Jamie, gothlit g group 1 "The Lovely House"

Shirley Jackson's "The Lovely House" is quite an interesting story choice to focus close reading on. As hard as I tried to spot specific full paragraphs that advance the story, or introduce mood, purpose, or atmosphere, I could not do it. Instances of hints and foreshadowing can be found fragmented all over the story. Being a veteran horror movie fan alone helped me draw the conclusion before I even read the story that this was absolutely not going to be a "lovely house". It reminded me of a movie that came out several years ago called The Others. But that is best left for another essay.
In the very beginning of the story we are intoduced to the elements of ambiguity and mystery, both of which pretty much remain the central gears that make this tale's clock tick. Jackson is very stingy with details, only giving them to us when the story absolutely requires it. First we meet Margaret, her friend Carla, and the titular house. A simple enough beginning. It is her friend Carla's house, and it exceeds in both structural and natural beauty. But slowly layers are peeled off of this seemingly simple and harmless exterior. After re-reading it, I noticed a strange obsession with fauns. Before entering the house, Margaret pats the head of a warm (??!!) faun made of stone. Later in the story we are presented with fauns again, both as gold sculptures and in paintings. The first major instance of the ghostly nature of this house are it's tapestries. Enormous, intricate, and pretty much all over the place. There is a tower, which is home for a grandmother-aunt-great aunt who cannot stand the tapestries. There are strange, seemingly pointless rooms, such as the painted room, the mirror room, and the tiled room. However, the eerie detail of the tiles gives us another big hint that this house (and story) may hold a few darker surprises for us. The tiles are laid out to spell "Here was Margaret, who died for love". Strange way to phrase something, I think. "Here was", rather than "Here lies".
All of these are very unique and vague details, peeling away layers and leading us to believe something is quite amiss with the lovely house. A strange amount of fuss is made reguarding the return of Carla's brother Paul and his friend the Captain, and much mystery surrounds the tower Margaret is so curious about. She gives in to temptation one morning and climbs the tower, only to discover the elderly resident is also named Margaret. The elderly Margaret refers to the outside world as her own special tapestries, and harsh winds begin to blow into the room from open windows and Margaret can hear voices saying "Goodbye" and "all is lost". It is at this point that I, definitely, would leave the lovely house. Even if that meant I missed out on leftovers of the funny fish and spicy wine. But Margaret remains, pairing off with Carla, Paul, and the Captain to explore the woods and river.
There was a ball where Margaret and Carla danced with everyone and had a wonderful time. The elderly Margaret made an appearance, and seemed to know Paul somehow. Quite well. And more layers are peeled. Then came a revelation I had not noticed before. While Paul and the Cap were saying their goodbyes, Margaret wondered who Paul was. The story ends with Mrs. Montague including Carla and Margaret into one of her tapestries. Looking back, I noticed several parts of the story where Paul may not have even been there. Was Paul a ghost, or was Margaret slightly insane? Ugh, those layers. Or maybe it was the weird fish and spicy wine.
This is quite long and I am writing it all a bit out of sequence, and leaving out many details as well. To be perfectly honest, even though I liked the story, I had trouble putting all the pieces together. Was Paul a ghost? Perhaps, somehow, all the people in the tapestries were dead, haunting the lovely house since their essences had been immortalized on the tapestries. And the old woman remained alive and aging naturally because she intentionally stayed away from them. Honestly, I had trouble making sense of the story. Even after I re-read it. But it does make me want to read Shirley Jackson's The Haunting.