Hangsaman

by Shirley Jackson

Arthur Langdon said, “You have a very original mind, Natalie.”

Did he just call her autistic? Lmao.

“can you imagine having a mind like mine and losing it when you die?”

filigree

Ornamental work of fine (typically gold or silver) wire formed into delicate tracery.

who is just waiting for me to recognize

Ends without a complete sentence again.

Mustn’t violate the sacred rules of magic, Natalie thought sleepily. Never wish for anything until it’s ready for you. Never try to make anything happen until it’s on its way. The formal way is best, after all; no short cuts allowed in this passage.

I don't think this is particularly true.

ribald

Referring to sexual matters in an amusingly coarse or irreverent way.

I should, if I were you, be extremely cautious with Arthur Langdon; I have been re-reading his poems. He is a spiritual man, and one to whom things of the spirit are meaningful. Past a certain point this sort of person is not trustworthy; he will expect more of your compliance than you should be ready to give; your humor will offend his mysticism. Do not under any circumstances allow Arthur Langdon to convert you to any philosophical viewpoint until you have first consulted me. As the person who knows you most dearly, and who loves you always the best, I am equally the one most capable of telling you these things. It has been my plan, Natalie, all of it, and when you approach despair remember that even your despair is part of my plan. Remember, too, that without you I could not exist: there can be no father without a daughter. You have thus a double responsibility, for my existence and your own. If you abandon me, you lose yourself.

Highly manipulative & underestimates Natalie.

“Well, if Arthur doesn’t care, I don’t,”

That's so dumb.

effete,

(1) affected and overly refined. (2) (of a man) behaving in a way traditionally associated with women and regarded as inappropriate for a man. (3) no longer capable of effective.

Natalie, watching him as he stood between Vicki and Anne, wondered how she could ever have admired him, or thought of him together with her father.

He's a dick and always had been. He's also a creep who gets sexually & romantically involved with his students.

And suppose, suppose, only suppose, that in the darkness and in the night and all alone and under the trees, suppose that here, together, without anyone ever to know, without even so much as a warning, suppose in the darkness under the trees . . . “I want to die,” Elizabeth said.

The way Shirley Jackson worded this to describe the daunting feeling of wanting to die though not wanting to admit it. The fact that in Natalie's entire life she's always had other people's emotions at the forefront.

It was the first time Natalie had ever visited the Langdons’ bedroom, and, while she had never been shocked at the twin beds in the bedroom of her mother and father, she was at this time grieved over the understanding that Arthur Langdon insisted upon—so young, so pretty—maintaining at night a space of floor between himself and Elizabeth.

It's very sad because Natalie's mother and Elizabeth loved their husbands but they just used them and then discarded them. And they can't talk about it because they'll just be chastised.

unerringly

Always right or accurate.

princesses are confined in towers only because they choose to stay confined, and the only dragon required to keep them there was their own desire to be kept.

yclept

ARCHAIC; by the name of.

“You needn’t think you’re the only one,” she said. “Wait till I show you what I’ve got.”

What does that mean?

coloratura

Elaborate ornamentation of a vocal melody, especially in operatic singing by a soprano.

valise,

A small traveling bag or suitcase.

Ungainly,

(of a person or movement) awkward; clumsy.

“Where will we all be next year?” “Dead, perhaps?” Mr. Waite suggested helpfully. “Don’t say that,” Mrs. Waite told him, “I don’t even like to talk about it.” “Let us flatter ourselves,” Mr. Waite said into his glass, “that I may be the survivor.”

In form of flattery, he would be the one to survive but in regular circumstances he wouldn't be strong enough to be the lone survivor? His self-deprecation is irritating but it makes sense that he puts down others in order to feel better about himself. That at least he's smarter and better than his wife for example.

Her mother had almost said, “Natalie, are you happy?” and Natalie had almost said, “No”; her mother had almost said, “Everything seems somehow to go badly,” and Natalie had almost said, “I know it and I can’t help it”; her mother had almost said, “Let me help you,” and Natalie had almost said, “What can you do?” and that had been the nervous movement of her head that her mother had recognized and which had silenced her before she ever spoke.

