I figured Tremblay would be coy about revealing the truth behind the events of the book, and I was not wrong. Although I don't believe possession is 100% ruled out, in the end things look much more conventional (Marjorie is shown doing things of her own disturbed volition). Still, I wonder about some of it...
Around halfway through AHFOG, I started to wonder if little sister Merry might be the source of the trouble, if she is evil or possessed, or even the devil himself, manipulating Marjorie's (and the family's) downward spiral. Once this occurred to me, I started looking for clues to this; consider the following:
- The staircase was split into 3 sections: 6 steps, 5 steps, 6 steps (4 – 5). Merry said “how I complained about that missing sixth stair in the middle” (5), and if she was evil, she would indeed want it to be 6-6-6 and consider the section with 5 to be missing one and not merely different. When I first read this, I just thought the near-reference to 666 was a cheesy and unsubtle horror touch, a wink, but then if Merry was thinking that 6-6-6 would've felt "right," maybe was telling us that someone else was in her head.
- Her blog and library suggest that she likes keeping demonic horror on people’s minds (spreading the word, as it were) while simultaneously undercutting any truth behind it (calling to mind the old saw that “the devil’s greatest trick is convincing the world that he doesn’t exist,” etc.)
- “‘…you’re good at doing voices, Merry.’ ‘I am?’ Both mom and Marjorie groaned. 'Yes, you’ve always been great at doing impressions and funny little voices.’” (77) This seems like the type of skill a lightly possessed ("lightly" as in, the demon is remaining in the background for now) person might have.
- 2s and 3s sometimes pop up, possibly coincidence, or possibly because 2 x 3 = 6. Merry is 23, and lives in a 2-bedroom condo on the third floor (102).
- There were
6 episodes of The Possession (10), which was produced by
Sixth Finger Productions (92).
- “What kind of playroom would it be if it wasn’t in a state of beautiful chaos?” (109) [Given that I was in clue-hunting mode, the mention of chaos suggested demonic activity; on its own, this is meaningless, of course.]
- “…Fangoria has no idea I am who I really am... That’s important to me. I feel…validated.” (113) Viewed through the lens of suspicion, this one gave me the creepy-crawlies.
I thought that something would pop up by the end to really nail it home, a special zinger comment in the interview or something, but it never happened.
...on the other hand, the entire unclear chaotic story
was told by Merry, Merry
was the one who poisoned the sauce, and it
did get cold as Merry's interview came to a close...