|
|
|
|
“It is always a mistake to curse back openly at those who are stronger than you unless there is a fence in between.”
|
| | 0 | 8/25/2011 11:30 AM | Dr. Jordan To me, Dr. Jordan is the only one who has ever really treated Grace as an equal in this book, besides Mary Whitney. Every other man has talked down to Grace, especially her father. It's nice to see Grace and Dr. Jordan talk together, simply because I feel a friendship growing between them. | | | | 0 | 8/25/2011 11:22 AM | Mary Whitney's Death I also forgot to mention this a while back but I found Mary Whitney's death utterly repulsive! I am not going to dive into the debate against abortion, however, I was not even aware they performed abortions back in those times. It seems like it was a very secret, hushed-up ordeal though. It must not have gone over too well with everyone, living in times ruled by religion. The church does not accept abortions. It was interesting to me, because, to me, Mary chose death over dishonor. Dishonor to her employers, and community, and what they would think of her. But in a way, I see her death as dishonoring herself.... | | | | 0 | 8/25/2011 10:36 AM | Nancy Has anyone else found themselves getting greatly irritated by Nancy? It seems like she acts like a little, jealous yippy dog, begging at Mr. Kinnear's feet for attention. I know a lot of girls and women who act like this over their boyfriends/husbands, so I find it beyond irritating. It's clear to me that Mr. Kinnear and Nancy are sleeping together, yet she is so emotionally attached and possessive! If he shows Grace the slightest bit of attention, Nancy gets mad and might as well just throw a fit. Also, I have begun to wonder about Mr. Kinnear's trips every Thursday night. Where exactly is he going and who with? Nancy clearly gets upset over this, as she asks Grace to come into bed and sleep with her. | | | | 0 | 8/25/2011 10:33 AM | McDermott I am only a little more than halfway through the story, and James McDermott has been introduced, and already I can not STAND him! He is so rude, and on a drunken night said much rude, evil things to Grace. I hate the way how some of the men talk to and treat Grace in this story. The keepers who walk Grace back and forth to and from her jailcell, with their dirty, disgusting comments, Grace's old employer who molested her, and now McDermott! It makes me angry that Grace is, in-fact helpless, because if she did maybe act out against the keepers she would be found in more trouble and would be greatly punished. | | | | 0 | 8/25/2011 10:29 AM | Quote 2 Another quote I took great notice to was one that Grace says to Dr. Jordan on page 243, "Those who have been in trouble themselves are alert to it in others, Sir." After Grace having said this, Dr. Jordan abruptly leaves. It makes me wonder more about Dr. Jordan's past, and if he is hiding something. Maybe I am way off track here, but I can't help but to wonder... | | | | 0 | 8/25/2011 10:26 AM | Religion Has anyone else taken notice to the subtle smothering of religion throughout this book? With Grace's story of the boat ride to the Americas, she talks about the hatred between the Catholics and the Protestants. And in the jail she says, "the drone of the Bible being read out, which today was Jacob and Esau and the mess of pottage, and the lies that were told and the blessing and birthright that was sold, and the deceptions and disguises that were practised, which God did not mind at all but the contrary." Graces almost seems to talk down about the Bible and it leads me to perhaps wonder if she has lost faith in God or any type of religion, as she has clearly lost hope in faith of getting out of jail and beginning a normal life. | | | | 0 | 8/25/2011 10:23 AM | Quote A quote I really took notice to when reading last night was on page 238. Grace says, "In the whole song, the poor pig was the only one who did no wrong, but it was also the only one who died. Many songs, I have noticed, are unfair in this way." This quote to me kind of hints at Grace's innocence. Perhaps she did no wrong, yet her whole life was stolen from her. Now, she must stay locked up in prison with all her hopes and dreams of living a normal, prosperous life left to die... | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 3:54 PM | Dr. Jordan Dr. Jordan comes off to me as a realist, seeing through people (as his job foreces him to). But it seems as though he see's the big picture. He see's things for what they truly are. Such as how he wont take up his mothers offers on all of the materialistic girls his mother presents to him.
