The Verdict

The verdict: Everybody has gone hog wild, and somewhat insane.

During the hypnosis process, it is revealed that it's believed that Grace is being possessed by the spirit of Mary Whitney, and also Simon Jordan's sexual desires. While in a hypnotic state, "Mary" says that she was all cold and alone on the floor and she needed to be warm and since Grace forgot to open the window after she died, so her spirit could not get out. She then continues to beg Dr. Jordan to not let anything happen to Grace and not let anyone hurt her. Everyone, including myself as a reader, was skeptical on whether or not it was truly the spirit of Mary Whitney speaking or whether it was Grace on the edge of pure psychological insanity. I was skeptical on the idea of hypnosis in the first place, and the story of Grace being possessed by Mary Whitney only further proved her guilt for me, along with her unbalanced mental state. She confesses that she didn't strangle Nancy Montgomery but rather her kerchief did it. I'm no Sherlock Holmes or anything, but that sounds like a confession to me.

As if we didn't already have one crazy character from the beginning of the novel, we now have two more. Rachel (aka Mrs. Humphrey) has alluded her life to that of Nancy Montgomery's by falling for her housekeeper (Simon Jordan) and carrying on a relationship. However, her situation is much different than Nancy Montgomery's as Rachel's husband is mentioned many times since the beginning of the novel, therefore implying that she's married. This also conflicts with Dr. Jordan because if he's involved with a married woman (who, let's not forget, is also his servant) then that means that he's also gotten himself involved in a situation where I don't think he is emotionally equipped to deal with. There is no doubt in my mind that Rachel is crazy, and at this rate, Dr. Jordan isn't far behind. Rachel keeps saying how her husband doesn't have to come back, that he could have an accident and no one would have to know. Basically, she wants Simon and herself to commit a crime similar to one that Grace Marks and James McDermott were convicted for. At this point, I'm not entirely sure whether or not Simon meant to consent or not, but by kissing her, Rachel interpreted this as his willingness to do what she had planned and his passion towards her as she says, "I knew you would never leave me! I love you more than my life!". Clearly, there is something off about her humors, and with her state of mind in general. I quickly realized that although Rachel Humphrey was a woman who his family would find appropriate for marriage, he couldn't spend the rest of his life with a woman knowing that at the same time he had committed a crime. Dr. Simon Jordan's story ends with him going home to care for his sick mother, which then turns into him going off into war as a doctor, where he then never heard from again.

Grace Marks, despite her obvious guilt to the crime she was convicted for, gets the happy ending she had been waiting for her whole life. She had been in prison or locked away in the asylum for so many years that it had almost felt like her new home. From the time Grace Marks is imprisoned until the time she is granted her freedom once more, she has become a new person. She is no longer the damaged, fragile girl who came across on a boat from Ireland with her broken family, but she is rather a more matured and head-strong woman who can think sensibly for herself. In the book, when she leaves she thinks about her mother dying and says "Of course I wasn't dying, but it was in a way similar.". I think that this is similar to dying in a way because she is being reborn into a new person. She has now lost the identity of Grace Marks, as that is the name she was given to by her mother, and also the name she shared with her father whom she no longer had any contact with. In a way she was reborn into the living version of Mary Whitney, which can be interpreted in many different ways after reading the hypnosis section of the novel, but by the end of the novel, she becomes a new person, especially when she moves to New York and gets married to Jamie Walsh. Even though I still believe that she was guilty, Grace Marks was a remarkable woman and the novel Alias Grace was a great novel even though it was written by Margaret Atwood. By the end of the novel, I could truly appreciate Grace Marks as who she was, and that was by her average, everyday alias, Grace.

