Spatial uncanny in Shirley Jackson's The Sundial and We Have Always Lived in the Castle

This study aims to explain the spatial uncanny in Jackson's two novels, The Sundial (1958) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962), in reference to the gothic trope of the caste and its powerful force over the female character's insecurity that drives them towards violence. Uncanny, defined by Sigmund Freud in his seminal essay "The Uncanny" (1919), emerges in a familiar setting as unfamiliar manifestations incited by hidden childhood complexes and primitive thoughts. When Freud's uncanny is applied to Jackson's gothic texts, the castle/house trope, which emerges in the female gothic, a term coined by Ellen Moers as an infected home, becomes prominent. The castle ostensibly protects women from the dangerous world by separating the two worlds of sexes; the men outside and the woman inside. This uncanny home which belongs to the father cannot offer a window of freedom for women as Friedan pins down in Feminine Mystique (1963), and it turns into as a site of patriarchal entrapment as defined in The Madwoman in The Attic (1979). In both novels, the entirety of the plot occurs in a single house, holding onto the residues of the old aristocratic architecture, promising paternal protection which in fact acts as cultural signs of estrangement as explained by Anthony Vidler. Consequently, houses fail to manifest themselves as a protective and reassuring power while Jackson's characters constantly seek an escape from this institutionalised violence to the extent of committing crimes. However, their attempts yield no result while the Blackwood sisters continue to live in constant terror lest the outer world should remain a threat for them and the wait of the Halloran family ends irresolutely with the death of Orianna, who had secretly hoped to leave the house behind. Key words: Uncanny, Gothic setting, Female Gothic, Castle Trope, Family Institution, Patriarchy, Safety