62 pages • 2-hour read
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
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Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional abuse, physical abuse, and death.
Monstrosity as a Social Construct Rather Than an Innate Trait
In Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell dismantles the traditional monster narrative to argue that monstrosity is not an inherent quality but a social label that is imposed by those in power to justify cruelty and reinforce their dominance. Told from the perspective Shesheshen, a shapeshifting creature who is hunted simply for existing, the novel reframes monstrosity by revealing how so-called civilized humans engage in behavior that is far more violent and self-serving than the monster they claim to fear. This inversion challenges conventional definitions of monstrosity by questioning who the real monsters are and why society labels certain individuals as “monstrous.”
The human society of Underlook demonstrates how the label of “monster” is a tool for social and economic control. The town profits financially from Shesheshen’s existence, as the merchant Laurent explains that the legend of the “Wyrm of Underlook is a hoax” used to scare travelers into spending money on protections (28). Simultaneously, the citizens celebrate her supposed death by burning effigies in a bonfire, revealing their deep hypocrisy. Meanwhile, individuals like Catharsis Wulfyre embody the casual cruelty that masquerades as heroism: Upon meeting Shesheshen in her disguised form as a helpless girl, he immediately decides to use her as bait to catch the wyrm, dismissing her as a “useless commoner.” His violence is driven by greed, social ambition, and family entitlement, which contrasts sharply with Shesheshen’s survival-driven actions.
The novel ultimately subverts traditional monster narratives by revealing that the most dangerous monster has been masquerading as a human leader all along. The Baroness Wulfyre, a pillar of society who has built her family’s power on the myth of monster slaying, is secretly one of Shesheshen’s kind. She has performed humanity for decades to accumulate power, embodying the novel’s critique of social hypocrisy. Unlike Shesheshen, who wears a human form to protect herself, the Baroness uses her disguise for domination and violence. Her ability to conceal her nonhuman identity allows her to exploit the very structures that punish others for being different. While Shesheshen wishes only to survive, the Baroness is motivated by greed, domination, and the pursuit of an unnaturally extended life, which aligns her with the novel’s most dangerous humans rather than its so-called “monster.”
By positioning a literal monster at the apex of the human power structure, the novel argues that the most destructive monstrosities are those that are socially sanctioned and hidden behind a mask of civility. The novel posits that monstrous acts, not monstrous forms, are what truly define a monster.
Building Family Through Care Instead of Inheritance
Someone You Can Build a Nest In explores how familial bonds rooted in obligation and hierarchy can become sources of harm, while relationships built through mutual care offer the potential of healing. The novel contrasts the toxic, inherited cruelty within the Wulfyre family with the supportive, accepting family that Homily and Shesheshen build together. Through this, it suggests that true safety and love are not guaranteed by blood ties but must be actively constructed through mutual care, emotional trust, and acceptance. In the novel’s world, family is not an inherited structure but a commitment.
The Wulfyre family operates on a deeply ingrained cycle of abuse, which manifests as physical violence and psychological manipulation. Homily’s younger sister, Epigram, has physically abused Homily for years, and Homily rationalizes this trauma by calling it a “game.” This dynamic is enabled by their mother, the Baroness, who wields emotional abuse to maintain control. After Catharsis’s death, the Baroness gaslights Homily, blaming her for the tragedy and accusing her of selfishness. She claims that Catharsis died attempting to defend the family while Homily was “having another dalliance with some backwoods girl” (112), and Homily internalizes this shame and guilt. She constantly clutches at the scarf around her neck, which is a physical symbol of her hidden trauma and a protective layer against her family. Instead of offering her support and refuge, her family is in fact her greatest source of pain.
In stark contrast to the Wulfyres, the found family that forms around Shesheshen and Homily offers a model of healing based on reciprocity and chosen connection. Their affection is freely given rather than demanded by duty. Their relationship begins with an act of care when Homily tends to Shesheshen’s wounds without judgment, and it deepens when Shesheshen heals Homily’s shoulder using a graft of her own flesh. These acts of mutual trust and support form the foundation for their intimacy. Shesheshen’s initial, predatory desire to make Homily a literal “nest” for her eggs evolves into a genuine partnership, creating a new kind of nest built on emotional trust and consent. Their chosen family expands to include the bear Blueberry and Shesheshen’s offspring Epilogue—a collective of outsiders who, despite their differences, build a shared space of belonging. Homily’s gesture of removing her scarf and revealing her scars to Shesheshen is an act that signifies her rejection of the Wulfyres’ legacy of abuse and her embrace of the care-based family she has chosen.
The Psychological Costs of Masking and Identity Performance
Someone You Can Build a Nest In explores masking as a profound and painful survival strategy for those deemed outsiders by society. Through Shesheshen’s literal shapeshifting and Homily’s emotional self-effacement, the novel argues that performing an identity in order to fit in with social expectations carries an immense emotional cost and that true connection is only possible when individuals feel safe enough to shed their protective disguises.
The novel’s most direct exploration of this theme is Shesheshen’s physical masking. To survive in a world that hunts and demonizes her, she constructs a temporary human body from scavenged bones and hides beneath wigs, cloaks, and carefully practiced behaviors. This is not a seamless transformation but a physically taxing and mentally draining performance that requires constant energy and concentration. When Shesheshen is weakened from hibernation, she struggles to maintain a convincing human voice and a stable form, showing how masking deteriorates under stress. In his Author’s Note, Wiswell connects this to his own experience as a neurodivergent person, noting that “masking” is “the process of presenting your personality like everybody else’s” (311). Shesheshen’s performance mirrors the pressure and labor inherent in masking. Also, her disguise isolates her and prevents others from truly knowing her.
While Shesheshen’s identity performance is a physical process, Homily’s is less visible. Living under the emotional and physical abuse of her family, she has learned to suppress her emotions and defer to the needs of others, presenting herself as helpful, agreeable, and harmless. This habitual self-effacement is a survival tactic, as it helps her avoid conflict and punishment, but it also leaves her emotionally isolated and disconnected from her own identity. Her relationship with Shesheshen marks the beginning of her journey toward self-acceptance. With Shesheshen’s support and affection, Homily gradually becomes willing to express vulnerability and desire. Similarly, through Homily’s warmth and love, Shesheshen gains the courage to reveal her true identity to Homily. These acts emphasize that unmasking is a gesture of trust in addition to being an act of personal liberation.
Homily and Shesheshen’s defensive disguises are contrasted against the revelation that the Baroness Wulfyre is a monster who has maintained a human mask for decades. Unlike Homily and Shesheshen, her performance is not an act of self-protection but a tool for manipulation and control. The Baroness’s ability to present herself as a powerful, respectable noblewoman while secretly being a monster suggests that social and economic standing are often dependent on how successfully a person conforms with social expectations or plays a certain role.
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