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
After Faraday leaves, Caroline goes to check on Roderick. She finds him passed out from drinking too much and puts him in bed. Then Caroline goes to bed herself, as does Mrs. Ayers. Caroline wakes up a few hours later to the sound of broken glass. When she gets up to see what is happening, she realizes that the house is on fire. For a moment, Caroline is euphoric because she is excited by the idea that she will no longer have to deal with Hundreds Hall. However, she quickly snaps out of this fantasy, remembers Roderick, and runs downstairs to help him.
Caroline’s reaction to the fire is startling, as it demonstrates just how serious she is about her dislike of Hundreds Hall, and it’s worth keeping in mind to compare to Faraday’s attitudes about the house. However, although she may sometimes resent Hundreds, she still loves her family, and so she springs into action after a moment’s hesitation.
Themes
Caroline locates the source of the fire in Roderick's room. With the help of Mrs. Ayers and Betty, she grabs some blankets and rushes into the room to extinguish the fire while Roderick lays passed out on his bed. After taming the fire and ensuring Roderick is safe, Caroline goes around the house to get rid of any sparks that could start it back up.
Roderick was last seen sitting by a smoldering fire, and the fire is coming from his room. However, Roderick does not look like he is in any position to have started it, unless he is faking sleep.
Themes
Eventually, Roderick comes to in the kitchen. When he learns what has happened, he blames the fire on the malicious presence that has been haunting him. Confused, Mrs. Ayers asks him what he is talking about. Caroline tries to keep Roderick's thoughts on the matter from her mother, but Roderick begins ranting about how the evil presence wants him dead. Afraid, Mrs. Ayers begs Roderick to be quiet, but he will not stop talking. Desperately, Caroline slaps her brother in the face to get him to shut up. Roderick immediately falls silent. Caroline instantly feels bad and issues a half-hearted apology.
The secrets that the Ayerses have been keeping from each other begin to emerge. It is unclear why Caroline so desperately wants to hide the truth from Mrs. Ayers. Perhaps, as she says, she doesn’t want her mother to worry unnecessarily, but, at this point, worrying seems necessary.
Themes
Betty takes the family into the kitchen to get them cleaned up. She washes Mrs. Ayers and Caroline first and then Roderick. While Roderick's back is turned to Caroline, another small fire starts right in front of him. Although they put out the fire easily enough, it unsettles them because they do not know how it started. They hypothesize that a spark could have fallen from Roderick's hair and caught fire after Betty brushed it off him. Caroline wonders whether she should return to Roderick's room to search for other fire hazards. However, when she turns to leave, Roderick desperately asks her not to leave him alone. As such, she decides to take Roderick with her, and they spend the rest of the night ensuring the house is safe.
Because Roderick’s back is to everyone, it is possible that the fire could have originated from him in some supernatural way. However, at this point, no one considers that possibility. Like Faraday, everyone searches for a reasonable answer, only to come up empty. Still, only Roderick takes the supernatural explanation seriously. He is surer than ever that some sort of malicious force is persecuting him, to the point where he does not want to be left alone.
Themes
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Faraday wakes up the next day, completely unaware of what has happened at Hundreds. He goes about his regular daily routine and only hears about the fire once a few patients mention it. Alarmed, Faraday calls the Ayers family and asks what happened. Mrs. Ayers tells him that the stories he heard are true and that the house did briefly catch fire.
For some time, Faraday has been the first person to know about anything that happens at Hundreds. However, in this case, everyone knows about the fire before him. As always, word travels fast about what goes on at Hundreds. Try though they might, the Ayerses cannot keep anything from the public for long.
Themes
Faraday drives out to Hundreds Hall to pay a visit. When he arrives, Mrs. Ayers is up in her room resting. She inhaled a lot of smoke and is not doing well. Caroline meets Faraday at the door, and he sees that she is also coughing regularly. Caroline takes Faraday inside and up to Roderick's room. Faraday examines the damage and takes note of the soot-stained hallways. Ashes cover Roderick's room because of all the papers that caught fire. Caroline explains the fire claimed a number of important documents, including bills and legal documents.
The fire in Roderick’s room was subtly set up earlier in the novel, as both Faraday and Caroline regularly made note of the room’s dreadful state. Because the fire burned so many papers, the Ayerses’ finances and business dealings are sure to grow even more complicated, which is a problem because Roderick is not fit to deal with them.
