Quote 61
I did not believe in ghosts. Or rather, until this day, I had not done so, and whatever stories I had heard of them I had, like most rational, sensible young men, dismissed as nothing more than stories indeed. (5.30)
Even though the facts are staring him in the face, Arthur refuses to believe that the woman is a ghost. But if your conclusion (ghosts) is rationally impossible, then maybe your facts are wrong?
Quote 62
"It seems to me, Mr. Daily," I said, "that I have seen whatever ghost haunts Eel Marsh and that burial ground." (8.29)
The first step to progress is acceptance. Now that Arthur is no longer in denial about the existence of ghosts he can speak to Mr. Daily openly about the whole crazy affair. But notice how he's still using very rational, measured language to talk about it: "it seems to me."
Quote 63
And then, from somewhere within the depths of the house—but somewhere not very far from the room in which I was—I heard a noise. (9.20)
There's nothing worse than things that go bump in the night when you're trapped on an island in a potentially haunted house. Seriously. Nothing worse. We get chills just thinking about it.
Quote 64
But no one had been there. The room had been empty. Anyone who had just left it must have come out into the corridor and confronted me… (9.61)
Ah, the inexplicable moving furniture when no one else is there. That's a classic ghostly moment, and it creeps us out every time.
Quote 65
"Rest in peace," I thought, but this poor one did not, could not. (10.6)
Jennet Humfrye isn't the only lost soul wandering about. Poor little Nathaniel keeps haunting the marsh too—but he manages to keep his pain to himself, rather than taking it out on the village. We think.
Quote 66
…I caught a glimpse of someone standing. A woman. That woman. She was looking directly toward me. (10.30)
Well, that's a nice way to end the night—ghosts looking down at you as you almost drown.
Quote 67
Now, I realized, there were forces for good and those for evil doing battle together and that a man might range himself on one side or the other. (11.141)
This is a cool but confusing sentence. If Jennet is an evil ghost, does that mean there are good ghosts? And if there's no way to fight back against Jennet, then what does it even mean to stand on the side of good?
Quote 68
The woman in black seemed to haunt me, even here, to sit on the end of my bed, to push her face suddenly close to mine as I lay asleep… (11.144)
It's not as easy to shake off ghosts as you might think. In this story, more than one character remains haunted.
Quote 69
Behind me, in the house, I knew that I must have left the family in a state of consternation and bewilderment… (1.60)
All the kids want to do is spook each other a little bit, and dad goes rushing off into the night. Way to spoil everyone's fun, dad. (Only Arthur knows that there's nothing fun about ghost stories.)
Quote 70
Her face, in its extreme pallor, her eyes, sunken but unnaturally bright, were burning with the concentration of passionate emotion which was within her and which streamed from her. (5.24)
Crazy eyes, Shmoopers. Stay away from the people with crazy eyes.
Quote 71
But what was "real"? At that moment I began to doubt my own reality. (10.10)
Even the so proudly rational Arthur has trouble keeping track of what's what when he's wandering around Eel Marsh House. We get the feeling that he's never going to look at a ghost story the same way again.
Quote 72
It was in a state of disarray as might have been caused by a gang of robbers, bent on mad, senseless destruction. (11.51)
The woman in black doesn't just wreak psychological damage; she'll also mess up all your stuff.
Quote 73
… From that day Jennet Humfrye began to go mad. (11.111)
And it's no wonder—she had to watch her kid drown from the window. That's got to be rough stuff on that old psyche. But—we just have to point out—Arthur watched his child die in a horrible accident and managed not to go crazy. So what's the difference?
Quote 74
… Mad with grief and mad with anger and a desire for revenge. (11.113)
Okay, Sam is really laying it on here. Jennet is mad. Not mad-angry, but mad-crazy. Get it? She's bonkers. Cuckoo. Nutso. Insane in the membrane. And she's going to make sure everyone knows it.
Quote 75
Whether because of her loss and her madness or what, she also contracted a disease which caused her to begin to waste away. (11.115)
Wow, things don't really turn around for this lady at all. They just get more and more miserable. And she's about to make sure they get really miserable for the village, too.
Quote 76
She had been a poor, crazed, troubled woman, dead of grief and distress, filled with hatred and desire for revenge. (12.13)
That's a pretty succinct description of Jennet Humfrye. Not exactly flattering, but accurate.
Quote 77
I have sat here at my desk… a blank sheet of paper before me, unable to lift my pen, trembling and weeping too. (12.16)
Arthur feels grief, too, but he doesn't go crazy. Is it because he's finally able to write the story down? Or because he decides to build a new life? Or because he wasn't a mid-nineteenth century woman who gave birth to an illegitimate child?
Quote 78
This time, there was no merciful loss of consciousness, I was forced to live through it all, every minute and then every day thereafter for ten long months, until Stella too, died from her terrible injuries. (12.28)
Gee, it's almost as if Jennet wants everyone else to go crazy with grief, too. Because that's totally going to make her feel better, right?
Quote 79
I like to look about me at the sky above my head, whether there are moon and stars or utter darkness, and into the darkness ahead of me; I like to listen for the cries of nocturnal creatures and the moaning rise and fall of the wind… (1.2)
It's hard not to be affected by the sounds of nature, but you don't have to go on forever, Arthur. Geez. We get it; you're an outdoors man.
Quote 80
To one side of it, a stream ran between the banks toward the meadow beyond, whence it made its meandering way down to the river. (1.11)
The pleasant, beautiful aspects of Monk's Piece attract Arthur—maybe because it's about the exact opposite of Eel Marsh house.