Published 2025-12-19
Keywords
- Gothic,
- Haunted House,
- Spectrality Studies,
- Toni Morrison,
- Trauma
Copyright (c) 2025 Rachele Puddu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
As proved by Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved, home can be the place where one’s identity and sense of community is challenged and reconsidered. Depending on who inhabits the house, it can be perceived as a safe place or a dangerous one. In the case of the haunted 124 of Bluestone Road, its inhabitants learn to live with the ghost of Beloved, whereas the outside community perceives it as hostile and hazardous. Likewise, the uncanny house of The Convent, in her 1998 novel Paradise, follows a similar pattern. This essay aims at reconsidering Paradise, in which the house fluctuates between a dimension of welcoming and hostility and is perceived differently by the women who inhabits it and the Ruby men. To do so, I will reflect on the meanings of the home through the perspective of Spectrality Studies, which can help in shedding light on Morrison’s reconfiguration of the Gothic trope of the haunted house.