Riley Sager uses Home Before Dark to show society's complicatedness with family relationships and shows the struggles of marriage through the main character Maggie and her parents. In the beginning, Maggie was confused with herself and wanted to figure out who she was. When her father, Ewan, died she learned that he still had possession of her childhood home, Baneberry Hall. Which was deemed haunted. She went back to the house to figure out what really happened during her childhood. During her stay there things get crazy. A body falls through her ceiling, stuff goes missing, she sees people, and she learns about a secret passage through her house. Her mother, Jess, handed her letters telling her the “truth”, stating that Maggie killed the …show more content…
While reading you learn about Maggie and her father, Ewan, they have a very complicated relationship. As the book stated, “My father once told me our relationship is like a rose. Beautiful, yes, but it came with thorns” (Sager 167). Meaning not everything is perfect in their relationship. Society, can compare relationships such as these. All throughout society you see parent-child relationships that are difficult, but you also see the parent and the child both trying hard to make the relationship beautiful. Unfortunately, every situation will have thorns. Earlier in the book, Maggie said, “‘None of it happened,’ I tell Wendy. ‘My father made it all up. And when I say all of it, I mean all of it. Everything in that book is a lie.” (Sager 12). In comparison, to the reasoning above, this quote also shows society's complicated relationships. The reader opens the book and already finds Maggie putting her dad's name into the soil, by saying everything he wrote is fake. Their relationship is like none other. Weirdly their relationship grows as the book goes on. Once all the lies are uncovered. In society, you come to realize relationships are easier and better for both parties when there are no lies