Hayley Gillespie

I noticed similarities between Kathy H. and Nancy Montgomery in Alias Grace. They both play strong headed women that feel entitled to things, especially love. Kathy H. basically steals Tommy from Ruth, rubbing Ruth’s face in it in the process. She didn’t even show much interest in him until Ruth did. Similarly, Nancy is an entitled character as well by constantly reminding Grace that she is above her because she has a romantic life. She feels as though she is entitled to have a life of leisure and romance instead of Grace. Kathy feels threatened by Ruth because of her love for Tommy and so she shows Ruth that she is entitled to him and deserves happiness over Ruth. 

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. 

Hayley Gillespie

“I was hoping Mary’s soul would fly out the window now, and not stay inside, whispering things into my ear. But I wondered whether I was too late,” (179). 

Mary Whitney obviously has a huge influence on Grace. So much so, that it seems that Grace is obsessed with her. This being because she has never felt appreciated or truly happy except when she met Mary. Letting Mary’s soul out was perhaps Grace wanting Mary’s soul to go somewhere else. Later when Grace meets Nancy, she sees Mary in her. Grace may think the soul of Mary is in Nancy when she first talks to her, but the disappointment in the realization that this is not true helps fuel her anger. Grace feels betrayed by the similarities in the two, but the differences as well.  

Hayley Gillespie

One part of Midnight’s Children that is haunting is the past. Specifically that Saleem and Shiva were switched at birth. To begin with, Mary Pereira is literally haunted by the ghost of Joseph D’Costa because she switched the babies. Then Saleem’s father rejects him because of the idea that he biologically is not his. What does not add up is how Saleem did not already know this. He has the ability to be inside everyone’s minds so how does he not know that his nanny switched him at birth? She is obviously haunted by it so she must think about it more than just occasionally, he would know wouldn’t he? 

Hayley Gillespie 

One theme I noticed is that Saleem has a problem with rejection. He does what he believes will woo a girl or woman and when he is turned down has a fit. For instance, when Evelyn Lillith Burns rejects him, he goes into her thoughts seeing a disturbing image of her. This, in turn, causes him to get pushed into a large mob. Another time is when he fondles his aunt Pria and gets slapped across the face. When the children seem to be abandoning the conference in the chapter, “Commander Sabarmati’s Baton”, he lashes out by telling the Commander about his cheating wife. When he is rejected he does not take it well or gets himself hurt. 

Hayley Gillespie

“…our physical alienation from India inevitably means that we will not be capable of reclaiming precisely the thing that was lost; that we will, in short, create fictions, not actual cities or villages, but invisible ones, imaginary homelands, Indias of the mind,” (1308). 

This quote captures what I feel to be the main takeaway from this piece. Rushdie discusses the effects time has on our brains by referencing fragmentation. We remember things in a vague, almost dream state. Our distant memories are not remembered exactly the same way as they transpired; we miss pieces and chunks of scenes. Like a dream, our memories are bits and pieces placed together that might not always be coherent pictures, but our minds fill in the gaps to make sense of it. She discusses this with her talks of her homeland and remembering a home in black and white rather than the actual vibrant coloring of the house because of pictures she remembers more clearly. Our pasts and memories are a collection of bits and pieces rather than a distinctive whole. 

Hayley Gillespie

In both The Demon Lover and The Happy Autumn Fields, characters are haunted by the past and the unknown. In The Demon Lover, Mrs. Dover does not remember her past lover’s face, this uncertainty adds to her fear from the unknown fear of who has entered her abandoned home. The layering of the unknown and her past leaves her feeling threatened and vulnerable. Mary, in The Happy Autumn Fields, is also haunted by the past, but not her own. She is haunted by what happened to her ancestors Sarah and Henrietta. She does not know how they died, when they died, or why they remained single their whole lives. Mary is in an old home too as she stumbles onto a chest filled with photos and papers from the past, it even feels as though she is dreaming of Sarah’s memories. 

Hayley Gillespie

In A Passage to India and in The Turn of the Screw people have visions of people that are not actually there. In The Turn of the Screw we see this with the governess. She claims to see ghosts and apparitions of people that may just be hallucinations. It is never exactly confirmed by any of the other characters that the ghosts she sees are real. A Passage to India also features a ghostly figure that could be a hallucination. Adela admits in her trial that she does not believe that the figure she saw was Aziz or the guide. She describes a shadowing figure that had her trapped but never touched her. No one can confirm this incident and Fielding even suggests to her that the figure she saw was just a hallucination from feeling unwell. 

Hayley Gillespie

In A Passage to India, a common theme is racism in India during the 1920’s. The novel shows overt racism as well as discrete, some being more comments of ignorance and some the refusal of acceptance. An overtly racist character, Ronny, is an Englishman who refuses the acceptance of Doctor Aziz as well as many other Indians. He views them as beneath him and undeserving of respect, let alone attention. Adela, on the other hand, feels the desire to show respect and appreciation of the Indian people, but as seen in the caves she is ignorant. She clearly believes in cultural stereotypes when she asks Aziz how man wives he has in the caves. She does not mean offense but offends out of ignorance. Later she then has him arrested for something he did not do; another representation of the oppression of the people in India at the time. 

Hayley Gillespie

One of the major parts of the plot in this novel is mental illness. We follow the day of Septimus and learn the agonies he suffers every day since the war. He clearly has PTSD but back in the time the novel is based, this mental disorder was not yet known. The treatment of mental illnesses and disorders back in this time were traumatic in themselves, which is why Septimus killed himself when he believed the doctors were coming for him. It was not a good time to be diagnosed with any sort of mental instability. Now, thankfully, the treatment of the mentally ill is significantly better. It is not yet at the place it should be, but it is better than total isolation and shock therapy.