In the Castle of My Skin Themes

Near the end of the novel, as G. and Pa are saying farewell to each other, Pa notes, “We both settin’ forth tomorrow.... I to my last restin’-place, an’ you into the wide wide world.” G.’s leaving for his teaching job in Trinidad and Pa’s entering the Alms House dramatically illustrate parting and change. Nurtured in part by Pa, G. now embarks on his own quest for meaning. At various times, G. is struck with the sad sensation that he is seeing “the last of something,” and this feeling culminates in the ending scene with Pa. A focus on change is a feature of the novel, painful change suffered by displaced villagers and their world and apprehensive change affecting G. as the growth of his self-awareness within the insular community deepens his exile and alienation.

Another theme emerges from contrasting G.’s sense of himself as a “castle” protecting his inner self with other concepts of “castle” in the novel. Mr. Creighton’s castle on the hill, for example, defines to some extent the social order over which it dominates though its authority is succeeded by Mr. Slime’s consortium. G.’s awakening artistic consciousness fashions an alternate central “castle” of definition which gives preserving autonomy. His perch is one of loneliness for the moment, but his situation gives him the opportunity to delineate himself, to view the outside world, and to try to become a conscientious relater of meaning. It is in relating to others that his life will assume real meaning.

Several of the villagers, with Pa as the chief example, are displaced, evicted from their familiar but tenuous groundings; for the time being, G. has refuge in the expedient and firmer “castle” of himself, from which he may be able to sally forth with confidence.