Themes
Faraday asks Caroline what she plans to do with the room. Caroline tells him that once it is clean, they will probably board it up like many of the other rooms in the house. She recently found out that Roderick has stopped making insurance payments to save money, so they will have no way of restoring his room.
Again, Hundreds continues its slow and sad decline. Although the house is enormous, it is falling apart room by room. Hundreds’ deteriorating condition reflects a similarly gradual decline among England’s upper class.
Themes
Privately, Caroline asks Faraday if Mrs. Ayers told him how the fire started. Faraday says that she did not and asks Caroline what she thinks. Caroline tells Faraday that she does not know but that the fire pattern is strange. Rather than starting in one place, it looks like the fire started in several different spots around Roderick's room. She shows Faraday the scorch marks as proof. Then, Caroline tells Faraday about the small fire in the kitchen. At first, she had no idea how that fire started, but upon further examination, she found a box of matches in the kitchen. Although she is unsure, she worries that Roderick may have started the fire in the kitchen and the fires in his room.
The different scorch marks in the room suggest that someone must have started the fire intentionally. Otherwise, there is no way the fire could spread around the room as it did. Additionally, it was noted earlier that the strange marks in Roderick’s room looked like “scorch marks.” In retrospect, the marks suggest that Roderick could have tried starting fires previously. He certainly had incentive to do so, given the amount of stress that managing Hundreds causes him.
Themes
Faraday tries to talk Caroline out of this theory. He does not believe that Roderick would try to hurt anyone. Caroline agrees that Roderick would not try to hurt anyone on purpose, but she doesn't know if he is in complete control of his actions. Additionally, Caroline reveals she told Mrs. Ayers about Roderick's belief in the supernatural. When Mrs. Ayers learned the truth, she locked Roderick in a room alone and ensured that someone is constantly overseeing him. Mrs. Ayers worries about what he could be capable of next. Upon learning all of this, Faraday starts to feel guilty. He worries that he did not do his job as a doctor and accidentally put the entire family in danger. Caroline assures him that none of what happened was his fault, but he feels terrible anyway.
Although Caroline’s response to her brother’s troubles is understandable and reasonable, Mrs. Ayers’s seems rather extreme. Her response suggests that, similar to Roderick, she is hiding something from Caroline and Faraday. Alternatively, her desire to lock Roderick away could be her attempt to ensure that no further damage is done to the family’s public reputation. Mrs. Ayers hates the negative attention the public has given her family over the years and will go to great lengths to stop it. If this is the case, then the claim Roderick made previously about his mother thinking of him as a “disappointment” rings true.
Themes
Faraday goes upstairs to check on Mrs. Ayers. He sees that Mrs. Ayers is not doing well because she breathed in too much smoke, and Roderick's condition frightens her. Mrs. Ayers asks Faraday if he knew about Roderick's strange beliefs, and Faraday tells her that he does. Faraday apologizes and says that he did not tell her because he did not want her to worry. Furthermore, he made a promise to Roderick that he did not want to break.
Throughout the novel, various members of the Ayers family provide Faraday with secret information that he must then decide what to do with. In a way, this gives Faraday power over the Ayers family because he knows the secrets they hide from each other. Whether Faraday uses that power wisely remains to be seen.
Themes
Mrs. Ayers forgives Faraday but wishes he would have told her the truth. Then she asks Faraday if he thinks Roderick's condition is her fault. She confesses that she did not treat Roderick and Caroline well enough as children because she was still trying to get over Susan's death. Mrs. Ayers tells Faraday that Susan was her one true love, and she never treated her other children with the same amount of care. Faraday thinks back to what Roderick told him on the night of the fire and realizes she might be right. However, he decides not to say anything because he does not see what good can come from it.
Here, Mrs. Ayers appears to confirm what Roderick told Faraday. Indeed, Mrs. Ayers does love Susan more than Roderick and Caroline, who can never live up to what she lost. Again, a member of the Ayers family is vulnerable with Faraday and tells him something that she would never say to her children. Although the topic never directly comes up again, the shadow of Mrs. Ayers’s disappointment hangs heavily over the rest of the novel.
