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.