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.
.

A Secret Worth Dying For

Chapter 20 starts off at the end of November and into December. In order to stay warm in the cold extreme Grace describes to Dr. Jordan that she and Mary would take their clothes into bed with them so that they would keep warm before putting them on and they would also heat bricks to put them in their bed. This concept of staying warm is almost obsolete in our age of well insulated houses and heat that blasts through the house 24/7, but since I live in a house where almost everything modern is obsolete, I'm familiar with some of these concepts. In the dead of winter, I discovered the method of keeping my clothes under my sheets to keep it warm for when I put it on, and sometimes when that doesn't work, I've had to changed underneath the blankets just to avoid hypothermia. I can safely say that I haven't had to go as far as heating a brick to put in my bed, but I've come pretty close to that, as I am the proud owner of a Magic Bag and a microwave.

I wish I could say that the contents of chapter twenty is a happy transition away from reminiscing on cold, but it isn't. Chapter twenty was all about Mary Whitney's tragic end and it then elaborated on what we know of Grace Marks so far. Mary's health quickly begins to decline in the chapter and it isn't immediately revealed why. I'll admit to cheating by saying that I knew Mary's fate before reading this chapter. I knew that she had become pregnant by the son of the housekeeper, who had later abandoned her with only five dollars to support herself. In the nineteenth century, it was socially unacceptable to have a child out of wedlock, and it was especially unacceptable in Mary's case as she was merely a servant to the Parkinsons' and their son was her superior. Grace watches Mary go through this less than ideal situation, feeling utterly useless as she only knows what she is going through with the pregnancy, but Mary's concept of raising the child on her own - especially out of wedlock - is completely foreign to Grace. Mary later realizes that it would be too difficult to raise a child with no husband, no money, and no permanent place to live and decides to get an abortion. There are many things we take for granted in the twenty-first century that the people in the nineteenth century had to live without. Abortions were considered to be very risky in the nineteenth century, unlike today where abortions (as highly debated as they are) are a simple procedure where you walk in and walk out with only a few manageable side effects. While reading about the painful, not only physically but mentally, process that Mary had to go through with the abortion, it made me thankful for the medical advancements that we have today, and it made me realize what a strong character Mary Whitney was. Not only did she act as the family that Grace never had, but she was very opinionated on equality, she followed her heart and she also knew how to use her head. She always thought it was unfair that while they had to spend their lives at the bottom of the social chain cooking, cleaning, living in poor living conditions and having to endure the sexual harassment of the men in the household, the rich were living in the luxury and service that people like Mary and Grace provided them while also having to pay them very little. I thought that Mary was a very essential character in the book because she was the older, more knowledgeable and more experienced person who helped Grace throughout her whole life struggles. I understood Grace's pain as she was forced to listen to the only person who had ever truly cared for her scream in agony while not being able to do anything about it. Mary had not only suffered during the procedure, but she suffered greatly after as well. She remained ill for days after to the point where she went as far as creating her own will, leaving everything that she's ever owned to Grace. Even if I didn't know what happened already, I would've seen this as Mary's story coming to an end. The next morning, Grace finds Mary lying in bed, staring up at the sky as if she was focusing on going to Heaven as she died. Just as the end of Mary's story begins, Grace's story begins as the death of Mary begins Grace's journey onward to a new job offered to her by Nancy Montgomery where her employer would be none other than Thomas Kinnear.

Alias: Mary Whitney

After reading up to chapter 20, I can safely say that I do not envy the women in the nineteenth century. I don't sympathize for the fact that they all acted as servants and inferiors to men, but what I do sympathize for is what many of us still sympathize for today, and that's what women like to call the "monthly gift". I no longer felt the need to complain after reading about the process that women had to go through in the nineteenth century once a month. Grace quickly discovers "Eve's curse" and her initial thought is that she is dying. However, she seeks guidance from her only apparent friend, Mary Whitney. The advice she gives Grace is to wear a red petticoat and then shows her how to fold and pin the cloth. I would think that this would be a more than tedious task to do every month, especially when the clothes you wear are the same ones you wear for several years. While reading this passage, I not only gave an involuntary shudder many times, but I also considered myself to be lucky to be living in the twenty-first century.

The chapter revisits the relationship between Grace and Mary and the things that Grace learned while she was working with Mary at the Parkinson's. Throughout the chapters, Mary has an almost maternal instinct towards Grace and Grace sees Mary as the motherly figure that she had lost. She even says in the novel, "Mary too me under her wing from the very first." Mary provides her with some of the basic needs that she was deprived of for so long as a servant, such as fresh, fitting clothes, a bath and even food stolen from the Cook. Although the novel is based on the historical event of Grace Marks' murder conviction, there are many references to family, home survival and the daily struggles that even we go through today.

