Hayley Gillespie

In the book, there is a scene fairly early on in which Mary Whitney and Grace throw apple peels on the ground to find out the initials of whom they will marry. Grace’s apple peel lands like a “J”. I find this very interesting because almost every man Grace encounters, or at least discusses, has a “J” in their first or last name. There is Jerimiah the Peddler, James McDermott, Dr. Simon Jordan, and Jamie Walsh. These specific characters also play significant roles in Grace’s life. Jerimiah is a part of Grace’s life that follows her; he sees he in two big parts of her life and also asks her to marry him. James McDermott has an obvious effect on her seeing as he is an accomplice of her life-changing murder. Dr. Jordan is there to understand her and listen, making her relive her past. And Jamie Walsh is the whistleblower that she has some romance with towards the end of the novel. 

Postmodern writing is supposed to leave the reader uncomfortable with the ending. This is because postmodernism, as a philosophy, states that there are infinite interpretations, therefore, postmodern writing necessarily leaves multiple interpretations. Even though Atwood seemingly leaves numerous clues as to the alleged guilt of Grace, there are never enough clues to truly be sure of anything one didn’t personally experience. One can never know what truly happened because one cannot distinguish whether or not Grace was hiding the truth because she was trying to protect herself because of her lower status, or because she was guilty and trying to hide it. This is how reality works, no one can ever really know for sure the truthfulness of what another person is saying.

Theme

One of the pervading themes of the novel  is the ideas of guilt and innocence. Grace is the most obvious example of this theme, as the whole novel surrounds her story of what really happened the night of the murders. Grace tells her side of the story, in which she is innocent, while others have very different versions of what happened. Also a lot of the people in the novel believe in Grace’s innocence because of the gentle woman she portrays as she interacts with Dr. Jordan and the people of higher class around the manner. Though she was convicted, people were still left questioning her real guilt because of the persona she gave off. However, guilt and innocence plays a part in other characters lives as well, like Dr. Jordan and whether is actions with Mrs. Humphrey are morally right, or even his fantasies about Grace. Though is trials are more personal and less public it is still a demonstration of the contrast between guilt and innocence.

I remember a quote from Jane Austen (in “Northanger Abbey”) that I feel is applicable to the entirety of “Alias Grace”: “A woman, especially if she has the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can”. The portrayal of women in “Alias Grace” shows how women needed to conceal parts of themselves while simultaneously exaggerating others. There are several places in which Grace’s interiority show she is stitching together parts of her identity and story, much like the quilt stitching pattern Atwood employs as a motif. The methods Grace uses to protect her story also involves a nuanced depiction of the attributes of femininity and the performative nature of gender.

Femininity is a concept that mandates how girls and women grow to understand their placement in society, and their gender roles are conveyed to them through ideas which may directly or indirectly address their perceived positions in their communities and society. As such, femininity with respect to the social, political, and historical components of one’s society is closely connected to the environments that surround girls and women This aspect of socialization cannot successfully be analyzed or removed from these contexts. The social relationships formed involving women and girls will always be heavily influenced by these notions, resulting in a multitude of feminine identities through which women and girls navigate their lives. These gender roles also exist as a space that needs to be filled to satisfy the expectations of others, thus employing the performativity of gender. Whether it be in one’s self-worth, sense of belonging, or positive values, the brand of femininity one adopts in turn dictates which actions are socially acceptable and which are not.

The tidiness and positive conclusion to the story is super interesting considering the level of complication Grace has been through throughout the narrative. Grace receives the fairytale ending or the traditional happily ever after through marrying and becoming pregnant. Atwood could be using this as a plot device to show the reader that a character like Grace does deserve the storybook happily ever after. It could also lend itself to a feminist argument as a commentary on what is expected for a female protagonist. It does not subvert the fairytale ending but rather displays it head on with the “reward” of marriage and pregnancy. 

