The Haunting by Margaret Mahy
"The Haunting" by Margaret Mahy is a compelling story that explores the intricate dynamics of family relationships and the impact of long-held secrets across generations. The narrative centers on an eight-year-old boy named Barney, who begins to experience haunting visions linked to the death of his Great-Uncle Barnaby. This haunting is not merely supernatural; it acts as a catalyst for uncovering family mysteries, particularly regarding the existence of magicians in Barney's lineage, a secret perpetuated by his Great-Grandmother Scholar.
As the story unfolds, Barney grapples with fears rooted in his past, including the loss of his mother at birth and the implications of his family's history. His sister Tabitha emerges as a key ally in piecing together their family's enigmatic past, while the arrival of distant relatives further complicates the narrative. The climax addresses themes of identity and empowerment, particularly through the character of Troy, who challenges traditional notions of gender within the context of the family’s magical legacy.
Mahy's writing weaves elements of fantasy into the fabric of everyday life, creating a rich tapestry that captures both the wonder of childhood and the weight of familial expectations. Her adept storytelling not only engages readers but also invites them to reflect on the complexities of their own family histories.
Subject Terms
The Haunting by Margaret Mahy
First published: 1982
Subjects: Family, gender roles, and the supernatural
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy
Time of work: The 1980’s
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: New Zealand
Principal Characters:
Barney Palmer , an ordinary eight-year-old boy who is suddenly subjected to supernatural hauntings by his supposedly long-dead magician uncleTabitha Palmer , his chubby, overly talkative sister, who considers herself the family’s novelist and who becomes Barney’s confidante and helperTroy Palmer , his thin, taciturn, teenage sisterDove Palmer , their deceased mother, a Scholar family memberJohn Palmer , their fatherClaire Palmer , their beloved stepmother, who is pregnantGreat-Grandmother Scholar , the embittered, unyielding Scholar matriarchGreat-Uncle Guy Scholar , a compassionate bachelor uncle and pediatricianGreat-Uncle Cole Scholar , the missing, mysterious member of the Scholar family, who has been presumed dead
Form and Content
From the onset of The Haunting to its satisfying conclusion, author Margaret Mahy delves into the dynamics of how a family’s secrets, even those deeply embedded in the past, constrain the relationships and inhibit the emotional development of its members. Although written with elements of fantasy, Mahy’s story is firmly based in everyday family life. She downplays setting and focuses on the importance of family interaction, which, in The Haunting, is intergenerational. Mahy portions out family secrets, maintaining a high level of suspense throughout the story. Problems in the Scholar family insinuate themselves into the Palmer family via eight-year-old Barney, who is being haunted. (The Scholars are the late Dove Palmer’s family, the “extra” set of relatives now that John Palmer has remarried.)
The novel opens with Barney experiencing a haunting in which the apparition of a young boy in a blue velvet suit tells him, “Barnaby’s dead! I’m going to be very lonely.” Barney’s hauntings are precipitated by the death of his Great-Uncle Barnaby Scholar. In The Haunting, the key secret, from which others spawn, is the existence of magicians in the Scholar family line. Great-Grandmother Scholar has perpetuated the belief that these magicians are always male. Therefore, when Barney experiences hauntings, family members believe him to be the next magician. In page-turning suspense, Mahy involves all members of the Palmer and Scholar families in helping Barney unravel the mystery of these hauntings. As deeply hidden secrets are disclosed, the mystery and suspense mount.
Experiencing the initial haunting leaves Barney shaken: He thinks he is being told that he is dead and faints with relief when he arrives home and finds out that it was his Great-Uncle Barnaby who died. Because his mother, Dove, died when he was born, Barney is plagued with the fear that, in some way, he caused her death. He dearly loves his new stepmother, Claire, who is pregnant. Believing that childbearing is a dangerous business, he refuses to upset her by telling her about his hauntings. He is afraid that she might lose the child she is carrying or, like his mother, die in childbirth.
Barney has no one in which to confide. Unexpectedly, his sister Tabitha becomes his confidante, helping him to piece together mysterious bits of Scholar family history through her meeting with Great-Uncle Guy. With the advent of visits from Scholar relatives, further information surfaces, including the news that Great-Uncle Cole, who was missing and presumed dead, is indeed alive and well—and on his way to visit Barney.
Great-Uncle Barnaby and his brother Cole, unbeknownst to their family, had remained lifelong friends. Now that his brother and only friend is dead, Cole mentally communicates with Barney under the mistaken notion that Barney will be the next magician in the family. He plans not only to befriend Barney but also to take him away from his family. When Cole arrives at the Palmer house, Tabitha inadvertently invites him in. Cole seems friendly, gentle, and benign, but Barney fears that he has come to take him away. At the peak of tension, Claire enters, reassuring Barney that he is her family and that no one is taking him away against his will.
The unexpected arrival of John Palmer and the Scholars brings the story to its startling climax. Barney’s other sister, Troy, confronts Great-Grandmother Scholar and proves that she and Troy herself are magicians, dispelling the misconception that all the Scholar magicians are male. Troy names herself a Palmer magician in deference to her mother, who knew that Troy had a special “golden,” “magical part” of her mind. In doing so, Troy honors the fact that she is a female magician. She refuses to condone Great-Grandmother Scholar’s denial of her gift. Further, she refuses to condone the way in which her great-grandmother mistreated her children. The past, now revealed, clears the way for a better understanding of the future.
Critical Context
Margaret Mahy’s novels for juveniles and young adults are filled with magic, wonder, unlikely encounters, and twists of plot and are enriched by her carefully crafted dialogue and descriptions—all of which bring a special wonder and sense of empowerment to her protagonists, leaving the reader both swept up in the magic of the story and feeling uplifted through her positive imagery. Examples of other novels in which she sets up situations that must be resolved by examining the past are The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance (1984), Aliens in the Family (1985), The Catalogue of the Universe (1985), The Tricksters (1986), and Memory (1987), to name a few. She develops plots with the adroitness of a mystery writer; there is usually a twist that the reader would not have anticipated. The breadth of her erudition and her unusual imagination make her a master storyteller and her books a delight to read. Because of her consummate skill as a writer of fantasy who grounds her works in reality, Mahy gives her readers a broader understanding of the complexities of the world that they inhabit.