Understanding the Misunderstood of Grace Marks

Alias Grace
Name: Margaret Atwood 
Also known as: Margaret Elanor Atwood
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=2&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Margaret+Atwood&TI=Alias+Grace

Alias Grace is the recipient of The Giller Prize an shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, making it Atwood's most commercially successful novels. The novel was inspired by Susanna Moodie's account of Grace Marks, who was convicted of murder in the nineteenth century. Atwood also published a series of poems titled Journals of Susanna Moodie which were based on Moodie's life as a Canadian pioneer. Atwood also developed a television script based on Grace Marks entitled Servant Girl and after that she began to write Alias Grace after researching the Victorian era. The novel combines factual information of Grace Marks with fabricated aspects such as Dr. Simon Jordan. Themes such as gender relations and separation, ethnic divisions, and class distinctions as well as feminine identity are expressed throughout the novel by means of narrative structure.
 
Alias Grace recounts the story of housekeeper Grace Marks through various texts, making much of the novel based on historical facts with the exception of fictionalized character, Dr. Jordan. Grace is twenty-four at the beginning of the novel when she is visited by psychiatrist Dr. Simon Jordan. The nove begins to split into two narratives, that of Grace's past until leading up to her conviction, and Dr. Jordan's life and experiences with Grace Marks.

Grace discusses her past, such as her family's immigration from Ireland and the death of her mother. Grace also discussed how she lived in poverty before offered a housekeeping job by Mrs. Alderman Parkinson, where she met Mary Whitney. When Grace leaves the employment of Mrs. Alderman Parkinson, she receives a new housekeeping job by Nancy Montgomery at Thomas Kinnear's household, where she then meets James McDermott  and Jamie Walsh who are stable boys at the estate. The story quickly unfolds as Grace claims that James murders Nancy Montgomery because he blames her for him getting fired, and then shoots Thomas Kinnear when she refuses to. To seek refuge, Grace runs to Toronto where she is ultimately found and arrested.

Complex feelings are developed by Dr. Jordan as he hears these events, even though he is sure they are not entirely truthful. He enlists a hypnotic therapist, Dr. Jerome DuPont, to help Grace remember the events relating to the murder. During the hypnosis, she says that "Grace" knows nothing of the murders and claims to be Mary Whitney. The novel is concluded with Dr. Jordan going off to Europe, and Grace being pardoned and then taken to New York where Jamie Walsh waits to marry her.

Themes covered throughout the novel are female oppression and sexual indiscretion. Relationships and desires between characters show negative outcomes as the fate of many of the women in the situation ends in death. The majority of women are depicted as being dependent on men and inferior to them, example being when Grace seeks refuge by marrying. The quilt is a large metaphor for the book as Grace is often shown quilting through her sessions with Dr. Jordan, representative of fabricating the story of her past.

Atwood has been critically acclaimed for reconstructing the Victorian vision through her evocative prose. Auerbach proclaimed, "[Alias Grace] is a realization of a living and utterly credible world." and patchwork narrative makes the novel understandable. The quilting symbol is recognized as a desire for unity which can also be suggested through the novel's air of sexual longing. Depth has been added to the characters, mainly Grace, through the multiple perspectives. Alias Grace has been interpreted as domestic condemnation as well as a sense of gaining freedom of conforming. Margaret Atwood is congratulated for leaving Grace's innocence not fully known and for retelling the story of Grace Marks's life without prejudicing opinion in one direction or another.

Patchwork History

"Rethinking History as Patchwork: The Case of Atwood's Alias Grace
Critic: Magali Cornier Michael
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&h=1100075559&c=1&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Margaret+Atwood&TI=Alias+Grace&finalAuth=true


Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace presents a patchwork of texts as an "other" means of representing historical events and persons that rejects the mono-vision of traditional histories. This representation undermines linearity and the cause-and-effect logic that derives from it. The result is a more dynamic construction which evolves while still retaining the integrity of its pieces. Atwood's novel engages curiosity through presenting all of the juxtaposition of the texts along with the first and third person narrations used. The juxtaposition of the texts equalizes the novel's status as neither fiction nor valid, and the texts begin to challenge each other's authorities when placed beside each other.

