We Have Always Lived in the Castle symbol guide
The moon becomes Merricat’s imagined refuge from the village, a place of “soft, liquid tongue” and “odd colors” where she can feel protected. Yet its distance also exposes her isolation: the dream offers freedom from cruelty while keeping her apart from ordinary human contact.
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Is the moon a symbol of freedom, or a beautifully imagined form of escape? Merricat pictures a place of “odd colors” where she can live beyond the village’s cruelty, but does this fantasy help her survive—or allow her to avoid the difficult work of facing reality, responsibility, and other people?
The full We Have Always Lived in the Castle guide brings together scenes, characters, themes, and verified quotations.
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