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.