Interesting to think you know your family so well that you can gauge their reaction without a word ever being spoken.

untenanted

(of property) not occupied by a tenant or tenants.

what was important at this moment was the quick control of muscles all up and down her leg, bent now, but potentially straight, the narrow solidity of her fingers, bare and still wet with the rain, the unity that began with her eyes and forehead and tied to her back and into her legs again, all of it bound together into a provocative whole that could be only barely contained within the skin and sense of Natalie Waite, individual.

I think throughout the novel so far Shirley Jackson describes Natalie and her perspective through the lens of being an academic subject rather than an actual human being.

transoms

(1) the flat surface forming the stern of a vessel. (2) a horizontal beam reinforcing the stern of a vessel. (3) a strengthening crossbar, in particular one set above a window or door. Compare with MULLION. (4) short for TRANSOM WINDOW.

rococo

1) (of furniture or architecture) of or characterized by an elaboratelyornamental late baroque style of decoration prevalent in 18th-century Continental Europe, with asymmetricalpatterns involving motifs and scrollwork. 2) the rococo style of art, decoration, or architecture.

nostrums

1) a medicine, especially one that is not considered effective, prepared by an unqualified person. 2) a pet project or favorite remedy, especially one for bringing about some social or political reform or improvement.

“I know a place where we can go and no one can trouble us.” “I want to go there, then.” “You won’t be afraid?” “No.”

Death?

So you invent someone smart enough to destroy your enemies, you invent them so smart you’ve got a new enemy.”

Beside the window of the bus, so close that it startled Natalie, a sign moved by, pointing with one imperative arm at the lake; “Paradise Park,” it announced.

This scene kind of reminds me of the ending of the film The Florida Project. In the film, the two girls, Mooney and Jancey, go to Disney World. This scene occurs right after Mooney is separated from her mom and is going to be taken away by Child Protective Services. I'm not 100% sure what the ending of the film was supposed to represent. But it reminds me of this scene in the book because of the way that it serves as "one last moment of fun before a dreadful occurence". But also the way Natalie & Tony are deliberately trying to be different from the ton.

Natalie watched its lights, thinking, He is going back right now to the lights of the town, to the sounds and the lights and the people. There was darkness ahead of her, with an odd rich brilliance of water beyond, but no human lights along the lake. “Coming?” said Tony, and she sounded amused. “He was right, you know,” she added. “It was probably the last bus.”

Meant to symbolize the farther away Natalie is from the stereotypical idea of "humanity". The breaking from society and life almost. The full descent into madness.

“Tony?” Natalie said. “Tony?” Tony’s voice came more faintly from ahead. “And do you remember the glory? The wonder of dancing and seeing in the firelight the others dancing?” It was as though Tony had removed a little, gone around a tree where the path had not, as though Tony had gone in the darkness a little farther away with each step, still speaking luringly, and was by now so far away that even Tony’s voice came only by permission of the trees, relayed in mockery. “Tony?” Natalie said again more urgently, realizing suddenly, concretely and acutely, that it was indeed very dark and that ahead of her the figure she had mistaken for Tony was only another tree.

I don't think Tony exists. I think the person who approached Natalie at the Langdon's party was someone who the author chose not to reveal.

unrepentent

Showing no regret for one's wrongdoings.

One is one and all alone and evermore will be so; “I will not,” said Natalie,

Natalie taking this saying and rejecting it feels like to me that Tony is her suicidal subconscious trying to lure her to death. But Natalie rejecting her depressed subconscious shows that even though loneliness can definitely fuck you up and that it may seem insurmountable the big picture is is that there's more than one way to be satisfied by the mortal thing we call living.

ahead of her, she thought theatrically, I will never see Tony any more; she is gone, and knew that, theatrical or not, it was true. She had defeated her own enemy, she thought, and she would never be required to fight again, and she put her feet down tiredly in the mud and thought, What did I do wrong?

Shirley Jackson's portrayal of the intricate mind of Natalie Waite was so confusing and took multiple readings of one page to even gauge what was happening.

irremediable

Impossible to cure or put right.