The majority of my horror, I prefer to delve into the realm of the supernatural because it adds a layer of wonder to the threats lurking in the dark. That said, I’m not opposed to when a story in that genre decides to exclude this attribute. Sometimes, what’s to be feared isn’t the unknown. It’s the opposite. This is highlighted in Shannon Knight’s novel, Domestication.
Spoiler warning, I recommend reading it first. It’s available on Kindle. I’ll link it here. If you don’t want to use Amazon, you can also purchase it from Smashwords here. I should also mention this story does contain mentions of abuse.
Therefore, this topic will also be referenced in this article. With this out of the way, let’s get into it. There’s a special kind of hell to prison. Be it in the physical or mental sense, the removal of one’s freedom is something that we utilize as a punishment too liberally. Don’t get me wrong.
Some people deserve to be behind bars. I’m not disputing that. My contention is consider what this punishment entails and think about what humans need, namely, freedom. As far as we’ve come in terms of medical science, our lives are still brief, and despite various persisting belief systems, evidence indicates we all only get one. Therefore, I can’t abide by doing something that would remove years of it without truly just cause. It would have to be a situation where someone is incapable of rehabilitation and can’t function without being a danger to others.
As a matter of fact, I think people who support imprisonment for crimes that don’t harm other people are not well. It takes a certain kind of mentality to see nothing wrong with this, and it’s not far off from someone wanting to do it themselves. How else would slavery have come about? Someone was sadistic enough to think of the concept, and people are stupid enough to go along with it. This brings me finally to Domestication’s plot.
For the main character, Janie, this person was her ex-husband. Not much information is given about him outside of her perspective. Hell, I don’t even remember if he had a name. The important thing was his actions. It’s made clear what he desired was not love.
It was subservience. Any form of even perceived disobedience was met with abuse. Even things that were out of her control were viewed the same. What is someone who’s been going through this to do? Specifically, where can they go?
After years of being under someone else’s thumb, who can they turn to? For Janie, this person is a woman named Rob. Some information about her is that she lives on a farm. Also, she’s not what a lot of people would call “mentally well,” as evidenced by the oddly human-looking bones Janie finds on the farm. Throughout the story, parallels are constantly drawn between Janie’s former husband and Rob
Both are controlling, and both expect Janie to behave in a certain way. For the former, Janie is seen as a trophy. For the latter, she’s seen as a tool. As the story unfolds, Janie realizes just how depraved Rob truly is. What makes her frightening is that she’s not some over-the-top killer.
She’s cold and calculated. As Janie spends more time on the farm, she learns more about Rob’s, for lack of a better term, life philosophy. Even though what she believes is insane, she’s able to articulate it with such clarity she sounds reasonable. Charisma can be poison depending on the wielder. I got the sense Rob could have created a legit cult if she had that desire.
What exactly is her belief? She sees herself as a pack leader. She’ll provide on the condition she’s obeyed without question. However, like Janie’s abuser, any defiance is met with punishment that outweighs the slight tenfold. For example, one person stabbed her in the leg. In return, she broke both of his.
At this point, you may be wondering, why hasn’t anyone tried to escape? Does she threaten to shoot them? Well, if you happen to be in labor advocacy spaces and have seen people wanting better working conditions, you’ve probably come across the not-at-all moronic counterpoint of “Just get a better job!”. The issue with this is the same as Janie’s situation: entrapment. Rob specifically chooses people she knows will be dependent on her.
Not only that, she also makes sure to have a psychological hold over them. It’s the reason why I do consider this a horror and not a thriller. Now, at first glance, this may contradict this excerpt from my Jaws VS Jurassic Park article.
“To me, for something to be a part of that genre, the danger presented must be hard to avoid or escape.”
This doesn’t apply only physically. It also applies psychologically. It does get frustrating when Janie doesn’t just leave, but we have to remember where she is at mentally at the time of meeting Rob. She just left an abusive relationship, and then comes along someone offering her hospitality. Of course, she’s going to have trouble leaving that person, even if she knows they are out of their minds.
Later in the story, Janie manages to get the upper hand on Rob and incapacitate her. Considering how dangerous she is, why not kill her there? Well, there is a reason aside from dependency. The local authorities do come by occasionally, and Janie wouldn’t exactly have a means to explain why Rob has gone missing. It turns out worrying about this was working against her. Spoiler warning again, Rob doesn’t legally own the farm.
It originally belonged to an elderly couple, and after they were gone, she took over and convinced everyone it belonged to her. In her mind, it does because she put the work into it. She sees life through a primal lens. All things must be earned. If someone can’t pull their weight, Rob sees no point in keeping them around.
Janie finds out at one point she had a family before coming to the farm. It’s vague on what happened to them, or I’m forgetting some details. I don’t know if she went ax-murderer on them or they’re just estranged from her. Either way, we can infer that she wasn’t a good mother. Janie does as well. Think about how Rob views the world.
Applying that to parenting has some terrifying implications. This is revealed further when Rob finally gets what’s coming to her. What she says when this happens shows she didn’t see her children as people to care for and guide. She saw them as assets. I’m betting she saw her husband in a similar light.
There is a hint she used to be different, but I imagine that changed fast when she realized, shocker, kids aren’t automatically going to fall in line. Therefore, the first chance at a scenario where she would be obeyed without question, she took. Unfortunately for her, this approach to life led to her downfall. If her kindness hadn’t been a facade, Janie and the others would have no issues listening to her. I suppose, in that regard, there is an element of tragedy to Rob’s character
Another person I want to touch on briefly is Howard, who, like Janie, worked for Rob. I think he was the one who’d known her the longest since she took over the farm. Again, similar to Janie, he’s afraid to go against her. The difference is Janie suffered from Stockholm Syndrome in her previous relationship, which isn’t going to instantly dissipate as soon as she gets into a new environment. Her reluctance makes sense.
In Howard’s case, I don’t see a victim. I see a coward, especially after what he does to Janie. I wonder if his name rhyming with the word was intentional or a coincidence? Either way, it’s fitting. He’s someone who can easily be controlled through his fear and only fights when he knows there’s no way he can lose.
Think big game hunters. It’s not exactly sporting when there’s a high-powered firearm involved that can hit a target from eight hundred yards away. Plus, if they get into danger, they have a vehicle they can easily flee in. Howard is the same way. Sure, he’ll voice his disdain against Rob’s actions, but will he act? Not unless there’s no risk.
Then I imagine he’ll kiss up to whoever comes along next. It makes what happens to him poetic. Janie is different. She’s someone who has at last realized her worth, and as everything goes up in flames, she knows the new path for her is one she’s in charge of.