Themes
Mrs. Ayers asks Faraday what their next step should be concerning Roderick. Faraday says that he will need to look at Roderick to decide. They have a brief discussion about whether Roderick belongs in a mental institution. Mrs. Ayers seems to think that he does. Faraday tells Mrs. Ayers that he must call another doctor to help him make that determination. Then, Mrs. Ayers asks Faraday if he has seen Roderick yet. Faraday tells her that he has not. With a fearful look, Mrs. Ayers tells Faraday to look in on Roderick and then hands him a key.
Because Faraday is too close to the Ayerses to be objective, his decision to call in another doctor is admirable and speaks to his professionalism. However, Mrs. Ayers’s reaction to what Faraday says suggests that Roderick’s current state is beyond a doubt worthy of a visit to a mental institution.
Themes
Faraday goes around the corner and unlocks Roderick's new room. When Faraday goes inside, he is concerned by what he sees. More than ever, Roderick is convinced that an evil spirit is haunting the house. Furthermore, he believes that the spirit started the fire. He's annoyed that Faraday refuses to believe him after all he has seen. Not knowing what else to do, Faraday tries to give Roderick a sleeping pill, but Roderick refuses to take it. Roderick believes that if he falls asleep, the spirit will try to harm him and his family.
As Mrs. Ayers implied, Roderick is completely unhinged, especially to Faraday, who does not believe there is an ounce of truth in Roderick’s supernatural explanation. If anything, Roderick’s behavior confirms the hunch that he was responsible for the fire, although—as Caroline suggested—it is unlikely that Roderick is aware of what he’s done.
Themes
Realizing that he will not get anywhere, Faraday gets up to leave. Roderick tells him to ensure he locks the door on the way out. Faraday does as Roderick asks, concerned that Roderick's confinement is self-imposed. As Faraday walks away from the room, he hears Roderick get up and rattle the door handle as though he is making sure it is locked. Then, Faraday returns to Mrs. Ayers to discuss putting Roderick in a mental institution.
Roderick’s desire to ensure Faraday locks him in is an ominous sign, indicating to Faraday that Roderick belongs in a mental institution. Of course, if there is a supernatural being as Roderick says there is, then this scene demonstrates that he is so afraid of it that he does not trust himself.
Themes
As it turns out, getting Roderick committed to an institution is quite easy. First, Faraday calls in other doctors to get a second and third opinion. It does not take the doctors long to back up Faraday's hypothesis. When Roderick learns he will be committed to an institution, he is almost relieved. He thinks whatever evil haunts him cannot hurt him while he is under constant medical care. When the day comes, Roderick calmly gets into the car of his new doctor, Dr. Warren, and they drive off together.
Unsurprisingly, other doctors do not take Roderick’s bizarre claims any more seriously than Faraday. Roderick’s trip to the mental institution is uneventful, but it poses many problems for the Ayerses. First, they have their public image to protect, which is especially important to Mrs. Ayers. Second, someone will need to be put in charge of the family’s affairs, which is an especially daunting task given how many of their documents the fire destroyed.
Themes
Faraday and the Ayerses do not tell anyone the truth about what has happened to Roderick. Instead, if anyone asks, they invent a lie about Roderick visiting his friends. Faraday joins Mrs. Ayers and Caroline once a week to visit Roderick in the mental institution. When they see him, he seems to be doing alright, although his memory is not good. On one trip, he asks them about Gyp, apparently forgetting that the dog is dead. Faraday talks to Dr. Warren and asks him how Roderick is holding up. Dr. Warren tells Faraday that Roderick is doing well most of the time and that his symptoms match those of other soldiers with nervous conditions. Dr. Warren also says that Roderick does not want visitors and so the Ayerses will not be able to come see him for some time.
Again, the Ayerses do the best they can to protect their family image. However, given that Roderick seldom leaves Hundreds under normal circumstances, and the family doesn’t have any money, it does not seem like their lie will convince anyone. At this point, Roderick and his issues leave center stage for a while, in part because he no longer wants visits from Faraday and his family. It is unclear whether this precaution is for Roderick’s sake or for the sake of his visitors.
Themes
Because Roderick is no longer in the house, Caroline and Mrs. Ayers give Betty a bedroom upstairs. They feel safer this way and think that Betty deserves the room after all she has been through. The next time Faraday visits Hundreds Hall, it seems as though Roderick was never there at all.
At this point, the Ayerses have only a few people they can rely on, one of whom is Betty. Meanwhile, the way Faraday describes Roderick’s absence demonstrates the overwhelming importance of Hundreds itself rather than the people who live in it.
Themes
