The novel, Slade House, is a complex story about twins, Norah and Jonah, consuming souls to keep themselves alive forever. But it ends with Jonah killed by Dr. Marinus, and with Norah entering an unborn child’s body with the purpose to seek revenge against the doctor. The story appears simple: the text is coded so that the reader is very clear about who is evil and who is good, yet, when we look more carefully at the intertextuality of the text, at how the text is coded, symbolically and culturally, and further, mapping out the network of controlling values that structure the text, we gain access to a wider perspective, and can peer into the design of the text itself, and see how it is put together.. Let us begin with the symbolic code.
Good and evil. Clever and gullible. Engifted and normal. The hunter and the hunted. These sets of opposites, among others structure the symbolic code at work in Slade House. In her chapter “Re-Writing the Classic Text,” Zaja Silverman defined the symbolic code as
“…the articulation of binary oppositions, with the setting of certain elements…These oppositions are represented as eternal and “inexpiable.” Any attempt to reconcile them is seen as “transgressive.”
(270).
Heavily, Silverman compared to female/male by describing their complexities and differences (270). It made me question how Norah warned Jonah not to toy with their victims or, explaining their ‘evil plan,’ which is a cliche for all villains. While Jonah believed his luck was going to be forever, Norah warned him that it might change in the future, and it did.
“Yes, our luck’s held so far. It can’t hold forever, and it won’t.”
(Mitchell, pg. 79).
They had not had a soul in 18 years as Sally stabbed Jonah before he could eat her sister’s soul, Freya, and in the last chapter, Dr. Marinus killed Jonah after he tried to attack her just as Nora warned him not to. Jonah was the type of man to use his manhood as a way to do whatever he pleases, as he thought their future was golden, and his optimistic ways got him into trouble by ignoring Norah. She was right that he should not believe in their future to be perfect. For in chapter two, Norah wanted to prepare for the worst scenario. Naturally, Norah came off as nagging to him, which is a common symbolic code for women as nags, and men as those who suffer to hear it or who ignore it, often to their chagrin.
“We need to make the operandi proof against mischance and enemies.”
“What enemies? Thanks to my insistence things on isolation, not even Shaded Way know about us. Our life-support system works. Why tamper with it? Now, supper is served.”
(Mitchell, pg. 79-80)
Not only did Jonah overlook her, but so did Gordon as he found it to be impossible that a woman named Chloe Chetwynd could be dangerous. As you can see in the second chapter of Slade House, Nora disguised herself as Chloe Chetwynd, a widow (Mitchell 48). Of course, the detective Gordon did not assume anything as she was clearly coded as a woman, and that correlated with the code as men do not suspect of women being dangerous, especially fragile lonely widows. Naturally, Gordon did not feel threatened by Chloe, and instead felt compelled to exercise the code of being the manly protector, He could not imagine Chole being a murderer even when he found Rita trapped in the attic (Mitchell 75). The reader was doubtful, as there was not much known about the twins and the house. The whole situation of the house and the twins was a mystery, especially at the beginning of the book.
It was a puzzle because, in chapter four, the twins had control over Mr. Pink, who shared the life saga of the twins to Freya (Mitchell 190). So, what is the truth? Is the story real, or are the twins in an incest relationship like Jaime and Cersei Lannister from George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones? But what we do know was that Nora was the leader, for she told her brother not to toy with your food. That brought to question, is it the norm to diminish the truth, or to diminish women, who warn men, and is it a common thing to not worry about women being a friend to you?
That would be called cultural code,
“…function not only to organize but to naturalize that field—to make it seem timeless and inevitable. They also assure that future textual production will be congruent with what has gone before. Barthes underscores the discursive basis of the ‘reality’ to which the cultural codes refer by equating it…”
(Silverman, pg. 274).
Meaning, the opposites had to be organized, and Silverman put it as how the cultural codes make sense of the opposites within symbolic codes. For example, she went with Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by saying good/evil, light/darkness, and day/night (275).
Silverman corresponded it with Christianity, she said,
“…the dilemma of duality—manifests itself whenever the symbolic code appears, and is always implicit in the operations of the semic code since the attributes it clusters around a proper name derive their value from opposing ones (the phallus can only be defined through female lack, the law through criminality, the gaze through the object which it subjugates, and good through evil),”
(276)
In this instance, I questioned if the symbolic codes were formed on sex, for they are opposites and culture codes are there to organize those opposites. It was as if the systems meant the twins for Jonah ignored Norah’s predictions. In the fourth chapter, Norah warns her brother of the ghosts as being bolder, as usual, he neglected her.
“Yes yes yes, we’re geniuses-but what about the policeman? His residue was substantial enough to speak with the guest. And the aperture-appearing of its own accord like that, and open. The girl nearly bolted.”
“Ah, but she didn’t bolt- and why? Cupid’s noose was firmly around her neck is why. Todd Cosgrove, you’ll concede. Plod would’ve mounted a gashed slab raw liver, while this little piggy needed proper wooing.”
