Setting
The Cosey house, where Christine and Heed lived, seemed like an ordinary house that was described as “graceful,” and the “peaked third story roof [suggested] a church,”yet, the house was anything but sacred (19). For example, the height of the house was said to be “imposing,” whichcould be implied to mean that the house did not really fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. Morrison then goes on to say that “The steps to the porch…encouraged caution, for there was no railing,”
which gives the house more of an uninviting vibe that warded off any type of guests. The stairs leading down to the right of the porch were made of “iron” instead of wood and take away any homey illusions, giving off a cold and sterile atmosphere(19).
However, the inside of the house was even worse than the exterior; if one ever made it that far. All of the rooms were said to be “overbright” with “every lamp [turned] on”and was compared to being like a “department store,” implying that the house itself was not a home to either of its occupants, but just a place both of them were unable to leave (25). Heed’s bedroom was overstuffed with meaningless furniture: multiple dressers, two writing tables, chairs, a chaise, et cetera, but the only thing that really stood out about her room was that all of the furniture was located “…under the influence of a bed behind which a man’s portrait loomed (25).” So, even in death, Bill Cosey was still the dictator of Heed’s life. He had been dead for years, yet she still was trying so hard to win his approval and his attention. Compared to her overstuffed room, the rest of the house seemed empty and abandoned with the huge dining room never being used, and the “once-white” carpeting and the unrepaired cracked lamps in the living room(156). Heed was still trying to win his attention in the only room that she had ever really mattered to him in: the bedroom.
Christine, on the other hand, had completely opposite feelings than Heed. While still living underneath the same roof as Heed, Christine tried to separate herself as much as possible from the woman. Christine was always in the downstairs portion of the house: the kitchen was downstairs, her bedroom was located off the kitchen downstairs, and also the living room she spent time in was next to her bedroom downstairs. The two women were convinced to be in two separate worlds while in the same area. Christine even locked her bedroom door every night and told herself it was because she was afraid Heed would try and kill her, but was that really the reason? Or was it because she was also haunted by Bill Cosey? Was she trying to runaway from his influence in death? The influence that her mother hid her from by sending her away to private school when he was alive?
which gives the house more of an uninviting vibe that warded off any type of guests. The stairs leading down to the right of the porch were made of “iron” instead of wood and take away any homey illusions, giving off a cold and sterile atmosphere(19).
However, the inside of the house was even worse than the exterior; if one ever made it that far. All of the rooms were said to be “overbright” with “every lamp [turned] on”and was compared to being like a “department store,” implying that the house itself was not a home to either of its occupants, but just a place both of them were unable to leave (25). Heed’s bedroom was overstuffed with meaningless furniture: multiple dressers, two writing tables, chairs, a chaise, et cetera, but the only thing that really stood out about her room was that all of the furniture was located “…under the influence of a bed behind which a man’s portrait loomed (25).” So, even in death, Bill Cosey was still the dictator of Heed’s life. He had been dead for years, yet she still was trying so hard to win his approval and his attention. Compared to her overstuffed room, the rest of the house seemed empty and abandoned with the huge dining room never being used, and the “once-white” carpeting and the unrepaired cracked lamps in the living room(156). Heed was still trying to win his attention in the only room that she had ever really mattered to him in: the bedroom.
Christine, on the other hand, had completely opposite feelings than Heed. While still living underneath the same roof as Heed, Christine tried to separate herself as much as possible from the woman. Christine was always in the downstairs portion of the house: the kitchen was downstairs, her bedroom was located off the kitchen downstairs, and also the living room she spent time in was next to her bedroom downstairs. The two women were convinced to be in two separate worlds while in the same area. Christine even locked her bedroom door every night and told herself it was because she was afraid Heed would try and kill her, but was that really the reason? Or was it because she was also haunted by Bill Cosey? Was she trying to runaway from his influence in death? The influence that her mother hid her from by sending her away to private school when he was alive?