Slade House

Through the episodic structure of the novel, the narrative pattern that emerges features a desperate visitor seeking some form of relief from the residents of Slade House, only to be consumed by the house’s true owners, the Grayer twins. The guests rely on their hosts’ benevolence, only to have that benevolence leveraged against them at the cost of their lives. This underscores the sinister nature of the Grayers’ motivation: The Grayers want more life, beyond the range of human mortality, and they can only get it by essentially stealing it from others. Their wealth lies in their immortality, and Mitchell uses the Grayers’ exploitation as a metaphor for how the wealthy exploit others, using their own desires against them. In this way, the novel explores the corrupting nature of wealth through the Grayers’ methods of acquiring their immortality, but it also highlights how, through this process, the Grayers lose the remnants of their own humanity. 

All the guests who come to Slade House need something, although they don’t necessarily desire monetary wealth. Rita Bishop needs a job so that she can escape her mounting debt, which she thinks she can do by attending the soirée at Slade House.