Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Little Stranger, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Science and the Supernatural
The Decline of the British Upper Class
Desire, the Unconscious, and Manipulation
Class Envy
Summary
Analysis
Three years later, Faraday’s business is doing well, largely, he thinks, because of his association with the Ayers family. Still, Faraday is unmarried and lives in the same spot he always has. Occasionally, Faraday checks in on Roderick, only to find that his condition has not improved.
It seems unlikely that Faraday is doing well because of his association with the Ayerses. If anything, one would think the opposite. However, he continues to place an unwavering confidence in the Ayerses and Hundreds, even after everything he experienced.
Themes
One day, Faraday sees Betty out with her boyfriend. She looks much healthier than Faraday remembers, and he asks her how she is doing. Betty tells him that she is much better now; she is working at a bicycle shop and her relationship is going well. However, she also says that she still has nightmares about Hundreds and never intends to go back.
Throughout the novel, Betty is described as pale and unhealthy. Yet, away from Hundreds, she looks revitalized. It is as if Hundreds was literally sucking the life out of her.
Themes
After Caroline’s death, no one moves into Hundreds Hall. Because Faraday still has his key, he occasionally visits Hundreds and walks around it. The space is empty and cold, but Faraday believes there is something beautiful about it. Even though Hundreds has continued to decay, Faraday finds it beautiful and wishes he lived there. Sometimes, Faraday thinks about the evil presence that supposedly haunts the house, and, on occasion, he convinces himself that it exists. One day, while walking around, Faraday thinks that he senses the evil presence. However, when he turns around to look for it, all he sees is his reflection in a window.
Faraday’s obsession with Hundreds never goes away. However, he does end the novel a changed man, as he genuinely thinks there is a chance that a supernatural entity haunts Hundreds. When Faraday sees his reflection in the window, the novel suggests that, even if he did not kill Caroline, he is responsible for her death because the unconscious mind that created the entity was his. The reason Faraday is the only one who does not have an experience with the entity is because it comes from within him. The novel’s final, unsettling image thus prompts readers to reconsider Faraday’s attitudes throughout the entire novel and to give fresh credence to a supernatural explanation for what happened at Hundreds.
Themes
