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Summary: Chapter 2

Merricat returns home through the gate surrounding their property. She explains that, when her parents were alive, her mother disliked “common people” using their yard as a shortcut, so her father added a fence and a no trespassing sign. She meets Constance in the garden, which is as far away from the house as she can go. Constance teases that soon she’ll be joining Merricat on her jaunts to the village, which makes Merricat uneasy.

Inside, Constance prepares lunch while Uncle Julian works on a novel he is writing about the day the rest of their family was murdered, though he struggles to recall details. Today they are to receive a guest, as they sometimes do; Helen Clarke is an old family friend, and comes for tea every Friday. While Merricat sets the table, she overhears Constance telling Uncle Julian she can hardly believe it’s been six years, and sometimes she would give anything to have the whole family back again.

Helen Clarke arrives with her friend Lucille Wright, alarming Merricat. Helen Clarke isn’t supposed to bring a guest. She wishes to send them both away, but Constance says no. As the women exchange pleasantries over tea, Helen Clarke encourages Constance to return to the world, or at least invite people to the house. Merricat, uncomfortable at the notion, leaves the room and smashes a milk jug on the floor in the kitchen. When she returns, she offers sugar to Mrs. Wright, who quickly declines. As the women continue their conversation, and Helen Clarke wonders if people would really be afraid to visit the house, Uncle Julian appears. He insists there’s no reason for anyone to be afraid, as Constance was acquitted of the murders. This piques Mrs. Wright’s curiosity and she asks more about that fateful night.`Uncle Julian explains that the family was poisoned during dinner with arsenic that had been added to the sugar. He somehow survived despite putting it on his blackberries, though now his health suffers and his memory is failing. Constance had not had any sugar, and rarely did, something that made her look suspicious during the trial.

Helen Clarke tries to change the subject, but Uncle Julian invites Mrs. Wright into the dining room where the murders occurred. He explains that Merricat and Constance’s father, John Blackwood, died at the table along with his wife, their ten-year-old son Thomas, and Julian’s wife Dorothy. Merricat, who was twelve at the time, had been sent to bed without supper for misbehaving. He describes the evidence against Constance, including that she cooked the bulk of their meals and that she washed the sugar bowl before the police arrived, claiming there was a spider in it. However, he says the fact that arsenic was used wouldn’t make sense, if Constance were the murderer. She is an herbalist, and has access to many, much more subtle poisons than arsenic. Mrs. Wright, who clearly followed the case closely, presses on with the evidence against Constance: it was she who purchased the arsenic, she didn’t call a doctor until it was too late, and she told the police the family deserved to die and that it was all her fault.

Despite the evidence, Mrs. Wright has difficulty believing Constance a murderer. At last, Helen Clarke, distraught at the horrifying subject matter and embarrassed by Mrs. Wright’s lack of manners, insists they leave. Once they are gone, Constance, who seems mostly amused, says Helen Clarke is obnoxious but chides Merricat for teasing Mrs. Wright. Constance cleans up the broken milk jug without remark, and when Merricat asks if Constance is going to return to the world, as Helen Clarke suggested, Constance says she doesn’t know.

Analysis: Chapter 2

It is becoming clearer why the Blackwoods have long been disliked by the villagers. The gate that surrounds their home, which was requested by their mother and built by their father, symbolizes not just the family’s isolation but their feelings of superiority and lack of interest in the community. This is further emphasized by the layout of their house; Merricat, Constance, and Uncle Julian spend most of their time in the kitchen and garden toward the back, away from the front part that faces the highways and the driveway that “proper” guests are permitted to use.

Helen Clarke and Mrs. Wright’s visit allows Jackson to describe events that until now have only been alluded to: the murders, the trial, and the aftermath. Uncle Julian’s version of events makes Constance look undeniably guilty, but, as he and Mrs. Wright acknowledge, the idea of Constance as a mass murderer runs contrary to her sweet, indulgent nature. Indeed, it is Merricat who appears ever more guilty to the reader. We know she is obsessed with death and killing, and we also know there are many things she is not allowed to do such as prepare food, gather mushrooms, and serve tea, all things indicative of a poisoner. Merricat was twelve when the murders occurred, and was sent to bed without supper. Of what the reader knows of Merricat so far, it does not seem at all outside the realm of possibility that she slipped the arsenic into the sugar, following to its natural conclusion a thought not unlike the ones she experienced in the village. Uncle Julian does not appear to suspect Merricat, but he also doesn’t seem to suspect Constance; to him, it seems, the biggest fact in her favor is that arsenic was used, where Constance, an herbalist, could have used any number of herbs to poison them all more subtly.  

The relationship between the two sisters appears loving, but unusual. Merricat adores Constance. She is protective of her, and also possessive, seemingly wanting to keep Constance to herself. Constance cares for Merricat almost like an overindulgent mother would, permitting her every whim. However, there is one thing that stands between them: Constance’s obvious desire for companionship, and a life beyond the Blackwood home. That Merricat is surprised by this suggests she interprets Constance through a specific lens, assuming both of them want the same things. She can’t imagine why Constance would want to go into the village or why she invites Helen Clarke to tea or allows Mrs. Wright to accompany her, but it’s clear to the reader that Constance is beginning to feel the pull of the outside world. 

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