61 pages • 2 hours read
Paul G. TremblayA Head Full of Ghosts
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Impact of Family Dysfunction
Content Warning: This Themes section contains references to mental health conditions and death by suicide.
Meredith “Merry” Barrett / “Karen Brissette” describes extreme tension in the Barrett household, as it existed even before the involvement of Father Wanderly, the church, and the Discovery Channel. This, combined with the family’s stressful financial situation, is characteristic of significant familial discord and dysfunction.
Marjorie’s illness becomes everyone’s focus; because her experience and pain is acute and her behavior distressing, the family fixates on her as the “problem” to be solved. They do not consider that if they were more secure, compassionate, and collaborative their support might help her and protect against her escalating symptoms. The family seeks professional help for her, but Mom is the only one who actively participates and cooperates with Marjorie’s doctor. Dad is immature and makes excuses for his behavior, including his lack of motivation to secure new employment. He does not use his abundant free time to take on additional responsibilities while his wife is working.
Dad is unable to appreciate the diligence and effort required to treat his daughter’s mental illness, and the fluctuation in progress which occurs. Dad seeks someone to solve the problem for him, deferring to Father Wanderly instead of collaborating with his wife and taking responsibility for his family. Dad yells and tries to intimidate Marjorie when she is experiencing heightened symptoms. Mom feels as though she must step in as the protector and prevent him from making the situation worse, instead of feeling that she has a collaborative partner.
Mom has little patience for Dad even before the church’s involvement. When the church becomes involved, she feels helpless and overrun by the forces dictating what is happening in her home. Dad is oblivious to her feelings, complaining to Father Wanderly that she is not cooperating and claiming they both “agreed” on exorcism as a course of action. He is not perceptive enough to appreciate that his wife conceded to the pressure he placed on her, because of the threat posed by their desperate need for the money that would come from the show. He mistakes her passivity for enthusiasm.
Sacrifice and Exploitation of the Vulnerable
Though her family is intimidated by and frightened of her, Marjorie Barrett is the most vulnerable member of the Barrett family, and the one most in need of protection and care. There are two factors which contribute to her vulnerability. As a 14-year-old girl, she is a minor, living under her parents’ roof and subject to the decisions they make on her behalf; she is at the mercy of their ability (or inability) to make sure that her needs are met. Marjorie is also vulnerable because of her psychiatric symptoms; Mom tries to help and empower her to make choices and participate in her treatment, but Marjorie’s paranoia and psychosis preclude her from being able to advocate for herself or relate to her psychiatrist. Her concept of reality is compromised, and she is unsure who to trust.
Similarly, Merry, who is eight, is also a minor. She struggles to understand what is happening to her sister and to function amidst household tension and what she perceives as secrecy. When Mom and Dad decide to participate in the filming of The Possession, they consent on behalf of their daughters. Merry does not indicate whether or not she thinks her parents were able to appreciate or had even contemplated the fact that the footage would exist forever, available in perpetuity to a voyeuristic audience.
Even if the girls declined consent to being filmed, Mom and Dad allowed the crew free reign over the house; there was no way for Merry to escape if she wanted to. When Dad is arrested and Mom has to bail him out of jail, Merry and Marjorie are left behind with Ken to watch them. Both the “documentary” crew and the church simultaneously abandon the family. Someone, though it is not revealed who, files a police report after the exorcism. This person was concerned enough about Marjorie to involve the authorities; it is possible that the process had crossed a line between recording footage for entertainment purposes and creating further harm.
Later, Merry herself becomes the exploiter. She enjoys the proceeds from The Possession by securing herself a condo in a Boston brownstone. She also eagerly participates in the research for Rachel’s book, acknowledging that she looks forward to the proceeds because she needs to pay her mortgage. Where others in similar circumstances might have shunned the prospect of profiting from their family’s death, Merry is eager to collaborate, beginning with her offer to help Rachel stage her house as a macabre tourist attraction. With her family deceased, Merry is at liberty to structure and frame the narrative in a way that she thinks will reflect on her favorably. She spends little time lamenting the unfairness of what happened to her sister, and instead campaigns for Rachel to center her as the main player in the story.
Ordinary Human Malignancy Is the True Horror
Merry declares that she never thought that her sister was possessed. In contrast, Dad latches on to demonic possession as a way to explain his daughter’s symptoms, and to exorcism as a simple “fix.” In A Head Full of Ghosts, Tremblay engages with a literary tradition that connects mental illness to the supernatural. In his interview with Jason Law, Tremblay suggests that, despite being a horror fan, he believes that demonic possession is a way of perceiving mental illness through a religious lens (“Boyden Library Speaker Series: An evening with Author Paul Tremblay October 21, 2021.” YouTube.com).
While Marjorie’s behavior is frightening and distressing, the true horror in A Head Full of Ghosts is the exploitation of Marjorie’s mental illness and Dad’s lack of care: Three members of the family die because Marjorie reached her threshold of tolerance for suffering, and because Dad’s pathology posed such a significant and unchecked threat that Marjorie believed she needed to act to protect her sister. Horror takes the form of delusion, detachment from reality, selfishness, and apathy: A family is unable to shelve their own concerns or prioritize the health of the most vulnerable family member.
For Rachel, what is “disturbing” and unsettling is Merry’s perverse, opportunist obsession with her family’s history. Merry has immersed herself in uncovering the details of what happened. Though she played a pivotal role, she is detached and flippant, which is particularly evident in the way The Possession is presented in “Karen Brissette’s” blog. She does not try to help or warn others against meeting the same fate, a common theme seen in interviews with surviving members of families who have experienced significant tragedy, violence, and loss. Throughout the novel, Merry relays shocking events with nonchalance, thrilling in Rachel’s reactions. Until the end of the novel, the reader does not know that Merry’s family is dead or that Merry was complicit in their deaths; thus, the narrative sets the reader up to be shocked by Merry’s blasé and self-centered approach.
Another element of horror is the production company’s willingness to exploit a teenage girl by intruding on her personal life and mental health condition and editing the outcome for entertainment value. Father Wanderly breaks the Vatican’s rules forbidding the media’s presence by allowing, and if “Karen” is correct, inviting the film crew to record the process of evaluating and securing an exorcism. It is intimated that his parish was as desperate for money as the Barretts themselves.
Marjorie’s case reflects a failure on the part of the state. It shows that tragedy can ensue due to the decline of available and quality mental healthcare in the United States, including sufficient facilities for inpatient treatment. Marjorie was considered to have attempted suicide. However, the state didn’t find abuse or neglect when they discovered that this occurred during a lapse in Marjorie’s medical treatment and secondary to a religious exorcism being filmed for public entertainment.