The main focus of the novel is the trial of Grace Marks in the 1840's. Atwood uses the historical bounty available to write the story of Grace Marks and claims that it is based on reality. Even though the known facts are not changed, the accounts contradict each other in a way that few facts emerge as unequivocally known. The unknown truth of Grace Marks' role in the murder makes the historical events and people compelling and they story also achieves a "reality status" through their presentation. Alias Grace is a text that actively participates re-conceptualization of history socially, culturally and texturally. The novel highlights text and storytelling through frames where all of the events are viewed by undermining any clear distinction of different texts.

Hayden White and Dominick LaCapra have demonstrated that historical methodology has tended to efface the active role of language, texts, and narrative structures in the creation and description of historical reality in the nineteenth century, as well as thought structures and symbolic meaning being an integral part of everything we know as history. LaCapra argues historians depend on what is termed as a documentary model of knowledge that tends to ignore the way documents are texts that rework reality. Historical research still assumes that accurate access to the "truth" is possible.

Giana Pomata points out the notable gender dimension in the second half of the nineteenth century, which led to the absence of women from history. Historic pieces such as memoirs and biographies, generally authored by women, were in favor a more general history. During the women's movement, the absence of women in history was questioned and there was a need for "a re-evaluation of established standards of historical significance". Historical narratives are essential in accessing real events, ideas and meanings of history according to Susan Stanford Friedman. For most scholars of feminist history and historians, they found that questioning historical methodologies never lapses into relativism and that historical narratives can never capture the truth in history.

Alias Grace is based around the history of the murder trial and essentially finding the truth. The novel demonstrates how letting one narrative dominate one's reading can change the perspective of the piece. Alias Grace demonstrates a spatial structure rather than a linear structure.The novel doesn't focus on finding the truth about specific events or people, but rather questioning the document to uncover the unreliability of all narratives. Atwood highlights the documents that produce rather than represent material events and persons through a method of juxtaposition.The novel balances out the authority of official documents and de-authorized texts by highlighting the similarities between the two. Throughout the story, Grace Marks is aware of the control she has over the story as she tells it to Dr. Jordan as well as she is aware of the alternate versions of her story being told by others. The novel stresses the importance of details as they can dramatically change the accuracy of a story and make a difference between versions of stories told. The patchwork quilt structure in Alias Grace offers many potential patterns that creates insight into past events without creating an hierarchy among them.

8 Weeks

I just finished reading chapters 14 and 15 and so far, those are my two favourite chapters in the book. The chapters reflect on Grace and her family struggles and their eight week trek from Ireland to Canada. I found the chapters compelling because the imagery used was very effective. In one passage, Atwood describes the sounds, smells and atmosphere of the old boat that Grace, her mother and aunt were on when they were on their way to Canada. I sympathized for the family and everyone else on the boat because the conditions were described and associated with harsh smells, poorly ventilated cabins, uncomfortable sleeping arrangements and storm they had to endure.I liked this part of the book because it gives a more detailed background story of Grace Marks' life and shows the emotion and physical suffering she had to endure while making her way over to Canada. While reading these chapters, I could almost imagine myself in that situation of being at the bottom of a rocky boat with what would feel like a hundred other people, some of which were also sick.

Grace is also given a more human and vulnerable attribute to her character when the story of her mother's suffering is being told. This humanized both Grace and her mother because Grace's mother had been put through a lot of emotional abuse from her family and her husband and Grace had to see her mother suffer because of it. For a split second while I was reading these chapters, I felt as if Grace was innocent of her crimes just because of what she had suffered in her childhood. I felt like this was like a turning point in the novel because in the beginning, Atwood had focused on the crime and her punishments, and by showing her tainted childhood, it portrays the fact that shes not a crazed killer, but she is just someone living a less than perfect life.

Précis

Critic: Mona Knapp
Review of Alias Grace
[ http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=false&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=11&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Margaret+Atwood&TI=Alias+Grace&finalAuth=true ]

Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace recounts a historical murder case in the 1840's. The antiheroine is Grace Marks who was convicted at sixteen for helping murder her employer and his mistress. She was pardoned in 1872 after serving 29 years in mental asylums and prison. She was spared the death penalty because of her questioned sanity and guilt. Grace is met through the eyes of the fictional Dr. Simon Jordan in 1859. His position is to provide a psychiatric evaluation and assist in determining her innocence. His interest in the unconscious mind is shown to be a motivator in finding the root cause of Grace's supposed memory loss and episodes of madness. Her childhood portrays the early loss of her mother and siblings and the abuse caused by her alcoholic father.

