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Summary: Chapter 10

With the gate now open, children sometimes come to play in the front yard of the Blackwood home. Merricat keeps the front door locked and has barricaded the narrow side paths, effectively sectioning off the portion of the property where she and Constance spend their time, leaving the kitchen door open to access the garden out back. Constance cleans Uncle Julian’s room and preserves his papers in the cellar. The only clothes they have left besides the dresser they are wearing are two suits of Uncle Julian’s, which Merricat insists she isn’t allowed to wear. Instead, Merricat will wear a tablecloth. Though initially amused, Constance becomes distressed at the sight of Merricat wearing a tablecloth, wondering aloud, “What have I done?” Merricat does her best to reassure her. Constance plants a yellow rosebush in the yard for Uncle Julian, and Merricat buries a gold pencil with his initials by the creak.

Helen Clarke comes back twice more, then stops when they do not answer her. One day a man from the village leaves a basket of food for them, apologizing through the door for breaking one of their chairs. They wait until they’re sure he’s gone, then retrieve the basket and eat the food. This prompts other villagers to do the same, always leaving baskets of food in the evenings as penance.

Merricat stops going to the creak, as it’s too far from Constance and Merricat now associates it with Uncle Julian. Merricat spends her days reinforcing the barricades and ensuring the door is locked while Constance works in the kitchen, and the pair often sit at the front door and look out, unseen, at children playing and people walking past. They overhear rumors about themselves from the villagers, that they poison little boys and eat little girls.

Charles returns once with a magazine photographer who wants to get a picture of Charles with one of the sisters and will pay Charles for it. Though Charles pleads his case though the door, and Merricat is worried Constance may relent and let him in, Constance remains unmoved. Charles says it’s a waste for all their money to remain unspent, but eventually he and the photographer leave. Constance laughs with relief. She says they will likely call their road Lover’s Lane soon, and the least Charles could have done was shoot himself in the head.

Children tell each other stories about the women in the Blackwood home. One of them taunts Merricat and Constance from the steps, and a basket of food shows up later with an apology. Merricat comments that strangers have much to be afraid of and Constance tells her she is only afraid of spiders. Merricat promises to protect her from them and declares they are both “so happy.”

Analysis: Chapter 10

In the end, Jackson offers us one final surprise: it is Merricat, not Constance, who sets the rules about what Merricat can and cannot do. This suggests that Merricat perhaps feels a sense of regret for killing their family and a desire not to hurt anyone again despite how much she may ruminate on it. It is also notable that Constance has not actually placed any restrictions upon Merricat, and would have allowed her to serve their guests food and drink, despite knowing she poisoned their family, if it weren’t for Merricat’s rules.

Charles’s return emphasizes his greed, and though Merricat fears Constance might give in to the temptation of his presence and let him in, she does not. In fact, Constance laughs when Charles finally leaves, overjoyed, and her assertion that the least he could have done was shoot himself in the driveway highlights the complexity of her character. Though most see her as sweet and passive, Constance’s feelings about Charles and her knowledge of Merricat’s role in the murders suggest she possesses a certain degree of darkness, not unlike Merricat.

Merricat and Constance’s lives have become more isolated than ever—they are at last, as Merricat notes, living on the moon. However, as Merricat also notes, it is not quite what she expected. Their isolation isn’t total; the villagers freely use the path now, and Merricat and Constance listen in on their conversations, unseen, from the locked front door. More significantly, the villagers have begun leaving them food on the doorstep, acts of penance for the destruction they caused. Food once again takes on a symbolic significance, providing a connection, however tenuous, between the sisters and the rest of the world.

Merricat and Constance are finally living on their own terms. They do not completely shut out the villagers, as their mother sought to, and they answer to no one. Their choice of clothing—Merricat in a tablecloth, Constance in Uncle Julian’s suit—suggests a subversion of societal expectations, allowing them the freedom to live as they wish to. With the drawing room and dining room closed off, Uncle Julian’s papers preserved in the cellar, and the upstairs—along with all their family’s clothes and other belongings—gone forever, the sisters are putting the past behind them. The house was not destroyed in the fire but transformed. Now their world revolves largely around food, the kitchen their primary place of residence, and both appear to be content. 

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