A Whisper In The Dark

This is the first time we see a text that deals with insanity, and women being held against their own will. We picture a much darker lifestyle one filled with sorrow, hate, betrayal and lies. First of all, I found it very awkward with how close Sybil and her Uncle were. The relationship between the two of them was extremely inappropriate and at times I felt that Sybil only showed her Uncle affection to see if she could get a rise out of Guy, which of course she did. However, the relationship between Sybil and Guy is very noticeable, and it is as though she is like a little school girl with a crush on a classmate. "Twilight found me in bravest attire, with Guy's heather in my hair, listening for his step,and longing to run and meet him when he came." (pg 225) It seems as though Sybil is holding back her affection for him and not wanting to fully admit that she is interested in him. However, she shows a conniving side as well,"... then followed the whim that now possessed me, for I wanted to try my power over them both." (pg 226) This startled me a little because it is the fist time we are shown a possessive side of her, and possibly her 'darker' side.

The concept of the insane asylum in this text is full on intimidating. Sybil had found out that she was supposed to marry Guy, and wanted to rebel against that and showed her affection for her Uncle. Yet, then she flip flops and changes her mind altogether and throws an enormous fit and shuts out the world until she is ready to leave. However, she is drugged and taken to insane asylum where we are introduced to a very important character that Sybil has never met; her mother. what struck me as odd was that when Sybil wanted to learn more of her mother her Uncle made it seem as though she was already dead,"Where is she buried, Uncle? It may be foolish, but I should like to see my mother's grave." As we continue to read on we learn her mother is buried right in front of her at the asylum which brought me back to a line that her Uncle said earlier;" You shall someday, Sybil," ( talking about her mother's grave) and a curious change came over my uncle's face as he averted it. Also, we learn that Sybil's mother realizes that it is her daughter that has been captured and is now in the same situation as she is, but she does not want Sybil to lead the same depressing life that she has for so long. She sends her warnings various times, and here we see an entirely different type of relationship between mother and daughter for the 19th century. At first, it threw me off my path because I could not understand the strange warnings that were sent to Sybil, but near the end of the text it became clear that her mother wanted her to escape at the only chance she would be given. This was the strongest part of the text in my opinion because for so long we are expected to believe that Sybil no longer has a living parent, but surprisingly all of a sudden we discover her mother has been locked up and proclaimed insane. Over the years, she admits that being locked up has caused to come to the mental state that she is in, but still understanding she needs to do anything and everything she possibly can to help her daughter. Their relationship is one of life and death sacrifice and the ultimate love a mother has for her daughter that she has been forced to keep away from for so many years. I enjoyed seeing this side of literature in the 19th century. It open my mind a lot and caused me to think outside of the box so to say, and understand the different types of relationships that can develop between a mother and a daughter that have been forced away from one another for years.