Matthew answers “I'm so baffled by the ending, does anyone...”

Jill asked this question about A Guest in the House:

I'm so baffled by the ending, does anyone have thoughts/interpretations?

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[It certainly is a mystery! Metaphorically, at the very least, I think it shows Abby's dream being slain, or at least showing itself to be a nightmare. Throughout the book, we see bits of her dream, and it's implied that Abby is the knight, or at least she thinks she is. However, that knight is always just on the edge of monstrous, with a face-plate that inevitably starts becoming a fleshy red tongue. In fact, in one of the last few pages, the knight's face is mirrored with the slavering dragon, the ghost, and the corpse. Are they all the same person? Then, finally, on the last page, we see the, I'm going to call her the ghost, looking away in the background. We see the knight, light reflecting off its helm in the same diamond shape that's repeated on the ghosts jewels and indeed across the book. And we have Abby being run through, with not just blood but gems spraying out of her.

Now go back to the first couple pages, when we see Abby's dream of dragons. In that moment, it is the dragon's eyes, not the knights, that reflect with the diamond bursts. And when the knight/Abby slays it, it rains "a stinking swell of gore and glittering jewels." It is the gore, not the treasure, that Abby's dream knight takes comfort in.

I think that this whole story is one of self destruction brought about by repression. Abby is both dealing with unspoken trauma in her childhood, and an absolute denial of herself. That anger and pain is reflected in the bloody nature of her dreams (even her daydreams- remember when she's looking in the mirror imagining tearing her own throat out). Whether or not the ghost is real, that fantasy twisted her into becoming the 'dragon'. Perhaps she thought she was going to be the hero, saving ghost-Sheila from a monstrous husband, when in fact she had become the monster holding herself captive in the tower.

In real life, I think Abby grabbed Sheila, and Sheila was forced to stab her. There are a series of panels that, if you imagine the ghost isn't there, look like Abby grabbing her around the shoulders, then a stab, then Abby's eyes going blank while Sheila's are filled with fear and concern. The dragon slew itself when it became clear the dream was broken.

Thanks for putting up with my babbling - I just finished the book and seeing this question actually helped me think about it that much better. What do you think? (hide spoiler)]

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A Guest in the House

by Emily Carroll

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