We Have Always Lived in the Castle Lesson Plan

Because the book is written in the first-person narrative, the reader views the world through Merricat’s eyes. In the beginning of the book, do you trust her vision of the world? Why or why not? Does your trust increase or decrease over the course of the first chapter?

From the opening paragraph, we see that Merricat is highly imaginative and given to irony. It’s hard to know if the reality she presents is totally accurate. For example, she passionately hates the people in the village, but the first person we meet is Stella, who seems nice. We also gather from Merricat’s narration that the Blackwoods—who are snobby and arrogant—might have given the villagers valid reasons...