Wieland

The story is told in the Epistolary Form in which the point of view character writes letters (epistles) to a friend, recounting the events leading up to the destruction of her family. The epistolary form was popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries, during the period when letter-writing was regarded among the educated classes as an art form and a means of entertainment. One of the intriguing things about the form is that unlike the usual first-person point of view, in which the narrator speaks to an anonymous reader, the writer of an epistolary narrative is speaking to a particular individual from whom they might have reason to wish to conceal some aspect of the story. As a result, one is more likely to experience an unreliable narrator.

Clara states that one of her goals is to illustrate the importance of Critical Thinking. That is what she means when she refers to “imperfect discipline”—the failure to think critically. Throughout the story, the characters will fail in a variety of contexts to apply critical thinking to their conclusions. This lack of critical thinking will lead them into trouble, both with each other and with their surroundings. Henry Pleyel will fail to question the evidence of his ears, which defies everything he knows to be true about Clara. Theodore Wieland doesn’t question the voices that he hears in his head. Wieland Sr. doesn’t question his excessive religiosity. The lack of critical thinking leads the characters to be deceived or destroyed.

Clara's father's immolation sets the stage for one of the primary themes of the book, which is the tension between critical thinking and uncritical belief. None of the family has ever been able to determine whether his death was an act of God, or if it was a rare but scientifically explainable event. The incomprehensibility of the incident typifies the characters’ struggle to understand the nature of the disembodied voices they hear.

The characters’ attempts at critical thinking are hampered by a familial tendency toward mental illness. For example, Clara’s resignation to her brother’s annihilation of his family and nearly of Clara herself, suggests a severe and chronic depression. Depression is a normal reaction to shock and grief. However, her declaration that her sufferings are greater than those of anyone else is hyperbolic. This is exactly the failure of critical thinking that afflicts everyone else in the story. Clara has suffered a terrible loss, but she has not suffered more than anyone else in the world.

In Clara’s father, the author accurately depicts the progression of bipolar disorder. Initially, Wieland Sr. demonstrates a tendency to depression. In early adulthood, his depression gives way to heightened euphoria, which takes the form of a religious fixation. His obsessive fixation metaphorically burns him up from the inside as represented by the “spontaneous combustion” scene.

The religious attitudes of the characters illustrate how critical thinking is (or should be) applied to a relationship with God. Each of the characters chooses a single approach to spiritual understanding, but no one approach is sufficient. Clara’s relaxed religious beliefs embody the Romantic movement from which the Gothic novel derives. The Romantics believed that spiritual truth was to be found by following one’s own intuition and feelings rather than through dogma or scripture. This is in contrast to Wieland Sr., whose empiricist approach rejected both emotion and authority and was derived from his own direct interpretation of the Bible. Neither Clara nor her father test their beliefs by seeking out other opinions.

Meanwhile, Theodore Wieland embodies the rational approach to religion. He studies history and the thoughts of great teachers and philosophers, attempting to use reason to determine what is true and what is not in religious teachings. Out of his study, he hopes to achieve a transcendent connection with God, but in looking outside himself, he becomes enslaved to a voice he perceives as being external but which is really internal. Henry Pleyel takes another approach to rationalism by rejecting authority and trusting entirely his own intellect. In every case, the characters fail to apply critical thinking in that they examine the issue from one direction only, rather than applying a variety of approaches.

The author seems to regard Clara’s attitude as the best of a bad lot. The Gothic genre founded in Romanticism—which Clara’s approach best approximates—and Clara appears to be the character who matures the most by the end of the story.

The limitations in the characters’ approaches to religion typify their approach to understanding the events precipitated by Carwin’s arrival among them. If any of the characters had studied the question of the voices from two or three perspectives, they would have exposed Carwin and saved themselves.