Observatory Mansions

The novel "Observatory Mansions" by Edward Carey is a Gothic, romantic, dark fantasy story about a young man who collects objects that used to be loved and treasured by their previous owners. There is an assortment of strange characters in the story, but the most strange and influential is not a person yet a building. The Observatory Mansions itself sets the theme, mood, and setting as well as lays a foundation for the story to unfold. It is essential to this story that we are shown the home in which Francis Orme and the other tenants live, so that we may hope to understand them. The home is a moulding of who we are, and the home moulds us into who we are.

A home is not only a place in which we reside or dwell, home is a place in which we feel safe and in control. It has long been a primal need for humans to find a shelter and anchor for where we can sleep, eat, and feel safe in. It is a common misconception that house and home mean the same thing. You do not necessarily feel safe or in control in a house, but in a home is a place that does not feel alien or transparent. A home is filled with layers of familiarity and a home holds a certain personality for each individual. It is without a doubt that Observatory Mansions is Francis Orme's home. It is the epicentre of his reality. All of the items and people that he deems as significant are planted within Observatory Mansions.

Carey shows us the importance Observatory Mansions has on Francis Orme by the way the building is described. Carey personifies the building by relating it to an old man, "I often thought of our home as a solid, hairless and ancient man. This man sitting with his flabby arms hugging his round

knees, stares hopelessly down at the traffic, at the smaller, modern, neighbouring buildings, at the countless people rushing by" (p 4). He also describes the building by saying that "[t]he old man is not well, the old man is dying. He suffers from countless ailments, his skin is discoloured, his internal organs are haemorrhaging" (p 4). By personifying Observatory Mansions this way he gives it a character and this proves that he not apathetic towards the building, but fond of it. When we give a mood and personality to our possessions and we create a history for them. By doing this we are starting to weave an image of home for ourselves.

Homes also reflect those who live within them. Carey does this by indirectly reflecting the Observatory Mansions past with Francis' past. Just like Francis, Observatory Mansions was a replacement for a grander building. It was built in the same spot and almost the same design except for the observatory on top. The only difference between the replacements is that Francis' name was changed, while Observatory Mansions was renamed differently from its predecessor Tearsham Park. Another similarity between Francis and Observatory Mansions is that both of them have a very bleak future. Observatory Mansions has been scheduled numerous times for demolition, while Francis has no goals in life besides refining his exhibit of beloved possessions. They have no direction in life, and Carey makes this prevalent that even though both of them have managed to get by through time without conforming to society, eventually they will both have to face the consequences for avoiding the new age and either they will conform or they will perish.

Observatory Mansions is also run down, rickety, and discarded like its tenants. The building has been rejected by the rest of society, and the city has moved past it in its effort to ignore the rundown remnants of the building. Francis describes the condition of Observatory Mansions by saying "[we] were keenly aware of our home's slow but gradual disintegration - on every floor large strips of ubiquitous blue and white wallpaper had peeled itself from the walls, the carpets were faded and full of holes, the banisters on the top floors, where the cheaper, smaller flats were, had already collapsed"

(p 6). Observatory Mansions has also been vandalized and abused, as well as some of the tenants are suspected to have been mistreated and abused. Just like the tenants, the building is only a remnant of its former youth. It seems that the mansion is at an impasse with the city and time, it is dragging out it's last final days. However, a difference between Observatory Mansions and the tenants is that they hold some hope for improvement which was demonstrated when the tenants Anna and Emma came to the mansion and they seems to have improved with their guidance. Observatory

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