Final Theme

Okay, so I'm going to make one more post about themes. One of the final themes I saw in the book was that of strength, in a very general term. Let me be more specific.

Firstly, let's take character by character. Starting, of course, with Betsy, the main character. Though at first glance, she is definitely not a strong female character. By the end she grows up and is able to demonstrate a huge growth in confidence and strength. And that comes mostly from her finding herself. This story takes us through most of her late childhood early teenage years so we basically get to watch as she becomes who she was always meant to be. Even though at one point she remarks "I was frightened and my heart threatened to burst inside my chest..." 194 she stands up after the spirit attacks her and says, "I am much recovered now," 196 even though it nearly killed her. In these small ways Betsy shows her inner strength . She is the only one psychically abused by the spirit and yet she never really lets it hold her back. Similarly in the end, it is Betsy that makes the ultimate sacrifice, she gives up on a chance to have a good life with the man she has always loved and yet she gives it up and in the end delivers the demon back to where it belongs, finally fulfilling its prophesies and thus laying it to rest.

In the same way her father and brother (Jack and John Jr.)show this kind of strength in that they stand up for what they believe and nothing the spirit ever did could ruin that. They were the hardiest of men in that even in the women's fears and angst, the men refused to give it the pleasure of winning and never let the thing influence their minds. The strength of these two characters, though shown in a different way is still moving in that even in their fear the refuse to give into the spirit. It is a beacon of hope how they manage to stay sound of their own beliefs and intentions through such influence, and in the end it kills Jack Bell, but he died strong.

And finally in Lucy, her mother (though for one reason of the next I wrote it was Mary in the last one, sorry, it's not, it's definitely Lucy) she watches as her son, the eldest Jesse leaves, her next son John is sent away, and finally in the death of her husband are all brought on from the presence of the spirit. However, even through her own eventual sickness, she remains the stone for her family-and in that way she is definitely one of the strongest characters, because she never loves sight of her duties and of her love of Jack and her children, though things were in deed so difficult.