Atwood portrays the nature of neuropsychological theories in the story and predates formal understanding of schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. Atwood presents the symptoms of the second disorder as a reason for her uncharacterically violent self. The story's research gives the reader a believable and audible voice for Grace which takes us into her mind and dispair.


The novel juxtaposes several characters' inner monologues, newspaper clippings, historical accounts and poetry exerpts as well as letters written and Grace's narrative to Dr. Jordan. The fact that Grace's story will never be full known can cause frustration to the reader as it did to Dr. Jordan when he is unable to find the truth he was looking for. Unfortunately, after searching for the truth for so long and not being able to find it, Dr. Jordan's ending is tragic.

Criticising Criticisms

Author: Margaret Atwood                            Title: Alias Grace

I was interested in reading a piece by Margaret Atwood because she's a very well known Canadian author and I have heard both negative and positive reviews about her work. I had never read anything by Margaret Atwood before and when I saw the list of books available for the independent study unit, I decided that Alias Grace would be a good choice for me to read.

Margaret Atwood was influenced by Victoria author Susanna Moodie, who herself had written an account on the scandal of Grace Marks and her murder conviction. Atwood wrote a series of poems based on Moodie's described experiences as a Canadian pioneer which she had published and titled Journals of Susanna Moodie, which then prompted her interest in the Grace Marks case. She had then started further research on the case and on the Victorian era herself in order to better understand the specifics, which is when she began to write Alias Grace. In the novel, Atwood goes more in depth about themes such as gender roles, social classes and feminine identity. Through her writing, Margaret Atwood has been classified as a fictional writer, cultural historian and a poet.



Other works by Margaret Atwood

• Double Persephone (poetry) 1961
  
• The Animals in That Country (poetry) 1968
  
• The Edible Woman (novel) 1969
  
• The Journals of Susanna Moodie: Poems (poetry) 1970
  
• Procedures for Underground (poetry) 1970
  
• Surfacing (novel) 1972
  
• Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (criticism) 1972
  
• The Servant Girl (teleplay) 1974
  
• Lady Oracle (novel) 1976
  
• Dancing Girls, and Other Stories (short stories) 1977
  
• Two-headed Poems (poetry) 1978
  
• Life before Man (novel) 1979
  
• The Handmaid's Tale (novel) 1985
  
• Cat's Eye (novel) 1988
  
• The Robber Bride (novel) 1993
  
• Alias Grace (novel) 1996
  
• The Blind Assassin (novel) 2000
  
• Oryx and Crake (novel) 2003
  
• The Penelopiad (novel) 2005

Critical Articles:
Knapp, Mona. "Review of Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood." World Literature Today 71.3 (2001): Web. 16 Oct 2010. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=false&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=11&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Margaret+Atwood&TI=Alias+Grace

Cornier Michael, Magali. "Rethinking History as Patchwork: The Case of Atwood's Alias Grace." Modern Fiction Studies 47.2 (2001):. Web. 16 Oct 2010. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&h=1100075559&c=1&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Margaret+Atwood&TI=Alias+Grace


http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=2&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Margaret+Atwood&TI=Alias+Grace

Letters to Dr. Jordan

I'll be brief --

I am more than tired than reading letters written to Dr. Jordan, from Dr. Jordan and concerning Dr. Jordan. In fact, I actually feel physically exhausted from reading these letters. Yes, I can appreciate the change in narrative structure as it changes the style and makes things "interesting", but as close minded and ignorant as this sounds, I really don't care what other people have to say to Dr. Simon Jordan. Although I realize that Dr. Simon Jordan is merely a fictional character invented by Margaret Atwood in order to create reason between Grace and humanity, and I realize that the letters were placed in the novel in order to show the different perspectives and opinions that people had of Grace Marks at the time. However, if I wanted to read five letters consecutively, then I would just check my mailbox every so once in a while. I wouldn't mind reading a letter directed to or from our dear Dr. Jordan every other chapter or so in order to refresh my mind by giving me new material to read, but to be quite honest, I wanted to read about Grace Marks and her unknown story, not what other people have to say to her doctor.

However, the letters have to eventually stop and when that happens, then hopefully things will finally get interesting.

