7. Conclusion

We have understood poison as a literary tool to represent several things: symbolically, comically, and fatally. Each post shows a varying use of poison, interlinked through its purpose of quite simply changing the body. As seen with Alice’s body disfigurement in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland when eating and drinking the objects left behind; or Ron’s horrific ordeal in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Placing poison within food is a symbol itself: food is an object on which we survive, therefore it becomes an invasion of not just the trust we place in our food, but our safety. Each text presents the unaware victim, the risk and vulnerability of eating or drinking something that is meant to be harmless, and each case explores the consequences. The argument of this blog shows poison as not only a murder weapon, but a symbolism of constraint, a need for the murderer to be heard or seen; each text gives that to the murderer without realising. 

Works Cited 

Caroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. London, Macmillan. 2015. Print.

Rowling, J K. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Arthur A Levine Books, New York. 2005. Web. <http://publish.uwo.ca/~hamendt/WD%20final%20Project/litertaure/Half%20Blood%20Prince.pdf> Accessed March 2017.

4. We Have Always Lived in the Castle By Shirley Jackson

(1) Red Rose Tea Set

The novel presents an invasion of the norm, an invasion of the ordinary. The storys shows how the protagonist and narrator cannot be trusted as she is later revealed to be the murderer of her family by putting arsenic in the sugar when they go to use it. Food is a central focus within the novel. Almost all interactions between characters are at a dinner, lunch or breakfast. Food is always shown in the background, as a product of family history as they keep decades of preserves in the cellar. The main room is their mother's drawing room, a place where they frequently have tea with visitors. 

Evidently, food is also portrayed frequently as a form of death. Especially when Merricat threatens the villagers:

"put death in all their food" (110)

which becomes a conflict as food is something that generally brings warmth, comfort, and wholeness. But instead, food is manipulated and endangered, to become something life-threatening and, quite simply, poisonous. What is evident about this quote is the personification of death. Merricat resorts to violence as a way of resolving something, but she mostly uses food, something that people generally trust and depend on, to kill people. This conflict of innocence and killer-like thoughts, creates an eerie atmosphere for the reader. The New York Review of Books shows a different review, focusing on the witchcraft presented in the novel. It states that 'Merricat's wholly sympathetic creator/collaborator Shirley Jackson has struck every essential note of her Gothic tale of sexual repression and rhapsodic vengeance; as it unfolds in ways both inevitable and unexpected.' (Oates). It's very interesting as they also present a comparison between the novel and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee in terms of innocence and repression. It says, 'Merricat Blackwood appears to be a typical product of small-town rural America - much of her time is spent outdoors, alone with her companion cat Jones; she's a tomboy who wanders in the woods, unwashed and her hair uncombed; she's distrustful of adults, and of authority; despite being un-educated, she is shrewdly intelligent and bookish.' (Oates). 

Another interesting quote is Merricat's knowledge of poisons itself, listing the side effects of the poison she is most attracted to: Amanita Phalloides. She frequently mentions this type of poison and choose to have it in her imaginary world when playing. This quote shows this example:

“I had made sure of what to say to him before I came to the table. 'The Amanita phalloides,' I said to him, 'holds three different poisons. There is amanitin, which works slowly and is most potent. There is phalloidin, which acts at once, and there is phallin, which dissolves red corpuscles, although it is the least potent. The first symptoms do not appear until seven to twelve hours after eating, in some cases not before twenty-four or even forty hours. The symptoms begin with violent stomach pains, cold sweat, vomiting--” (72)

This scene is shown when Charles is about to eat the pancakes Constance had made for him, the first thing he has eaten in the house. It's a tense scene but also comical as Merricat starts to list the side affects of eaten Amanita Phalloides, a poison. Merricat, knowing she can't touch any food prepared or sharp objects such as knives, instead verbally poisons his food, by scaring him with the idea of the pancakes killing him. 

Film

It's only been recently revealed that a film will be made for next year starring Sebastian Stan, Taissa Farmiga, Alexandria Daddario and Crispin Glover. Sadly there isn't a trailer available yet, but below is a theatrical production of the book by Yale Repertory Theatre in 2010. 

Works Cited:
(1) Frost, Bethany. Red Rose Tea Set. Photo. 2017.
(2) Ortberg, Mallory. Every Meal in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. 2016. n/a. The Toast, http://the-toast.net/2016/04/11/every-meal-in-we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle-in-order-of-sinisterness/. Accessed February 2017.
Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Live in the Castle. London: Penguin, 2009. Print.
Oates, Joyce Carol. "The Witchcraft of Shirley Jackson". The New York Review of Books. 8 October 2009. Web. <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/10/08/the-witchcraft-of-shirley-jackson/>

3. The Landlady By Roald Dahl

(1) Book Cover

Though a short story, the effect that Roald Dahl has made in this chilling tale is fantastic in producing an eerie paranoia for the reader. The protagonist Billy stays at a Boarding House with a suggestion that the Landlady poisons him by putting cyanide in his tea. This shown as the tea taste of almonds:

“Not in the least,” she said. “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?” “No, thank you,” Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it." (5)

For those who don't know, if anything tastes like almond, apart from almonds of course, it can suggest cyanide poisoning, with victims of this poison tending to smell of almonds: 'In murder mysteries, the detective usually diagnoses cyanide poisoning by the scent of bitter almonds' (Lutz). Placing this in the story in such a light tone subtly and cleverly communicates the dangers of the Landlady.