…
Nora Grace twists her head as if screwing it into a socket, “As per usual, brother, you’re missing the point. With each Open Day, these apparitions grow worse.”
John flexes his spidery fingers, “As per usual, sister, you’re spouting paranoid nonsense. Once again, dinner is served without hitch or hiccup. Once again, our operandi is charged for a full circle. Personally, I blame your sojourn in Hollywood for these histrionic. Too many actors’ hairy buttocks in too many mirrored ceilings.”
(Mitchell, pg. 138-139)
Jonah disregarded her fears and even insulted her by telling her that those Hollywood shows are to blame for her ‘paranoid nonsense’. Jonah made her worries small and unrealistic as he snubbed her predictions, and he explained that each time she was worried, it all worked out. Therefore, there was no point in worrying about the future. But that was not the case. Jonah reminded me of Pennywise from Stephen King’s IT, a supernatural being that believed fear was a great ‘spice’ for his food as it added flavor. Perhaps, that was why Jonah liked to toy with his food, or maybe it was for his sadistic pleasure. Jonah and Pennywise enjoyed teasing their victims and disregard the possibility that a woman and children could defy them or be correct that they are a force to be reckoned with. We do know that Nora was right as she knew not to be so reckless as her brother, too bad he did not hear her warning.
With that in mind, the controlling values will correlate was,
Notice how it goes with Jonah being reckless to toy with food? But, Dr. Marinus killed Jonah, while Norah knew not to be thoughtless; therefore, survival was a given. His choice of not hearing her sharp outlooks, he died in his foolish ways. Though Norah understood to be smart and a bit compassionate is what she needed as she said to Jonah, it was juvenile at having their victims believe they could survive (Mitchell 81). To conclude, Slade House examined the cultural norm of women perceived to be less frightening, and their warnings ignored. Yet, women are the last ones standing.
A Reading List By Group 5 
Wow what a heading and introduction! I like how you started with jumping right into it all, you address the codes and define them. But I really thought this quote stood out “Of course, the detective Gordon did not assume anything as she was clearly coded as a woman, and that correlated with the code as men do not suspect of women being dangerous, especially fragile lonely widows.” When I read through this section I never thought of gender being a major role it just seemed so “normal.” But I also thought it was normal because of the time period, maybe it was early on in time. Slade house seems to test the cultural norm of women being perceived as less frightening, and their warnings ignored. Yet, women are the last ones standing. In most books I read women always seem to be known as the “weaker one” yet they always end up being the strongest person. Though I never notice the genders until I discuss with other people about what they saw and how they saw it. I think you really proved to me how blinded I was to gender and how much gender takes a major role in it all.
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Another binary and symbolic code in Slade House, and one I am often distracted by, is hunter/hunted or predator/prey. And Mitchell starts the novel off with this binary immediately in chapter one. The first lines of the novel are, “Whatever Mum’s saying’s drowned out by the grimy roar of the bus pulling away, revealing a pub called The Fox and Hounds. The sign shows three beagles cornering a fox. They’re ready to pounce and rip it apart,” (Mitchell 3). In the first two sentences of the novel, we are literally shown that there is a predator and a prey. There is a fox and there are hounds. If we, as readers, we clued into this symbolic code from the beginning we could have inferred that Nathan would be the first victim to Slade House. And the novel builds with this code. There is the fox pin. The pin that smiled somedays and frowned others. The same pin that is the catalyst to defeating the twins, aka the hounds. Our predators have been weakened and finally, finally, there is Dr. Marinus. She’s coded as being prey, when realistically she is far from it. But what sort of cultural code is this binary reinforcing? Perhaps its the cultural code of power, perhaps there is a link to gender performance as you discuss in your blog. These binaries and cultural codes are endless loops that reinforce each other based on those who abide by them. But Slade House offers Dr. Marinus who breaks the loop. She is the prey that becomes the predator. She breaks the cycle of power and the cycle of ignoring women. Marinus is our way out of the cultural code and out of Slade House.
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That was a nice touch to connect Jonah and Norah with the usual battle with the sexes. I can see how Norah warning Jonah goes completely ignored and I did notice that. While I agree with you on the idea that Jonah was reckless and may have taken sadistic pleasure, I’m not so sure if I can connect that with Pennywise. After all, Pennywise would not be held down by the hormones of masculinity, it’s a cosmic being and a manifestation of the deadlights. Its more about adding spice to his food with fear, it salivates him and makes him hungry in the first place. The only reason it lost in the end was because the children get help from the turtle, its arch enemy. Jonah and Norah didn’t exactly have an arch nemesis. One could argue that Dr. Marinus could have been, but there is nothing from their interactions to suggest any form of rivalry. I do like the idea of there being some form of a dichotomy between the twins as they argue throughout the novel. I’ve always enjoyed a dualistic point of view even when it comes to villains, as it shows the best and worst of two different worlds. For Norah and Jonah, it was ego, like you pointed out.
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