Feminism
The short story When The Clock Strikes is obviously a feministic rendition of the age-old fairytale Cinderella. Where Cinderella needs a man to help her in distress, Ashella and her mother in When The Clock Strikes depend on themselves and their own strengths. Cinderella requires her handsome Prince to marry her to undo the justices done to her by her stepmother and stepsisters. Ashella and her mother, on the other hand, depend on none, but rather use their own knowledge of black magic to take revenge on the wicked power-hungry Duke for murdering their entire family.
While it is men who are usually represented as literate or ambitious in traditional narrations, in this story, it is Ashella's father who is illiterate and her mother literate. Ashella's mother is also ambitious and foresighted and makes her plans for the revenge so perfectly before she dies, that years later, when everybody has forgotten it, it strikes so quickly and suddenly, leaving people in the way of the mother and daughter hapless preys to their wrath.
Revenge
Revenge is another basic theme in the short story When The Clock Strikes. The whole story revolves around the quest for revenge by Ashella and her mother against the Duke for murdering all their family. Ashella's mother risks her own life for the sake of revenge, practicing black magic in spite of being aware that if she were to be caught in the act, she would surely be burnt at stake. Even her last words portray how dear it was to her that she should have her revenge, as she says, "If you live I am satisfied, for you can carry on my labour after me." Ashella treats the idea of revenge very seriously and plays her part patiently to the very end for it, according to her mother's advice.
Black Magic
Black Magic is a subject that is usually tabooed in literature, especially in children's literature. But the author Tanith Lee not only makes Black Magic a major theme of this short story but also describes the rituals that Ashella and her mother practice in their Satan-worship sessions, for the sake of power and revenge. Ashella and her mother thoroughly indulge themselves in black magic that nobody is able to stand in their way when they have begun to work their plans.
