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The Blackwoods’ gate

The gate that surrounds the Blackwood home symbolizes their imposed isolation. Built by their father in answer to a request from their mother, the gate prevents passersby from using a convenient pathway so that Mrs. Blackwood need not see “common people” walking across the property. Merricat checks it religiously to make sure the gate is still in good working order, and feels safe and relieved when she confirms that it is. At the end of the novella, the gate’s destruction enables the use of their yard by society again. Travelers use the path, and children play out front. This symbolizes the new quasi-isolation Merricat and Constance have entered. Though they remain in the house and never directly interact with anyone, they are still able to spy and eavesdrop from the front door, interacting with people on their terms and as much or as little as they desire.

Food

Food in We Have Always Lived in the Castle symbolizes connection. Food is what brings Merricat to the village, forcing a connection (however tenuous) with the villagers. Later, the food that the villagers bring to the Blackwoods’ doorstep in turn is ultimately what allows them to maintain a connection with them even after the girls retreat for good. Constance grows and cooks food to care for and nourish her loved ones, and the preserves in their cellar symbolize a connection to their history, the Blackwood female line.

This significance renders Merricat’s decision to poison the sugar and kill her family over dinner particularly shocking. That she was willing to weaponize and subvert this symbol of connection, thus transforming it into something sinister, speaks to her ability to wrest control from existing power structures. Friends and enemies alike refuse to eat their food—even in the midst of the destruction of their home, a villager commands their child not to eat Constance’s spice cookies—which characterizes the sisters as people to be feared, and places Merricat in a position of power.

The moon

Merricat is obsessed with living on the moon, which symbolizes her desire for isolation and safety. When she is feeling overwhelmed in her real life, she imagines what it would be like to live there. On the moon, they would be cut off from society completely. After the fire and the destruction of their home, the sisters retreat further into isolation. Merricat admits they are, at last, living on the moon (if only symbolically), but it is not what she thought it would be. Things are not perfect; the step is still broken, and they must work out solutions to problems such as what to wear, where to sleep, and what to eat. However, they are alone at last, and the sisters are content.

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