The Silent Companions

“Bricks had fallen from it, leaving gaping holes like missing teeth.”

The simile accentuates The Bridge’s degradation, which adds to the novel’s Gothic atmosphere. It conveys a sense of ruin and desolation, implying that the house is physically disintegrating as if it were a living entity with missing teeth. This personification heightens the spooky and frightening atmosphere, making the home appear alive and capable of suffering.

“[H]er past laid out, exposed, like a body on the slab at a mortuary.”

By comparing the exposure of Ellie’s past to a body on a mortuary slab, the passage underscores the novel’s themes of vulnerability, revelation, and the inescapable nature of the past. The comparison evokes not only the sense of being laid bare but also the finality of such exposure, which it implicitly equates with death. The clinical and somber tone reveals Elsie’s feelings of vulnerability as Dr. Shepherd reviews her files and forces her to write her story. The image of a dead body is also ominous, foreshadowing more death to come in the story.

“All the unsent letters, the unspoken words. It was as if Rupert had left the party in the middle of a dance.”

The death of young people is a prominent motif throughout the novel, symbolizing the loss of innocence. Rupert’s death is mysterious and tragic, as he and Elsie have only just begun their life together and have created a new life inside Elsie. The passage uses figurative language to convey Rupert’s abrupt and painful departure as well as Elsie’s grief, as she feels Rupert abandoned her to fend for herself.

“I have always heard things, always sensed things. But when I read Josiah’s thoughts it is no sorcery—unless love be a spell.”

These intimate thoughts from Anne Bainbridge reveal her connection to the supernatural. The passage highlights the extraordinary nature of Anne’s feelings for Josiah, suggesting that love, although an everyday human experience, possesses a magical quality that transcends ordinary life. However, because of the era in which she lives, Anne’s connection to magic foreshadows that she may experience trouble in the future.

“[A]n empty fireplace yawned to her right, breathing out gusts of cold air as the wind swept down the chimney.”

An ambiguously sentient home is a feature of much Gothic literature. The use of personification intensifies the feeling that the house is alive: The house “yawns” as though it is waking up after a time of dormancy. If the house can yawn and breathe, it raises the question of what else it can do.

“A clock was mounted on the roof, but its hands hung still at a quarter to ten. Even the weathervane beside it had rusted to a halt in the east.”

Everything about The Bridge appears lost to time as the structure falls into ruin. The clock with unmoving hands symbolically implies a place where time has stopped, conveying a sense of liminality and suspended reality. By contrast, the paused weathervane, rusted and immovable, implies neglect and decay—the passage of time, but passage marked by degeneration rather than progress. The blurring of temporal boundaries is one of the ways the novel evokes The Thin Line Between The Supernatural and Reality.

“She could feel the past stealing up on her, the way a river inches up its banks in the rain, gradually lapping at her chin, filling her mouth.”

The claustrophobia of The Bridge causes Elsie to feel that the past is creeping up on her in a way that is as unstoppable and pervasive as a flood. This depiction of the past frames it as active and threatening, enhancing the mood of unease and tension and exacerbating Elsie’s dread.

“Something hovered at the edge of her consciousness—as a scavenger hovers over a dying animal, waiting to swoop—but did not strike.”

Elsie’s comparison of herself to a hunted animal enhances the atmosphere of menace and inevitability, suggesting that the threatening presence is biding its time, ready to attack when the moment is right. The idea of being stalked by a predator evokes Elsie’s danger and helplessness. However, as inevitable as the danger seems, it is also undefinable, which further amplifies the tension for Elsie and the reader.

“But now a chamber inside her had unlocked, and she could not seal it up again.”

Elsie’s miscarriage marks a psychological point of no return. Elsie can no longer deny or avoid her fear but must confront the reality that something evil is afoot inside the house. Moreover, losing her child forces Elsie to face her repressed memories, which, like the creeping evil inside the house, threaten her more each day. The metaphor likening Elsie’s memories to rooms underscores the parallels between her and the house itself.

“That hellish thought went round and round in her head like a child’s spinning top. It did not tie up with the rest.”

This passage’s disturbed tone reflects Elsie’s inner turmoil and the unsettling nature of Jolyon’s assertion that the maids are at fault for all the strange occurrences. The simile conveys the repetitive, relentless, and uncontrollable nature of the thought by comparing it to the spinning motion of a top. The comparison to a child’s toy also emphasizes the child motif.

“Occasionally her nostrils found snatches of the sulfurous odour, but it did not trouble her as it used to do. The scent was a pinprick, a little jolt, rather than a knife blade.”

Fire and matches are recurring motifs, as each has a specific connection to Elsie’s life. This sensory imagery conveys that the burning scent is noticeable yet no longer intrusive, indicating that Elsie’s traumatic memories of the factory fire are fading. Matches remind Elsie of her childhood and her father, which triggers her trauma. Nevertheless, she keeps matches in her pocket, like a charm or preventative measure, highlighting her inability to escape her past.

“And still the wind howled, warning of further torment to come.”