Past the Table of Contents

I think that the fact that I made it to the table of contents is saying a lot, let alone the fact that I've made it past them. To say that Margaret Atwood has truly won me over through Alias Grace would be like saying Stephenie Meyer has captivated my heart through the Harry Potter series.  By this, I'm referring to the pasted descriptions of Grace Marks written by other authors such as Susanna Moodie and Emily Bronte which almost made it look like movie reviews. Although I can appreciate these authors' inputs and descriptions of the main character, I still think that it would be nice to hear the opinion of the author whose novel I'm reading. While we're still on the topic of not Margaret Atwood, I came across a poem written by Emily Bronte at the time of Grace Mark's conviction. The poem was a pretty basic summary of the story, not to mention that every stanza rhymed (which I found the most impressive of all). Although the poem is merely an interpretation of the true events, it gives a bit more insight to the story itself because it made me question whether or not a young girl like Grace Marks is capable of murder and if she was in fact telling the truth about being innocent, or if she is the psychopathic "murderess" that the people convicted her of being.

Susanna Moodie and Emily Bronte may have gained my attention and kept me from slamming the book closed, but I will give credit to Margaret Atwood for one thing --writing something appealing.
I'm completely joking. Margaret Atwood is fully capable of tasteful writing... just not to me. But anyway.


While at the Governor's house with his wife, Grace is identified as being a "romantic figure" by some of the women there, however they also point out that she doesn't smile or laugh. Grace reminds herself that she hasn't had a reason to smile in such a long time, and if she were to laugh she feared she would not be able to stop, which would ruin her romantic image as "Romantic people are not supposed to laugh. I know that much from looking at pictures." (Atwood, 25) Honestly, I don't know why this line caught my attention. Maybe it just struck me as bizarre that a murderer can even be seen as a romantic figure or maybe it was the fact that I had always interpreted love in this certain era to be forced, as wives were seen as property and husbands were seen as assets. The other thing about that quote that made me wonder was if you were romantic, wouldn't that imply that you are either in love, or want to be in love? And if it does, then wouldn't that make you happy? If this is the supposed case, then why would smiling ruin such an image of being romantic? As far as I see it, if you're a romantic, you're in love and if you're in love, then you're happy and if there are no signs of being happy or in love then said person is not a romantic as Grace Marks was described as.

However, I still think that there's some hope for Grace Marks yet as being a romantic figure -- she was convicted for murdering Thomas Kinnear and his mistress, Nancy Montgomery. Some say she did it out of jealousy. Some say she did it because she was deranged. My prediction so far is that Grace Marks was in love with Thomas Kinnear and she knew that she could never be involved with him. That fact became proven when he started seeing Nancy Montgomery, and when the truth became too difficult, she murdered them both. So I guess you could say that in a jealous, deranged kind of way, Grace Marks acted romantically in the way of her crimes.

And I guess I'm alright with reading about that for the next three months.

First Impressions of Alias Grace

Before there are any misconceptions, I will set the story straight -- I did not judge a book by its cover.
I judged it by its title.

Upon seeing the title Alias Grace, I was immediately bored and it didn't capture my attention what so ever. In fact, I forgot that it was even on the list and the title did not even ring a bell in my mind when I had heard the title repeated by several friends and family members. However, my opinion (or lack there-of) of the novel was immediately changed when I read reviews and the plot of the story.

Before reading Alias Grace, I decided that I should do some research on it in order to gain some more understanding. This may seem like the sensible and mature thing to do in this situation, as I knew next to nothing about this novel, however the truth of it is that I was just lazy. From my research, I came to the conclusion that Alias Grace is a novel that is based off the true story of Grace Marks (the protagonist) who is notorious for the murder of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery at the age of sixteen. As soon as I read the word murder I knew that this would a story that I'd enjoy, and even the summary of the novel intrigued me. This novel instantly became my first choice and I had a good feeling that it would be a story that would be compelling, thoughtful and easy to follow.

And then I realized that it was written by Margaret Atwood.

Not that I have anything against Margaret Atwood. As a Canadian writer, I've come to respect her, however through previous experiences with her other works, I've found myself lost, confused and slightly drowsy after and while reading. Instead of throwing the book down in predetermined defeat and venturing for another novel, I looked at Alias Grace as a challenge. When I looked at it, I felt it say to me, "You don't have it in you to get through this book cover-to-cover." and I replied, "Bring it on, Alias Grace. Bring it on."

So here it is: my official statement saying that I have accepted the challenge that I presented to myself in the voice of Margaret Atwood as the voice of Grace Marks by saying that I can and will read Alias Grace cover-to-cover without using Sparknotes, eNotes, or force someone into reading the novel for me. I will befriend Alias Grace as if it were a new student. I will become an expert on the novel, knowing both the fiction and non-fiction sides of it. And finally, I will be brutally honest about my opinions of the novel at all times.

That is one promise that I can be sure to keep.