"At least he isn't a woman, and thus not obliged to wear corsets and to deform himself with tight lacing. for widely held view of women are weak spined and jelly like by nature, and would slump to the floor like melted cheese if not roped in, he has nothing but contempt. while a medical student, he dissected a good many of women from the laboring classes, naturally and their spines and musculature were on the average no feebler than those of men, although many suffered from rickets"
He also talks of his life if he chose his mothers path of living for him. He says he would chose one of her proffered ladies, the richest one. He talks of how his daily life would be orderly, his breakfasts would be edible, and his children would be respectful. He talks of his home and children. He keeps talking of this life he could have and says ... and he himself would be sheltered in velvet and ends it to say: There are worse fates. Dr. Jordan is definitely one of my favorites also because he seems so down to earth about everything. I also like how Margarett Atwood really gives you a feel for him. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 3:37 PM | Loss There is such a great deal of loss throughout Graces life. First her drunken father, which she enevitably never had; but none the less it can be counted. Next is her Aunt , her support and help really kept Graces family alive. Then was her mother, which i felt affected grace a the most, it really showed how much she cared when it tore her apart that her father sold the tea kettle her mother valued so much, or when she went back and regretted not wrapping her in a nicer blanket or when she wished she would have cut a piece of her hair and kept it. Next is her siblings although it was her choice to leave them, it affected her all the same. Grace was the main guardian over them, she had such a strong relationship with them but she had to leave it behind. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 3:30 PM | Missing out While reading this book it kind of made me realize how much you miss when you aren't constantly exposed to the world.
"Then he said these girls were taught to read and had their own magazine which they published, with literary offerings, and he said they wrote stories and poems which he put into it , and i said under their own names? He said yes, which i said was bold of them , and it didnt scare the young men, as who would want a wife like that, writing things down for people to see, and make up things like that, and i would never be so brazen."
Not only did it make me realize how much you miss when you aren't constantly exposed to the world but it also made me realize how different things are today, and how things continuously change and progress. Because today there are a lot more female authors much more than i can count and just a guess but probably a lot more than there are men. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 3:21 PM | On the way to Canada When Grace was describing the boat she was in on her voyage to Canada i couldn't help but picture a slave ship. The way she described the boat in the beginning: the tight squeeze in the passengers area below the main deck, or the fact that there were no windows or bathrooms. Granted they were treated far better than the slaves were. Seeing as how they could move around as they please, and practically do whatever they pleased. But none the less it sounded absolutely unpleasant and not what i pictured at all. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 3:14 PM | Reputation I admired Grace when telling Dr. Jordan she didn't answer some of the journalists questions, such as where she originally came from? Or where she grew up? Because she didn't want to bring shame to her name. I admired the fact that even though she would never see them again she still cared about her family's reputation, and she wanted them to remember her for what she was and not what the journalists said about her. She wanted them to think of her as that same little girl, not the inhuman female demon that the journalists claimed she was. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 3:09 PM | Different cases It really stuck out to me when Grace said she would rather be a murderess than a murderer. I wondered why seeing as how they both are the same thing. But as i thought about it i came to realize that she said that because of the gender card in society back then. She probably would have been hung with James McDermont if she would have been a murdER, but since she was a murderESS they went easy on her. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 3:04 PM | Religion Religion definitely had a major part in graces life, which surprised me. She was always saying things about her beliefs. Such as comparing things to incidents in the bible, such as when she compared Canada to the tower of babel because there were so many different people. It also said she did not go to church "because her mother was not going to have her poor tattery children paraded in front of everyone, like scarecrows with no shoes" So seeing as how she didn't go to church she was still taught, and referred back to biblical incidents and related people back to their religion. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 2:57 PM | Unfortunate I cant help but call Grace unfortunate. After hearing her whole story I felt bad for her. Her whole life it was one thing after another. It seems as though. It seems as though the only thing that made her worthy of anything was her gift of sewing. she had nothing to show for herself but that. I felt pity that her father was so bad to her. I also felt bad for her siblings, because it seemed when she left it was just getting worse. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 11:04 AM | Young Man's Fancy Yay I finished Young Man's Fancy! That was a struggle getting through it because it was boring! Hopefully Broken Dishes is better. The section in Young Man's Fancy where there were all of the letters from Simon's mother and Joseph Workman was especially dragging on for me. I like the story line of Alias Grace, but sometimes the little things are a challenge to finish reading. So someone please tell me that Broken Dishes is an interesting section. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 10:48 AM | Quotes Page 84 and 85
