Children’s Gothic: Color Imagery and Characterization within Bellairs’ The House with a Clock in Its Walls Anonymous College

Bellairs’ The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973) is an engrossing piece of children’s literature that is designed to keep the reader guessing about what will happen on the next page. It is a notable blend of different genres, styles and themes. To the extent, that they seem in natural contest with each other, like the religious undertones present within the novel set against a mystical backdrop. The true magic of this novel though, is its commitment to enigmatic wonder while, attempting to illustrate motifs of good and evil within this coming of age story. Thus, in The House with a Clock in Its Walls Bellairs uses color imagery and direct characterization in order to create a gothic mystery that while, satisfyingly gripping has distinct moral teachings.

The novel has many aspects of the “conventional” children’s story beginning, of the classic orphan tale. The protagonist, Lewis Barnavelt, is a lonely and unsure recently orphaned boy sent to live with his distant and enigmatic uncle. The hesitancy and fear present within Lewis before their first meeting is palpable, he even goes so as far as to recite one of the lord’s prayers. He prays, “for thou o god art my strength why have you cast me off, and why do I go sorrowful”...