Insanity plays into the American gothic tradition that “things are not what they seem”. When the concept of insanity is introduced into the text there is no longer a distinct difference between “right” and “wrong”. At the beginning of the text the reader believes that Sybil has been wrongly accused of having a mental illness. As the story goes on Sybil beings sleep walking and hearing voices. At one point Sybil believes that she may be insane and begs for Mercy from her uncle. “I stretched my hands to them, crying with an imploring cry, ‘Yes I am quite! I am hopeless!’” (236). Due to the fact that insanity is so complex there is no longer a distinct difference between what is “right” and “wrong”, and “good” and “bad”. We, as the reader, no longer know what to believe is the truth and what could be caused by mental illness.
Our prior ideas about mother/daughter relationships were based on the fact that the daughter should aspire to be like her mother. In the relationship between Sybil and her mother, Sybil learns about life and what to avoid from her mother’s mistakes. Though unknowing that she is warning her daughter Sybil’s mother instructs her to escape before Sybil ends up with the same mental problems as her. “What devil sent you I may never know, but I long to warn you” (238). Sybil was also not to be granted her father’s land if she was misfortunate enough to have the same illness as her mother. “If it should appear that I inherited my mother’s malady, the fortune should revert to my cousin” (240). Through the hardships of her mother Sybil is able to learn how to better live her own life. This type of mother/daughter relationship is very different from relationships that we have previously seen.
I agree that when the narrator's sanity is in question, the reader begins to wonder what is true and what is false. I think that if Dr. Karnac or Sybil's uncle were the narrator, we as readers would have found Sybil completely crazy. The narrator is in control of the story. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI actually found Sybil's insanity advantageous to the story because it makes the reader pay more attention to the little details and even though we might not trust Sybil, we still somehow manage to maintain a grasp on her. Sybil after all is the narrator and you have to trust the narrator at least a little when reading this story.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you picked up on the fact that the mother/daughter relationship we see in A Whisper in the Dark is very different from the others we have previously read. In a secret, and very strange, way Sybil and her mother are connected, even though Sybil believes her mother to be dead. I think that when Sybil walks in and sees the dead body that looks almost identical to her, and she realizes that her mother is still alive, she second guesses herself, wondering what else she believes to be "gone", but in actuality is still "alive". Great post!
ReplyDeleteI also saw that the mother and daughter relationship in this story was different from the others we have read. Also the theme of insanity is one we have never seen either. Sybil and her mother are connected in a very different way especially since Sybil thinks her mother is dead. I also question Sybil's insanity. I don't know if she can fully be trusted as the narrator.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about how things are not as they seem. In the beginning when Sybil was plotting we thought that it was just because she was decietful and liked to play people against each other. But once we find out that she has mental symptoms we can in a way justify her actions from before.
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