In-class Work 3/26

“yet such is his perversity that he would rather be in London or Paris. There he would be anony­mous, and would have no responsibilities. No ties, no connections. He would be able to lose himself completely” (366). (Chapter 11).

This is when he takes his excursion to Toronto and demonstrates how he has moved from fantasies to wishing he could almost lose himself completely. Can be tied back to how Grace recounting her own past is bringing up memories of his own. Trying to detach himself from Grace and her story as he is becoming more and more immersed in it. He is beginning to see Grace as just his and becoming possessive of her and her story, he doesn’t Dr. DuPont to even try to hypnotize her.

 

“He wakes, or dreams he wakes. He knows he must still be asleep, because Grace Marks is bending over him in the close darkness, her loosened hair brushing his face. He isn’t surprised, nor does he ask how she has managed to come here from her prison cell. He pulls her down – she is wearing only a nightdress – and falls on top of her, and shoves himself into her with a groan of lust and no manners, for in dreams everything is permitted. His spine jerks him like a hooked fish, then releases him. He gasps for air.

Only then does he realize he’s not dreaming; or not dreaming the woman. She’s really here, in the flesh, lying motionless beside him in the suddenly too-quiet bed, arms at her sides like an effigy; but she is not Grace Marks.” (Ch. 11, 360ish)

This demonstrates  how Grace has begun to pervade his life. Grace’s influence on Dr. Jordan has steadily increased and this is showing some of its culmination. Several times Dr. Jordan has turned down Mrs. Humphrey but in this moment as he believes she is Grace, he gives in to his desires. 

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