History in Vogue discussion

“I am going to put death in all their food and watch them die.”

Constance stirred, and the leaves rustled. “The way you did before?” she asked.
It had never been spoken of between us, not once in six years.

“Yes,” I said after a minute, “the way I did before.

Charles's continued insistence upon change in Blackwood House furthers Mary Katherine's hated of his presence. His insinuation that she be sent away, and Uncle Julian hospitalized, so he and Constance can marry, pushes her to try and get rid of him. After a fire starts in Charles's bedroom that quickly consumes much of the house, the family is attacked by the local townspeople. Uncle Julian dies of a heart attack during the panic, and Constance and Mary Katherine are forced to flee. The next morning they return, and lock themselves inside Blackwood, never to leave again.

I don't know what to make of the destruction of the house by the people in the village.

At one point, when Helen Clark is trying to get them to come out or to open the door after MK and C locked themselves in after the fire, I think Helen say that the people "meant no harm"--people who smashed up their belongings and would have done heaven knows what to them if they hadn't hid themselves!

Now I think that Constance isn't in her right mind either.

Constance has fallen into the role of enabler a long, long time ago, I'm afraid.

Interesting, though, that MK is crazy and at the same time, lucid enough to recognize evil intent in others (Charles), when the so-called lucid, such as Constance or people in town, don't see it.

Yes, Constance's behavior was far more detrimental to Mary Katherine than anything else. As bad as Charles was, much of what he said was correct. I have to wonder how much deep down, Constance had just given up. She had to care alone for an invalid, and a mentally disturbed young woman. She had to live the pretense of being guilty to keep suspicion away from MK. You could tell there were things Charles said she didn't care for, and she would put off his ideas. But I think she saw Charles as her last chance, and after the house was attacked, she had nothing left.

I felt Helen Clark just wanted to use them for her own self-importance. She would have said anything to get them out of the house and force them to go with her, so she could around telling everyone she was "helping" them.

I agree with you in large part about Helen Clark, though the husband offered to help, too, so while I think that, yes, she was doing it because it would give her a feeling of importance and distinguish her (even if in a weird way) from others in the sleepy little town, she and her husband had some minimal good intentions.

At first I thought maybe Constance was afraid that if she angered MK, she'd suffer the same fate. But then I realized that she knew how to control MK (no knives, no going into Uncle Julian's room, etc.) However, she realized that she was still young, that life hadn't passed her by completely, but by then it was too late-she was saddled with MK and her resistance to change.