DID is Dissociative Identity Disorder. Most people know this disorder by Multiple Personality Disorder which was the name in the proceeding 4 DSMs. I had a sneaky suspicion that Mary was a part of Grace – her other personality – because I thought their relationship or the way Grace talked about it was a bit weird. Grace has a loss of memory during the murder and DID has a criteria where the person loses memory of everyday events or of a specific event in the past. It could definitely explain why she has no memory of it because she was not aware. Maybe Mary saying “Let me in”, was a way for Mary to take complete control over Grace. The quilt names for each chapter could also be symbolic of pieces of Grace put together to see all of who she is. You have no idea what the quilt looks like until all the pieces are put together. 

The way Atwood worked with character was amazing. She fleshed each one out to the point where we knew them all fairly well, and Simon’s mom I felt I got to know so well through only letters. Throughout this story we get very close with Simon himself who seems to be an upstanding man. However, my image of him began to deteriorate quickly as the story progressed. Due to the nature of the story and the heavy handedness with which we are reminded that women tend to get the short end of the stick, I found myself coming to the common sentiment that all men are trash and you can’t even trust the ones you thought you could. I felt deceived and disappointed by the way Simon initiates and continues an affair, leaves to save himself from any potential responsibility, and lusts after Grace. I wonder if Atwood did this on purpose to give us just a taste of what a woman may have gone through and felt, after trusting a man who turned out to be annoyingly unloyal and cowardly.

In my last post, I looked at the relationship between Grace Marks and Jerimiah: whereas Grace in her unusual position of power represents a subversion to 19th century gender roles, Jerimiah represents a subversion to 19th century religiousness through his “magic” and conjuring tricks. There is another parallel that can be drawn between these characters, though. Both are immigrants from ethnic backgrounds typically looked down on in their society. Grace is of Irish decent and a member of an exploited minority in Canada, whereas Jeramiah is Italian and a gypsy, bringing with him his own array of bad associations. It is not enough to note that both characters are immigrants, however. Jeramiah and Grace are also on the same side. It is Jerimiah who hypnotizes Grace during the climax of the book, causing her to be “possessed” by the spirit of Mary, Grace’s friend who died from a botched abortion years earlier. Whether or not the possession was real or she was acting, Grace recognizes who Jerimiah is and the two share a secret back-and-forth in front of Dr. Jordan, Rev. Verringer, and the rest. Grace and Jerimiah both come from immigrant backgrounds but both are also on the same side as they share the common goal of freeing Grace. 

Dr. Jordan is haunted by Grace and his sexual attraction to her, but he is also haunted by what he was unable to unravel. In the novel, Jordan has a dream where he is trying to dissect a dead woman, but she is fully clothed. He peels back layer after layer only to discover yet another layer. This dream shows his frustration at failing to get to the truth about the murders. Unfortunately, Dr. Jordan is unable to get to the truth by himself. He eventually asks the help of Dr. Dupont (a.k.a. Jeremiah) and here they discover that Grace was possessed by Mary Whitney. Dr. Jordan feels emasculated because he was unable to uncover the truth on his own. He feels as if he failed at his job, so he tries to find comfort in Mrs. Humphrey by abusing her in bed, once again placing himself in the role he feels he has lost. When she reveals that her husband will return, he decides to run away, abandoning Grace and his ruined reputation. Feeling emasculated by both women, he takes on the most manly role he can think of: soldier. We later learn that he suffers a head injury and fails to remember much of what happened, except Grace’s name, revealing that he is still haunted by her and what she did to him.

“The truth is that very few understand the truth about forgiveness. It is not the culprits who need to be forgiven; rather it is the victims, because they are the ones who cause all the trouble.”

I felt like this quote was too important not to be mentioned. When I first read this part, I was, for lack of a better word, horrified. Grace basically says that the victims should be quiet and just take it. This notion of having to forgive the victims because it is they that “cause all the trouble”, is horrifying to me. If these victims don’t cause trouble, if they don’t raise their voices and speak out, then they could suffer over and and over again. Grace is also a victim, throughout the book, there are many points where it is implied that she gets assaulted, by the guards, the doctors, and she pushes it off as a dream. This quote brought Grace’s character in perspective to me. She’s been victimized all her life and has now come to see it as causing trouble for others when she is in trouble herself.