The Mirror

This middle section of the novel develops the bonds between the four main characters, highlighting the theme of The Power of Love and Courage. As frightening events continue at the manor, Sonya and Cleo go on with their work, such as planning their party and scavenging for furniture on the manor grounds. The women are making the manor theirs; however, the way they go about it stands in stark contrast to Dobbs’s methods. While Dobbs is jealous about the manor, wanting to hoard it and keep it her own, Sonya and Cleo want to open up the house and share it with their community. In the process, they also want to divest the manor of its class-conscious roots and turn it into a space not just for one wealthy family, but for all the residents of Poole’s Bay. At the same time, Sonya, Cleo, Owen, and Trey continue to support each other, building a fortress of positive emotions against the forces of evil. As the four fill up the house with activity and mutual respect, Trey hugs Sonya and says, “Love’s in the house […] and the house is packed” (190). With this assertion of the importance of love, community, and support, the novel highlights that this is the path to defeating Dobbs, who is alone in her quest to rule the manor.

The narrative also continues to highlight Sonya’s efforts to make the manor a home. The coming of spring parallels her efforts, and the novel uses spring, a common symbol of rebirth, to emphasize the new beginning for both Sonya and Poole Manor. For example, Sonya notes that the air outside “blew cool and light […] daffodils blew their fluttery trumpets with the scent of hyacinths answering the call” (155). The spring imagery of blue skies, melting snow, and new flowers is associated with new life, coinciding with the deepening connections between Owen and Cleo, Sonya and Trey, and Sonya and her ancestors.

These chapters also continue to illustrate the theme of The Interplay Between Past and Present. The past lives on in the manor in the form of its inhabitant spirits, who often interact with the living. For instance, Trey tells the others that he saw Clover for the first time when he was younger—she spoke to him about music when he was visiting Collin. Trey glimpses Clover again in Chapter 12 when she leans out of the house to blow him a goodbye kiss. This connection shows how the interplay between the past and the present goes even beyond the Poole descendants. This theme also ties into the novel’s larger subject of continuity and harmony. As Sonya, her friends, and their animals make Poole Manor a home, the village and manor reconnect as well.

In Chapter 15, the novel offers Clover’s first-person perspective, fleshing out her character and introducing freshness in the narrative flow. Clover’s narration is era- and age-appropriate, with frequent references to wanting to change the world reflecting the counterculture movement of the 1960s. The narrative device of Sonya inhabiting the first-person perspective of another character provides vivid vignettes and insight while also emphasizing the tragedy of these peoples’ abrupt endings. For instance, Clover’s youthful narrative ends on the line that she and Charlie will soon be off to Maine to start a new life. Since Clover’s fate is already known, her joyful declaration adds an ominous note to the proceedings. It also introduces an element of dramatic irony to the novel, in which the reader has more information than the character does, heightening tension and connection with the character.

The novel also highlights the happy perspectives of other spirits so that Sonya remembers them not just as tragic victims but also as people with full lives. When Sonya wakes up from her dream of Clover, she instinctively understands this is the reason Clover showed her the memories. She says aloud: “All right, Clover […] I won’t forget” (206). Sonya’s resolve not to forget what the spirits show her highlights the theme of The Importance of Bearing Witness.

Apart from developing the novel’s central themes, this section also shows how Roberts uses literary techniques and genre tropes to amplify the novel’s Gothic elements. In Chapter 11, a black vulture flies out of the Gold Room window, in a sudden, shocking move that is called a “jump-scare” in films. Though the jump scare—the sudden face in the mirror, a hurtling vulture—is a staple of contemporary horror, its origins lie in Gothic fiction, in which suddenly moving statues and abruptly unveiled portraits terrify the characters. The vulture that Dobbs projects in Chapter 11 disappears in sulfurous smoke, but Trey notices the bird is hyper-realistic and larger than previous creatures sent by Dobbs, indicating Dobbs’s growing power and increasing the stakes of the upcoming climax of the novel.