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houses and heat that blasts through the house 24/7, but since I live in a house where almost everything modern is obsolete, I'm familiar with some of these concepts.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.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
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
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
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
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
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