In A Dark Dark Wood

Flo’s aunt’s house, known as the Glass House, is the setting for the hen do, where most of the events of the novel take place. Post-modern, with many large windows, it seems out of place in the natural setting of the woods, metaphorically like how Nora feels out of place among the other party guests. Both Nora and Tom comment on how they feel like the house is like a stage, with themselves actors performing for an audience outside the house. The characters are like actors in a play, one that Clare has assembled personally. She manipulates everyone into playing the roles she has laid out for them.

The house symbolizes the claustrophobic feeling and increasing sense of foreboding and foreshadowing of the narrative. The characters variously describe the house as feeling like a “stage set” (22), a “cage in a zoo” (63), and a “glass display case” (63). The transparency of the glass makes the characters feel that there is nowhere to hide. The woods outside the windows feel oppressive, and the house makes Nora feel as though someone is watching her. The narrative provides Nora’s unspoken impression that what occurs in the house will lead to some terrible eventuality, which happens when Flo shoots James.