The Intruder

True to the parameters of the psychological thriller genre, The Intruder examines how trauma can impact the individual’s engagement with reality and others. For the protagonist Elizabeth “Ella” Casey, who goes by Ella in the past and Casey in the present, trauma has defined her sense of self ever since she was a little girl. She lived in a house where the “odor molecules seem[ed] to be multiplying, filling [her] lungs and almost choking [her]” (65). Worse still, as a young adult Ella lived with a mother who neglected her care and abused her emotionally and physically. The scenes of Desiree verbally berating Ella’s intelligence and appearance, locking her in closets, or burning her skin with cigarettes convey how dire Ella’s circumstances have always been. In the narrative present, Ella has grown up to be a loner living in a secluded cabin in the New Hampshire woods. Now going by Casey, she has struggled to outgrow her trauma and to make a life for herself beyond her tumultuous past.

Even using a new name implies how she has severed herself from her childhood rather than embracing it and healing, a character detail reaffirmed by the narrative choice to present “Ella” and “Casey” as two different characters.