“A BIZARRE DOMESTIC METAMORPHOSIS1”: GENDER ROLES, POWER RELATIONS AND THREATENED HOMES IN SHIRLEY JACKSON’S LIKE MOTHER USED TO MAKE

American writer Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) inserted cryptic thematic-elements in herstories, thus creating a mythology inherent to her literary cosmos. The present concern is to analyzehow these inconspicuous elements contribute to a better understanding of the short story Like MotherUsed to Make (featured in the 1948 collection The Lottery and Other Stories). The intention is todecode some of these recondite elements and discuss their contribution to the interpretation of thistale. To aid in the analysis, an informal methodological approach was devised taking intoconsideration two hypothetical readers, namely a “novice Jackson reader” and an “experiencedJackson reader”. This system intends to service as an example of how pervasive these cryptic elementscan be. In the study of Like Mother Used to Make, special attention was devoted to the (frustrated)expectations regarding gender roles and power relations between the three main characters: the meekDavid Turner, his loud neighbor Marcia (for whom he is romantically attracted to) and an ill-timedvisitor (who will offer unexpected danger, considering that David’s home will be threatened by thepresence of this mysterious third party, a figure who inhabits the depths of Shirley Jackson’s Lore, themalignant demon James Harri