Further suggestions of food and poison can be seen through the rest of the short story, where Dahl has focused on the use of senses as a way of portraying the foreshadow of Billy's fate at the boarding house:

"Billy started sipping his tea. She did the same. For half a minute or so, neither of them spoke. But Billy knew that she was looking at him. […] he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell that seemed to emanate directly from her person. It was not in the least unpleasant, and it reminded him – well, he wasn’t quite sure what it reminded him of. Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital? “Mr Mulholland was a great one for his tea,” she said at length.” (4)

(2) Cyanide Teacup

Peculiar about this description is Billy's lack of reaction to the strange comparisons he makes to the smell of the bed and breakfast, referring to hospitalized smells and leather, suggesting to the Landlady's hobby in taxidermy, but also her more sinister motives. The feeling of her watching over him as he drinks his tea, the taste of his tea and chilling warmth of the fireplace further this foreboding.



Overall, the text is valuable in presenting an effective form of foreshadowing, but with a tantalisingly sinister open ending. The reader can feel the eeriness of the boarding-house, as well as several the visible suggestions of what could later become of Billy.

Film

Although its effects and acting are a bit dated, I found a ITV film of the short story it is still a good watch to understand the interaction between Billy and the Landlady. 

Works Cited:
(1) Goddard, Tasha. The Land Lady - Patternmash Project. 2015. England. TashaGoddard, http://www.tashagoddard.com/2015/02/02/the-landlady-patternmash-project/.Accessed February 2017.
(2) BeatUpCreations. Cyanide Poison Altered Vintage Tea Cup. n/a. United States. Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/502072707/cyanide-poison-altered-vintage-tea-cup?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=cyanide%20tea&ref=sr_gallery_1. Accessed February 2017.
Dahl, Roald. The Land Lady. 1959. England. Reprinted: David Highham Associates. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/landlady_text.pdf. Accessed February 2017. 
Lutz, Diana. Beware the smell of bitter almonds: why do many food plants contain cyanide? 2010. Washington University, St. Louis: The Source. https://source.wustl.edu/2010/07/beware-the-smell-of-bitter-almonds/. Accessed February 2017.

1. Introduction - Hello Everybody! Welcome to my Lair...

Grab a seat, kick up your feet, enjoy the ambiance of the warm fireplace... fancy a cup of tea? Promise there's no arsenic in it. 

(1) Pink-Skull Tea Set

I always had a passion for mystery in novels - a puzzle to solve as I progress through a book. Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle and Stephen King, famous authors all, crafting incredible crime novels, inviting us to solve the mystery with the protagonist. What I have found the most interesting is the tool used to commit the murder, so often a crime of violence: axe-chopping, gun-firing, knife-stabbing. The most fascinating of all, however, is the most cleverly hidden: poison. 

Poison has ever made a presence in our everyday lives, whether it's bleach in our bathroom, hemlock in our gardens or just the common toxic chemicals found in hardware stores. However, revealed in the history of poisons is more than a simple method of destruction. Contextual understanding of poison lets us understand how authors have exploited poisons, and their inherent subterfuge, to heighten the mystery in their fiction.

(2) Groom Pink-Skull Tea Cup

With each post in this blog, I will be discussing a novel, from Victorian to modern literature, that explores the use of food (or drinks), and its relation to poison. There will be critical analysis of passages of the text, supported by academic research. So, brace yourselves for a blog full of murder, poison, and some very dangerous food. I'm sure you'll look twice at your meals after this! Enjoy. 

Works Cited:
(1) Angioletti, Yvonne. "Installments 1-4, Gold Rose Skull Tea Set." n/a. AngiolettiDesigns, Etsy.com. <htttps://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/499318490/reserved-for-christine-installments-1-4?ref=shop_home_active_21.> Accessed February 2017.

(2) Angioletti, Yvonne. "Pink & Gold Skull Rose Bride / Groom Skull Tea Cup and Saucer, Available as Tea Set, Goth Wedding Couple Cup, Steampunk Wedding, Wedding Tea". n/a. AngiolettiDesigns, Etsy.com. <https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/478328148/pink-gold-skull-rose-bride-groom-skull?ref=shop_home_active_89> Accessed February 2017.