The Most Poetical Topic in the World

In ten chapters, a lot of things happen. Chapter 35 begins with a statement by Dr. Simon Jordan regarding Grace saying, " 'It is not the question of your guilt or innocence that concerns me. I am a doctor, not a judge. I simply wish to know what you yourself can actually remember.' " (Atwood 367) Earlier on while I was reading the novel, I wondered whether or not Dr. Jordan was actually concerned about the innocence or guilt of his patient but rather the patient herself. Even From this, a common theme has managed to emerge throughout the novel. I thought that the theme of truth has come up a lot, because although Dr. Jordan isn't searching for innocence or guilt in Grace, he's still working to find the truth in what happened. The theme became clearer to me when Grace says at the end of her session with Dr. Jordan, " 'It would be a great relief to me, to know the whole truth at last.' " (Atwood 384) because ever since the beginning of the novel, the truth of what Grace Marks did was trying to be uncovered and the theme makes me wonder how much the truth is actually worth to us, and whether uncovering it is fixing the damage that was done, or causing more chaos than before. In Dr. Jordan's case, I think uncovering the truth is only proving to have a negative affect on him, as he somehow becomes involved with his servant, Mrs. Humphrey, while also frequently fantasizing about Grace. Throughout the rest of the novel, we can see his mental state slowly deteriorating as he no longer understands the events that are unfolding and he can't rationalize things in a professional and appropriate manner such as keeping his relationship with his maid just that, and thoughts of marriage keep popping into his head while in a session with Grace Marks. Even after sleeping with Mrs. Humphrey (who she insists on him calling her Rachel), Dr. Jordan still lusts after Grace and imagines her in Rachel's place. There's a clear attraction to Grace from Simon's perspective, however this feeling is not mutual. I was almost scared while reading because during a session, Simon wondered if Grace thought of him while she quilted, however I thought this was crazy and on the brink of creepy. It was known from the very beginning that Grace Marks was suspected of murder, and she was even committed to an asylum for being mentally unstable, yet here is a well trained doctor, looking as her and thinking about marrying her. If we were in Elizabethan times, Dr. Jordan probably would've been seen as of ill with his humors being off and all, and would have been bled out in order to cure him. However at this time, he would not have been bled out because this would've been completely hypocritical, as in the case they were investigating, the victim was found in a pool of their own blood and to cure someone in the same fashion as someone was punished, it would seem completely wrong.

Aside from Dr. Jordan's crazy moments, he also had some wise, professional ones. He went to go visit Grace's lawyer to see if he could find some truth from him. He found truth, however it wasn't the same truth he was looking for. It's revealed that Grace was thought guilty to the extent that not even the lawyer who was representing her thought she was innocent. MacKenzie goes as far as saying that he was told that there was no chance that he had of winning, and it was no longer about winning -- it was all about losing with as much elegance as possible. Grace says that no one understands guilt. She knows that he is looking to find out whether she is guilty or not, and she says that, "He doesn't understand yet that guilt comes to you not from the things you've done, but from the things that others have done to you." (Atwood 456). By this, I think that Grace is talking about all of her life experiences leading up to that moment, and how she was treated by others and mostly how she was influenced by McDermott.  

For me, it almost seems as if Grace is pleading her case of being innocent, which is irrelevant because ever since the beginning of the book I thought that she was guilty, and up until this point, I still think that she's guilty.

Best Promotion Ever

As if life wasn't hard enough for Grace Marks already, it gets even harder for her in Chapter 31. The relationship between Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear is no longer exclusive, and it is now common knowledge to everyone in the household. However, this conclusion could have easily been derived from Grace's observation that Nancy is never found sleeping in her own bed, she looks daggers at Grace whenever she's even around Mr. Kinnear, and the gold earrings she wears that could potentially be a gift from Mr. Kinnear. Because of the publicity of their relationship, Nancy has started to take on the unofficial position of the mistress of the house, meaning Grace has to deal with her authoritative wrath as well as her predetermined, naturally bossy one. I found myself disliking Nancy even more because now that she's seen as the mistress of the house, she no longer sees herself as a servant, which she still is to some extent. This annoyed me because there's some social unfairness to this unofficial promotion. Nancy Montgomery is still a maid who is working for Thomas Kinnear, and just because they appear to be having a monogamous relationship with each other, I don't think that gives her any right to step up and call herself the "mistress of the house" because I do not recall reading about society suddenly not frowning upon the relationship between an upperclassman and their servants. It wasn't okay back then, and it's still not okay now because the modern day equivalent to this situation would be sleeping with your boss to get a raise.

Other things have also been revealed about Nancy, such as Grace's speculations that she may be pregnant after observing her over the past few days. She notices that Nancy has been having cravings for strange foods, her moods have been from one extreme to another and given her relationship with Thomas Kinnear, it is highly possible that she could have gotten pregnant. Although she wishes no harm upon Nancy, Grace still thinks that it would be unfair for Nancy to be treated better in this situation than Mary Whitney had when she was in this very same situation, as she was looked down upon and thrown out into the elements with no money. In the novel, she says, "... it would not be fair and just that she should end up a respectable married lady with a ring on her finger, and rich into the bargain. It would not be right at all. Mary Whitney had done the same as her, and had gone to her death. why should the one be rewarded and the other punished, for the same sin?" (Atwood 329) I found this quotation to be true, mainly because Nancy probably would have gotten a fairer treatment if her supposed pregnancy had become public news. Near the end of the chapter, a violent storm erupts and although the cause could be explained by some meteorological study, it could also be a disruption in the Great Chain of Being, which was seen earlier on in the book as well. Now that the Great Chain of Being has been fully broken with the relationship between a housekeeper and his servant, the build-up for worse things to come has started in the novel.

