I believe that the idea of loss serves as a source of haunting in this novel. From the beginning, Kathy, who is beginning to reach the end of her life, is grasping to her memories of the friends she’s had and the life she has lived as it all continues to slip between her fingers. This is supported by the way the narrative is told in a nonlinear manner with a restrospective focus. 

I believe the concept of deferrals was Kathy’s attempt at riding herself of this haunting, but it too supports the idea of loss and ultimately it’s inevitability. A deferral only provides a momentary extension of life, it is not an excuse or an exclusion from completion – or death. Which feeds into itself, because the foundation of the donation program is that people on the outside would be able to extend their lives with the students’ internal organs.

This novel really made me contemplate how haunting doesn’t have to just be from something that has passed, but from the impending passage of one’s time, one’s life or one’s relationships. Honestly, I believe this form of haunting is even more relentless than by that of something that is over. This because there is a sense of power in existing beyond whatever is haunting you from the past, but the idea that the source of your haunting exists after you pushed the fact that you will never be rid of its ominous presence and the fear it may cause. I think the best way to sum up this novel is the fear and endless truth that the phrase Momento Mori provides: Reminder that you will die. 

“It is strange to know you carry within yourself either a life or a death, but not to know which one. Though all could be resolved by consulting a doctor, I am most reluctant to take such a step; so I suppose time alone must tell” (Atwood 459). 

While this quote is about directly about Grace’s pregnancy, I think that it speaks to the theme of Storytelling and Power in this novel. Every life is a story, and every person has their own perspective; ones’ words can bring either life or death into any situation, to some degree.

Throughout the novel, it is pinpointed that the power to decide what details of a story are important is necessary to avoid manipulation. This is reflected in the ways that Grace describes the people she has encountered. And again when Grace acknowledged that what Dr. Jordan wrote about the story she was telling him was not likely to be what had actually come out of her mouth. It is even reflected in the way that this novel is told, shaping how we view the possibility of Grace’s innocence. 

I think it’s clever that this quote touches on consulting a doctor, and how it is time that is the ultimate determining factor. Between the trail and talking with Dr. Jordan Grace gave versions of her story a handful of times, yet it is ultimately time that leads to Graces release back into life. 

Ness, Brianna, Alex, Bonnie, Anna

Quote 1:

“To my surprise, he thought that was a fine idea, and said it would give him great pleasure to sleep in Mr. Kinnear’s bed, where Nancy had so often played the whore; and I reflected that once I’d given in to him, he would hold my life very cheap indeed… he had often said a whore was good for nothing but to wipe your dirty boots on, by giving them a good kicking all over their filthy bodies” (Atwood 330).

This quote takes place after Nancy has been killed and McDermott comes to receive the sex Grace “promised” him. This quote points out the backward and contradictory logic of McDermott, to create a stepping stone exposing the contradiction of his overall understanding of women. A situation of this degrading grandeur is surely not the first of its sort and points out that he only sees women for their bodies. This encounter brings to mind the concept of high-class women objectification in that if a man cannot have control over a woman’s body then the body must die. The problem here is that not he, nor any man, can have their cake and eat it too. He cannot have a woman sleep with him without her body becoming filthy and worthless – thus the root of Grace’s fear.

Quote 2:

“She was afraid that Mr. Kinnear would come to like me better than her…. they’ll change from a woman in that condition to one who is not, and it’s the same with cows and horses; and if that happened, she’d be out on the road, her and her bastard” (Atwood 309).

This quote takes place during Grace’s explanation of Nancy’s jealousy and decision to fire her. Here the most important factor is the chosen diction. Grace immediately assumes that Mr. Kinnear will send Nancy out with “her bastard”, defaulting the possession of the problem to Nancy. Which is ridiculous considering that he too assisted in making the baby and that he played a part in the situation that would lead to him losing interest in her. It also points out that the only way a man would care about a “problem” like this is if he was married to “her” and thus her problem. Grace also refers to Nancy’s pregnancy as “that condition”, separating everyone from the reality of the situation. It is also interesting that taking away the term pregnant takes away the significance of that word’s secondary definition: full of meaning, significant. This also brings to light the issues of class, the main thing is that Mr. Kinnear’s choice to sleep with Nancy disrupts the man-made social structure and ruins what could have been a great professional relationship.

I’ve found that Alias Grace and Mrs. Dalloway offer two very different female perspectives on the early 1900s. 

In chapter 25 of Alias Grace, page 219, Grace’s response to Nancy’s desire to take Mr. Kinnear his tea exposes her opinion on social status: it is everything to her. This is supported throughout Graces conversations with Dr. Jordan. And again in the quote made by McDermott before chapter 27, that Grace continuously mentioned how there was no difference between Nancy and her self in regards to status. 

In contrast Mrs. Dalloway pushed to get out from under what she saw to be the oppression of women by social class. The book opening with her going to run an errand normally made by someone she’d hired. I find that Clarissa most mirrors Graces respect for social status, this is supported in the people that she had populate her party – people of the same or high class status.

It’s quite facinating to see how two women authors decide to address class structure with their characters. 

Given that Saleem had so much undeniable magic written into his existence, it’s easier to see his life as a symbol and not just a narrative.

Saleem’s life highlights the tension between a sum and its parts.

A while ago, my group asked in our essay question, where the power of Saleem’s relationship with India lies. I think a different way to ask that question is: do the two truly equate to one another or do they just exchange influence?

Throughout the novel, Saleem’s personal life intertwined with the nations collective life and spoke to the influence they have on one another. However, he struggled to fit his personal story within the story of the country made up of many people. Much like the country struggled to fit so many diverse languages and religions into itself.

In the final chapter Abracadabra, Saleem tells us his future: How he will explode on his birthday “only a broken creature spilling into pieces of itself onto the street….reducing [him] to specks of voiceless dust.” (Rushdie 533). His projected death, the anniversary of India gaining independence, mirrors the way India fell apart out of a failure to maintain its multifaceted nation peacefully.

The symbol here is dust; From dust, we were formed, and to dust we return – a Christian based belief. Here Saleem and his country come full circle, and while they fall apart into countless particles of dust, dust is never truly seen by its parts but as a whole. The whole of dust would not exist without the parts and the parts of dust inevitably create the whole. And while they share influence upon one another they will never truly equate to the same thing. India is marked by its diversity in language, religion, and culture. Yet its people desired to reduce its plurality leading it into an endless cycle that is inevitable when a person or a country pushes to separate a singular part of itself from the whole of who they are.

This time around I decided to delve deeper into the aesthetics / technical aspects of Rushdie’s narrative techniques to understand how they further the story. What I’ve found is that in Saleem’s narration his manipulation of linear time supports the presence of history as a haunting on life. 

The main way history haunts is in the way it continually repeats itself through this story, thus never dies. For example how Amina has to fall for her husband in pieces, mimicking the effect of the perforated sheet in her parent’s relationship. 

The manipulation of time brings connects and attention to these patterns, highlighting their importance and the haunting feeling it provides. Time and time again history is rehashed in the middle of a present explanation destroying an illusion of the present.