# Dickon the Devil explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.

## What happens

The narrator travels to Barwyke Hall, a neglected Lancashire estate inherited by two old maids, and hears from the steward Tom Wyndsour the eerie story of Squire Bowes's ghost abducting a boy named Dickon, who is later found an idiot, forever haunted by the cry 'Bowes, the devil!'

## Themes in this chapter

### Supernatural and the Uncanny

The ghost of Squire Bowes appears to abduct Dickon, and the idiot's haunting cry 'Bowes, the devil!' underscores the supernatural terror.

### Folklore and Local Tradition

The story of Dickon and the ghost is presented as a local legend, with the innkeeper reluctant to discuss it and the steward sharing it as a cautionary tale.

### Memory and Nostalgia

The narrator recalls hearing the story of Barwyke in his boyhood, and the landscape evokes a sense of melancholy and forgotten past.

## Character check-ins

### Tom Wyndsour

The steward of Barwyke Hall, a jolly old fellow with a red nose, who tells the narrator the story of Dickon and Squire Bowes's ghost.

### Squire Bowes

The deceased former owner of Barwyke Hall, whose ghost is said to have abducted the boy Dickon, leaving him an idiot.

### Tom Pyke

A servant who witnessed the ghost of Squire Bowes carrying his brother Dickon out of the room.

### Dickon

The boy abducted by the ghost of Squire Bowes, found later as an idiot, wandering and crying 'Bowes, the devil!'

## Key lines

> I had forgot that there was a lake at Barwyke; but the moment this caught my eye, like the cold polish of a snake in the shadow, my instinct seemed to recognize something dangerous, and I knew that the lake was connected, I could not remember how, with the story I had heard of this place in my boyhood.

The narrator instinctively senses danger upon seeing the lake, linking it to a forgotten childhood story about the estate.

_Foreshadows the supernatural tale of Dickon's abduction near the lake._

> ‘Bowes, the devil! See him; see him; Bowes, the devil!’ An idiot they found him; and so he will be till God sets all things right.

Dickon is found as an idiot, endlessly repeating the phrase 'Bowes, the devil,' and remains in that state.

_Climax of the ghost story, showing the lasting psychological damage from the supernatural encounter._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_31_se/chapters/dickon-the-devil
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_31_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_31_se/chapters