God's Cage

Before the part Hearts and Gizzards in the novel, there is a part that is beyond ironic in context to the rest of the novel. In this part, Grace shows disgust and is very shaken by the idea of having to kill a chicken on herself. She says that she could never do it, as she has never done it before, and she "had an aversion to shedding the blood of any living thing" (Atwood 294). This is ironic because the whole novel is based off the case of Grace Marks -- the girl who helped murder Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, which is the same Grace Marks who cries over even the thought of killing a bird in order to put dinner on the table. Grace is also very opinionated on those who attend church, as she calls them hypocrites because they believed they only believed that they were good people when they were on their best behaviour, but disregarded all of the other times in their lives when they weren't at their best. By this, she's saying that the only reason that people come to church is to prove to themselves, others and, more importantly, God that they are good people who are clean of any sin. Margaret Atwood even brings up a light/dark imagery in the chapter by saying :
 
"These are cold and proud people, and not good neighbours. They are hypocrites, they think the church is a   cage to keep God in, so he will stay locked up there and not go wandering about the earth during the week, poking his nose into their business, and looking into the depths and darkness and doubleness of their hearts, and their lack of true charity; and they believe they need only be bothered about him on Sundays when they have their best clothes on and their faces straight, and their hands washed and their gloves on, and their stories all prepared. But God is everywhere, and cannot be caged in, as men can." (Atwood 300)  As someone who doesn't attend church, I could appreciate this quotation because it gave me a sense of reasoning to why people even go to church. In this quotation, Grace was saying that people who go to church have something to hide and they hide it by preparing their stories, cleaning up their act, wearing nice clothes and standing in front of God and saying that they have not sinned. This also shows hypocrisy because people were always punished for "sinning" when the people who are punishing them have probably sinned themselves. Nancy Montgomery is a prime example of a hypocrite because she attends church to say that she doesn't live in sin, yet she is carrying on a relationship with her housekeeper, who is obviously of higher status, and if the relationship were ever to be revealed, she would've been called a whore and been looked down upon. Instead, she was seen as the mistress of the house and was very respected in that sense. However, when Mary Whitney carried on a sexual relationship with the housekeeper's son and discovered that she was carrying his child, she was thrown away like garbage, and given only five dollars to support herself and the child, and was called a slut by the same man who swore that one day he would marry her.

While reading these chapters, a lot of prejudice and hypocrisy is seen in the society of the nineteenth century. The hypocrisy quote made me think a lot about the unfairness of punishment. To compare Nancy Montgomery and Mary Whitney in the same situation, we see this imbalance of punishment, and how the problem ended for each of them. Nancy Montgomery basically got a promotion by carrying on her relationship with Thomas Montgomery while Mary Whitney died trying to rid herself of the burden she was carrying inside of her because she carried on her relationship with the housekeeper's son. Why should it be that two people can commit the same act, yet only one person will be punished for it?

Motive, Maturity and Mary

At the end of Chapter 25, we start seeing that Grace might have some motive for killing Nancy Montgomery. When first arriving at Thomas Kinnear's house, Grace sees Nancy as someone who just seems to be looking out for her best interest and after losing her dear friend Mary, Grace looks up to her as the only support system she has left. However, the relationship between Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear is already being implied in this part of the book, and jealousy is getting in the way of Nancy and Grace's friendship. Grace begins to feel like a scapegoat and her labor is being abused when she is blamed for ironing and putting away a shirt with a button missing, when Grace recalls, "... Nancy had been in the wrong twice,f or that shirt must have been washed and ironed by her, before I was ever anywhere near; and so she gave me a list of chores as long as your arm, and went flouncing out of the room and down the stairs, and out into the yard, and began scolding McDermott for not cleaning her shoes properly that morning." (Atwood 262). This moment is almost heartbreaking for Grace because when she was hired by Nancy, she felt they were going to become good friends, almost like sisters, just as she had with Mary Whitney, but she quickly realizes that this isn't the way that things are going to be. The motive isn't as obvious in this scene, but it does demonstrate that Grace wasn't too fond of her and wouldn't be overly appalled if the idea of killing her was brought up by James McDermott.

