LetThePastBurn: In the climax of the novel, most of Blackwood House is destroyed.]]

* PerfectPoison: [[spoiler:The sugar that the Blackwoods had sprinkled on their blackberries that night had been laced with arsenic. This also worked to pin Constance as the culprit, since Merricat knew her sister didn't like sugar.]]

* BuryYourDisabled: [[spoiler:Uncle Julian dies near the end of the novel of what is implied to be a heart attack.]]

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Subverted, as [[spoiler: No one suspects the then twelve year old Mary Katherine of having murdered her family]].

* [[spoiler: LetThePastBurn: In the climax of the novel, Blackwood House is destroyed.]]

* MiddleChildSyndrome: Merricat suffered from this [[spoiler: and there's more than a whiff of evidence that this might have been the reason she decided to kill them]]. Now she corrects it with elaborate fantasies of a family dinner where her parents dote on her and force her siblings to defer to her wishes.

A 1962 novel by Creator/ShirleyJackson, who is best known for her short story "Literature/TheLottery". ''We Have Always Lived In The Castle'' tells the story of the Blackwood family, the only three remainders of which are the narrator, eighteen year-old Merricat, her older sister Constance, and their crippled uncle Julian. The three of them live in isolation in an old manor and are the target of suspicion and hatred from the people of the nearby village.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler:Constance]] and, from a certain point of view, [[spoiler:Uncle Charles]].

* {{Determinator}}: Mary Katherine is frantic, but utterly unrelenting in her efforts to banish her uncle Charles from the Blackwood estate.

* HateAtFirstSight: Mary Katherine towards her uncle. From her perspective, he is an intruder who disturbs her world. It only gets worse with time.

* ImpliedDeathThreat: Merricat starts describing poisonous plants whenever her uncle Charles eats. He doesn't react well to that.

* ArcWords: "On the moon..." Merricat frequently imagines taking herself to live on the moon, which she envisions as a perfectly safe, perfectly isolated magical kingdom. [[spoiler: In the end, when the sisters are living in their half-destroyed home and have decided never to come out again, Merricat claims that they are finally on the moon.]]

* DeadAllAlong: Subverted. [[Spoiler: Near the end of the book, Uncle Julian reveals that he believes Merricat died in an orphanage during her sister's murder trial. A careful reader may have noticed that Merricat and Uncle Julian never speak to each other through the whole novel.]]

* ArcWords: "On the moon..." Merricat frequently imagines taking herself to live on the moon, which she envisions as a perfectly safe, perfectly isolated magical kingdom. [[Spoiler: In the end, when the sisters are living in their half-destroyed home and have decided never to come out again, Merricat claims that they are finally on the moon.]]

* MiddleChildSyndrome: Merricat suffered from this [[spoilers: and there's more than a whiff of evidence that this might have been the reason she decided to kill them]]. Now she corrects it with elaborate fantasies of a family dinner where her parents dote on her and force her siblings to defer to her wishes.

* MoralityPet: Constance appears to be this for Mary Katherine.

* WouldHurtAChild: Mary Katherine makes several mentions of how she would love to see the village children die screaming...[[and she poisoned her young brother Thomas with arsenic when she was twelve.]]

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Mary Ketherine and her sister Constance, respectively.

* GoldDigger: Charles.

* StrangeGirl: Mary Katherine is this trope distilled in its purest form, although she is arguably a {{Deconstruction}}.

* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:Merricat murdered her entire family except for Constance (who didn't have any sugar) and Uncle Julian (who survived, but maintains some brain damage) simply because she was always being [[DeniedFoodAsPunishment sent to her room without supper.]]]]

* PerfectPoison: [[spoiler:Most of the Blackwoods were killed by eating sugared blackberries laced with arsenic.]]

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: When she was twelve, Merricat [[spoiler:murdered nearly her entire family because she was constantly sent to her room without supper]]. It doesn't get much more troubling and unchildlike than that.

* BigFancyHouse: the Blackwood house, [[spoiler: although not so much after all but three rooms burn down at the end]].

* DisproportionateRetribution: Merricat [[spoiler:murders her entire family except for Constance (who didn't have any sugar) and Uncle Julian (who survived, but maintains some brain damage)]] simply because she was always being [[DeniedFoodAsPunishment sent to her room without supper.]]

* PerfectPoison: Most of the [[spoiler:Blackwoods were killed by a poisoned sugar bowl]].

* RamblingOldManMonologue: Uncle Julian, who at least has the benefit of being pretty funny, and who occasionally drops backstory.

A 1962 novel by Creator/ShirleyJackson, who is best known for her short story "TheLottery". ''We Have Always Lived In The Castle'' tells the story of the Blackwood family, the only three remainders of which are the narrator, eighteen year-old Merricat, her older sister Constance, and their crippled uncle Julian. The three of them live in isolation in an old manor and are the target of suspicion and hatred from the people of the nearby village.

!!The Novel Contains The Following Tropes: