The Staircase in the Woods

The friends’ experiences repeatedly demonstrate the lasting consequences of serious trauma, as they have survived emotional and sexual abuse and the grief of losing a dear friend, along with many other incidents in their adult lives. As the four remaining friends struggle to manage their intense feelings of worthlessness, emotional pain, debilitating guilt, and self-destructive coping mechanisms, they must come to terms with the aftermath of their trauma to escape the physical and psychological prison of the malevolent house at the top of the staircase.

The painful significance of lifelong trauma is felt most keenly by Owen, who broadcasts his ingrained anxiety from the very beginning of the novel by chewing his fingernails to the point of injury. This behavior is linked to his traumatic childhood, and when the dynamics of the friends’ reunion convince him that Lore has left him behind, this perception retraumatizes him. When the group first encounters Marshie, Owen suddenly understands her preoccupation with “[t]he worries, the anxieties. The unreturned love. That feeling deep down in you that you’re not good enough, not anything, that you’re just […] a hole that sucks the light out of the room, out of the world” (137). This feeling prompts Owen to self-harm and, later, to self-isolate. Because he felt worthless and expendable as a young man, this experience paves the way for his sense of hopelessness in middle age. Because he has been so deeply wounded by his father’s years of emotional abuse, he sees words as “[a] razor sliding across the meat of your heart” (181). In short, he is so traumatized that he anticipates being wounded again and again, and he interprets every such injury as further evidence of his own insignificance.

In addition to Owen, Nick and Lore experience their own traumas that result in intense loneliness. The trauma of losing Matty provokes painful consequences for Nick because he feels that he, too, has been let down by his friends. They never noticed that his father was abusing him, and their blithe perception of his father as the “Cool Dad” further isolated him. Likewise, when his friends disregard his attempts to search for Matty, he pursues this goal alone, and his vulnerability and unresolved trauma render him easy prey for the house. In Lore’s case, her mother’s neglect led her to interpret Matty’s rejection of her LSD as a similar form of emotional abandonment, and because she felt “judged” and “hurt,” she began “pretending that she didn’t need him, didn’t need any of them,” and in her mind, “that was when it all started” (370). Even as an adult, Lore convinces herself that she is better off alone, and this harmful coping strategy hurts both her and her friends until her experiences in the house help her realize the importance of remaining true to her bonds of friendship.

Certain kinds of trauma can lead to tremendous guilt, especially when the traumatized individuals blame themselves—accurately or not—for those experiences. Guilt also has the power to make people believe things about themselves that are untrue, distorting reality and warping identity. This guilt can wear away at people until they grow even more susceptible to self-blame in the future. This dynamic is especially evident in the wake of Matty’s disappearance and his friends’ refusal to accompany him up the staircase. When teenage Owen talks to the police, he “scream[s] at himself inside his head,” saying “This is your fault […] You stupid baby. You could’ve gone after him. But you didn’t. This is your fault, you weak, scared, stupid piece of shit” (61). Rather than simply chastising himself for being disloyal in a particular moment, Owen condemns his entire existence, labeling himself with harsh, demeaning terms that warp his sense of identity and go on to poison his self-regard even in adulthood. Lore similarly labels herself with cruel epithets when she finds herself in the house’s thrall. By blaming herself for every misfortune that has befallen her friends in the wake of Matty’s disappearance (for which she feels responsible), she focuses on one mistake and makes it a central feature of her character. She doesn’t realize that she was merely a scared child at the time; instead, she thinks of herself as a “stupid bitch”(187), internalizing a punishing degree of worthlessness and blame. Owen’s and Lore’s guilt causes them to reframe their understanding of themselves, and they realize that they were forced to make an impossible choice when they were young.

Likewise, Hamish’s guilt compels him to believe that he “deserves” to be in hell and that he is “a fucking epic piece of shit” (235). His drug use reflects his maladaptive attempt to deal with the trauma of losing Matty. This addiction caused a near-death experience that resulted in additional trauma, but rather than giving himself the latitude to realize that he simply needed support to overcome his fears and addiction, he began to punish his body instead. Even as an adult with an established family, he has kept his loved ones at a distance and did not tell his wife about Matty or the overdose. In the house, all the reasons for his shame crowd into his mind, overwhelming him with the misguided conviction that he is an awful person who deserves blame rather than love, forgiveness, or understanding. His struggles illustrate the myriad ways in which guilt can warp a person’s thinking.