Although Nancy no longer proves to have the potential of acting as Grace's sisterly figure, I began to see that Grace no longer needed one. During her stay at the Asylum, she's endured a lot of harassment which would seem  to make her even more fragile than she already is at her young age. However, during her sessions with Dr. Jordan, she appears to be very level-headed, and very mature. She's grown very quickly throughout the book, and I'm starting to see a bit of Mary Whitney in her personality, as she's beginning to see things the same way she did such as the why men act the way they do, and she's more aware of the unfairness of the gender roles and class structure put in place by society. I don't think that Grace's growth is over quite yet, and she still has many things to learn for herself and she still has many things to discover while at Thomas Kinnear's house.

Mr. Thomas Kinnear: A Fine Gentleman

A few things can be said about Thomas Kinnear based on first impressions: he is polite, charismatic, charming and overall a very fine gentleman. When Grace first meets Mr. Kinnear, he introduces himself as her new employer in a public place, which is a statement on its own as servants were never really addressed by their employer, especially in public, as there was a certain hierarchy that was meant to be maintained. It's already seen that Mr. Kinnear doesn't treat his servants as they were servants, but rather as if they were friends, family, or unlike how the other upper-class citizens treat their help, like human beings. After being introduced to Thomas Kinnear, she is introduced to his Bay Gelding horse, Charley, she is taken back to the place she will have to call home for the next little while. Some other things can be noted about Thomas Kinnear, and that is that he didn't have someone drive him, which was usually what was expected. He also assisted Grace when it came to loading all of her luggage into the wagon, and on top of that, he insisted on her sitting in the front seat with him. I thought that this was a brave act performed by Mr. Kinnear, mostly because servants were supposed to work for their employer and they were to do it without any assistance, and without any complaints.

It's not that things are off about Thomas Kinnear because frankly, there should have been more just like him in the nineteenth century. However, it almost seems throughout the novel as if he was trying to mess around with the Great Chain of Being associated with this era, while also trying his luck. In his household, Grace observes that he has a peacock feather fan displayed openly, and peacock feathers were apparently considered to be bad luck. Thomas Kinnear is presented as a very fine gentleman who is very respectable and treats others with this same respect, but although he is all of these things, he can also be seen as very arrogant in a way where he thinks that he can cheat the universe by going against everything that everyone's ever believed, and by already knowing his fate, I can safely say messing with hierarchies and trying luck was probably not a good call for Thomas Kinnear.

A Precious Treasure to be Kept Safe

Part 7 of the novel Alias Grace starts off with one of the most memorable poems and one of the most memorable quotes in the book so far. The poem, written by Christina Rossetti, relates to Mary Whitney's death as it talks about grievance:

Yet if you should forget me for a while
  And afterwards remember, do not grieve;
  For if the darkness and corruption leave
  A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
  Than that you should remember and be sad.
-"Remember," 1849
I liked this poem the most out of all the other poems that were used in the novel because the death of Mary Whitney in the last chapter was so well portrayed that it almost made me feel as if I had lost a friend myself, which made this poem impact me even more. It made me put myself into Grace's shoes and it made me think about how she would feel about this poem if she read it after Mary's death. The other memorable quote in this chapter was narrated by Dr. Simon Jordan when he was considering life and just how easily it can be manipulated and taken away:
"How easily people die, for one; how frequently, for another. And how cunningly spirit and body are knit together. A slip of the knife and you create an idiot. If this is so, why not the reverse? Could you sew and snip, and patch together a genius?" (Atwood 217)
I read this quote a week ago and unlike most other things, it's managed to stick in my mind.I like this quote mostly because it makes you think about the truth of it. Why is it that it's so effortless to take away life or create an idiot, but we constantly struggle to save lives or are unable to find a way to fabricate a genius?

Chapter 21 is a refreshing break from the overly emotion episode of Grace and her times in the Alderman household with Mary Whitney as its main focus is on Dr. Jordan's interpretation of everything he's learned so far about Grace. He asks around about her past to see if everything she has said checks out and learns about the other people mentioned in her stories. It's already seen that Dr. Jordan has very deeply involved himself in Grace Marks' case to the extent that he treats her as if she's his only patient. By the end of the chapter, it's almost as if he's become so involved that he goes as far as dreaming about Grace, which is what is implied by Atwood in his dream description. By ending the chapter like this, it makes me wonder whether Dr. Jordan is interested in Grace's innocence or if he's interested in Grace.
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