Publication Date
Summer 9-24-2025
Presentation Length
15 minutes
College
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Department
English, Department of
Student Level
Graduate
Presentation Type
Talk/Oral
Summary
In this essay, I examine the character of Mary Osgood in North Woods by Daniel Mason, arguing that her behavior reflects traits associated with psychopathy. While Mary and her sister Alice initially appear to represent a typical form of sibling rivalry, Mary’s cruelty, emotional detachment, and manipulation suggest something more troubling from the beginning. When Mary ultimately kills Alice, this shocking moment confirms the darker implications that had been subtly foreshadowed throughout the narrative. By drawing on psychological research on empathy deficits and psychopathic traits, I argue that Mary’s actions align with modern understandings of psychopathy. Mason uses this characterization not only to deepen the horror of the moment but also to illustrate how cruelty and violence can take root within intimate relationships. Ultimately, Mary becomes a symbolic figure whose remorselessness contributes to the novel’s larger themes of haunting, generational trauma, and the lingering effects of violence in the landscape of the orchard.
Recommended Citation
Kauffman, Winston P., "Foreshadowed Cruelty: Mary Osgood’s Psychopathic Tendencies in Daniel Mason’s North Woods" (2025). SPARK Symposium Presentations. 1176.
https://repository.belmont.edu/spark_presentations/1176