As tension increases with Hetta’s behavior and Merripen’s impending execution, the personified wind hints that the pain has only begun. Ironically, the natural world with which Anne has a deep connection “warns” of the coming judgment for her wrongdoing. Her intimations are correct, as Merripen’s sister dies after coming to beg for mercy, causing Anne to bear responsibility for her death as well as her brother’s.

“She was wiggling back into all her old fears, donning the superstitions like an old cloak.”

London provides Elsie with a brief respite from her travails at The Bridge. The passage conveys her stifling feeling upon seeing the house again. The resulting fears and anxieties are familiar as an old coat yet also burdensome. Elsie exhibits character growth as she learns to accept the inevitability of fear in her life, and she confronts that fear as she returns to the place that has caused her so much pain.

“She tried for a jovial tone, but it fell to the ground like a dead bird.”

Elsie’s attempt at levity falls flat. The simile likening it to a dead bird falling to the ground creates a visual and tactile image of Elsie’s fate as abrupt, unexpected, and final. As a woman who people fear has become mentally ill, she has no agency and is at the mercy of those who wish to control her. Where she could once make a joke with her brother, she now must humbly accede to his power and control.

“Obeyed. The word roped around her throat.”

The passage’s tone captures the theme of The Isolation and Oppression of Women as Elsie feels trapped by her brother’s authoritarian control. The comparison of his demand that she obey him to a noose underscores her feeling of helplessness and hints that she would prefer death to being locked away in a hospital. The passage also foreshadows Elsie’s later predicament: If she is convicted of murder, she will be hanged from a literal noose.

“I saw flashing images: the potion; rusted scissors; Hetta’s cold, impassive face; an antimasque of smoke and red lights, and capering through it all, the masked devil of a child’s height.”

Each distinct image inside Anne’s head connects to something earlier in the story, as if she relives her entire life in one moment. Comparing the images to the antimasque highlights the chaos and disorder that has resulted from Anne’s decisions. Anne imagines Hetta as a demon disguising itself as a child, intensifying the story’s horror and sense of foreboding, though the extent to which Hetta was always “evil” is ambiguous.

“[T]he silent companions ranged about the room like an audience at the play.”

Denied the joy of having a normal childhood because of her disability, Hetta uses silent companions as her friends. The image of them surrounding her at this moment lends an element of mystery to the story, as it is unclear whether Hetta strangled Lizzy, whether the companions killed her, or whether they possessed Hetta. The comparison of the companions to an audience also establishes them as watchers who know the truth of what happened in the house.

“She was filling up with smoke; behind her eyes, her stomach, underneath her tongue. Bitter, choking smoke that was the past and the present, engulfing her with acrid fumes.”

Elsie can’t escape the grip of her past, and the burdens of the present also weigh heavily on her. The sensory detail amplifies Elsie’s discomfort, as the past and the present actively “engulf” and suffocate her. The use of fire imagery, a pervasive motif in the text, emphasizes the overwhelming nature of her psychological struggle.

“Under the white paint, she could make out the pattern and knots in the wood, as if it were not just a barrier between them but a living thing, complete with veins and sinews.”

Wood is a recurring motif related to the strange occurrences in the house. Here, the wooden door becomes an emblem of the physical and emotional barrier between Elsie and Jolyon. He refuses to see her humanity and instead tries to control her. Just as the wooden companions have come alive, Elsie imagines the wooden door is also a live being, actively working to separate them.

“There, under the recent wounds, sat the scars of old—the sin seared into her skin.”

This metaphor compares Elsie’s transgressions to the physical branding of her skin. This juxtaposition highlights her pain’s intensity and her experiences’ cumulative impact. It suggests that new wounds compound old ones, worsening her suffering.

“That sound seemed to fall right through her, like a penny in a well, echoing as it hit the edges and landed with a dull thud in the pit of her stomach.”

The sound in Dr. Shepherd’s throat has a profound and unsettling effect on Elsie. The auditory image of a reverberating clang down a deep, dark well conveys the depths of Elsie’s trauma, as does the fact that one sound can trigger her so intensely. The melancholic, foreboding tone emphasizes Elsie’s isolation and her fear that she won’t be able to prove her innocence or her sanity.

“He was going to stand up on a platform and talk about her like she was a rare species of plant, exposing all she had hidden beneath the soil.”

Elsie fears that if she goes along with Dr. Shepherd’s theory that she has what is now known as dissociative identity disorder, she will be scrutinized and objectified. Pleading insanity will leave her feeling exposed and dehumanized, treated more as a specimen than a person. The comparison to a plant being unearthed conveys Elsie’s sense of invasion and violation; it is as if her hidden parts are being forcefully brought to light against her will.

“After all these years, I have finally found my voice.”

These words come from Hetta disguised as Sarah. The meaning is layered, as Hetta has lived physically and metaphorically without a voice. Though it is implied that Hetta’s spirit lived on through the companions, they too have remained silent for generations. The ending, though ambiguous, implies that Hetta possessed Sarah to exact revenge on the Bainbridges. This ends the story with a sense of unease; though the house and the companions were destroyed in the fire, the evil persists.