"To live here without Lily... Miranda found that the sadness was far far bigger than her, and it was forcing her back."
Miranda had to go through a great loss, a loss for which she, in her childlike mind, partially blames herself for. The old house that was part of her family for many decades is full of history. Not only does she feel the sadness in herself, but it is also as if the house itself exudes sadness. The house becomes a living being in itself and forces Miranda to stay. This supernatural pull of the house represents Miranda's inability to cope with the loss, but also her inability to break free from the past, from the familiar identity and become an individual for herself.
"How could she doubt the goodlady? The goodlady was Lily's creation. Besides, she thought, the blood is the life."
The goodlady is Lily's imaginative creation which she used to make her children be obedient, to be good. She represents tradition. This doubt of the goodlady comes from Miranda's struggle to think for herself, to break free from tradition, from shackles of blood, one could even say to grow up and create her own identity separate from her mother.
"They looked the same now, all four of them. It was tiresome to see herself repeated so exactly, without even the thin mediator that was a mirror."
In the climactic part of the novel, the ghosts of tradition that haunt the house win over Miranda. She finally lost her individuality and became a carbon copy of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. The mirror was almost a safety division, and all she needed to was not look into the mirror to fight against them. Now, that line is crossed and there is nowhere for Miri to hide. She no longer knows what she is, completely lost herself; there is no other choice but join them.