I find it funny how Dr. DuPont says many aphorisms such as "He always felt that to put his own safety at risk was worth a good deal more than barking at others from behind the protection of a fence." or "Slow but steady wins the race!" or even "If at first you don't succeed," Dr. DuPont irritates me here but at the same time he just seems harmless and the kind of person who always wants to help. Even Simon gets annoyed and it says "Simon would like to kick him." I thought that was funny because Simon isn't looking for Dr. DuPont to give him advice. | | | | 0 | 8/24/2011 12:20 AM | A female Versus a Women or Lady Atwood writes early on in the book about Grace being compared to the Governors Wife and all the other ladies that visit. Atwood writes through Grace comparing herself to the governors wife thinking about the Settee and all the other women/ladies that have sat on it with their "bums like wobbly soft boiled eggs." Grace seems to idolize these women, being jealous of their gloves. But most importantly I think Atwood is trying to get out the point that women were much more confined and restricted in the 1800's. Mentioning the wire crinolines, looking their legs in, If I were to push the boundary's I might go on to say that Atwood went far enough by saying that women back then were caged like birds using her reference of a "birdcage" to describe the wire. | | | | 0 | 8/23/2011 11:50 PM | Quotes Page 79 "A sudden and illuminating thought strikes him-Reverend Verringer is in love with Grace Marks!" Simon thinks he has discovered a new light! He even comes up with a list of reasons why Reverend Verringer would be attracted to Grace and then how Grace would repay him. Simon jumped ahead of himself here I believe. | | | | 1 | 8/23/2011 11:47 PM | Romance? Does anyone else see Dr. Jordan starting to like Grace? The way he thinks about her and talks about her almost makes it seem as thought he may start to grow feelings for her. But I have no idea. I was just wondering if anyone else thought this. | | | | 0 | 8/23/2011 11:26 PM | Quotes Page 78 "Grace appears to have told one story at the inquest, another one at the trial, and, after her death sentence had been commuted, yet a third." This confused me because then I wasn't exactly sure what to believe and then I find here that Grace has told several different stories. Then when Reverend Verringer says "She denies the memory of it" it kind of gives it a twist. Meaning that Grace never denied the event, she only denied the memory of it. | | | | 0 | 8/23/2011 10:55 PM | Quotes Page 69 "But underneath that is another feeling, a feeling of being wide-eyed awake and watchful..." This paragraph here caught my eye because I empathized for Grace when she said that her words would always get twisted around in the courtroom. I got the feeling that Grace thought she may have feelings for Dr. Jordan here because she describes the moment as if Dr. Jordan was drawing on her skin with the feather end of an old-fashioned goose pen. | | | | 0 | 8/23/2011 10:32 PM | Grace Viewing all of the characters so far, my favorite is Grace. She seems humble and very smart. She knows how to present herself in different situations. She knows the time and place for acting quiet or dignified. I agree with Claire when she said that the other characters annoyed her. Grace comes off as mysterious and I like to believe that she is innocent. | | | | 0 | 8/23/2011 10:26 PM | Governor's wife The governor's wife and her scrapbook have been brought up and it seems silly to me. It seems like she dedicates herself to it. And there was something about her taking pity on Grace because perhaps she had gotten herself into trouble once. Also how she complains being the governor's wife of a prison. If you ask me, the governor's wife seems a little loopy. | | | | 1 | 8/23/2011 10:18 PM | Mary Whitney Alias I don't know if any of you have ever seen the movie Shutter Island with Leonardo Decaprio, but I swear this book reminds me so much of that movie! I don't really wanna give away the movie if you have never seen it, but it really relates to the whole alias thing and murder going on in this book. It's really quite interesting, and so far I am enjoying it, however, something tells me it's about to take a heavier turn... It's almost as though Grace actually feels her alias Mary Whitney as a part of her. "Mary would have said..., Mary would have..., etc." I have just gotten to the part in the book where she introduces Mary around page 150, and I'm anxious to keep reading. Although I think there is more to the whole Mary Whitney thing than what I have read so far. | | | | 0 | 8/23/2011 5:14 PM | The smell of a word "That word - musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase." (Page 23).
I find it odd that Grace is associating the word 'murderess' with a smell. And at first I got the impression that her tone, when describing the word, was almost romantic. But then she goes on to say that it reminds her of dead flowers and a musty smell. The contrast is rather wide-ranging. | | | | 3 | 8/23/2011 11:22 AM | "Ghosts/Spirits" When Grace is telling her story to Dr. Jordan, she mention this old lady that was on the boat, from Ireland to Canda, with the Marks family - Mrs. Phelan. When Grace's mother dies, Mrs. Phelan helps Grace however she can: "And Mrs. Phelan put her arm around me, and folded me in her shawl, and gave me a drink from a little bottle of spirits...and said it would do me good to cry..." Mrs. Phelan also mentioned that when a person dies, it is custom to open a window to "the out the soul". When Aunt Pauline's teapot fell off the bed and broke, Grace thought that it was her "mother's spirit, trapped in the bottom of the ship" because a window could not be opend. When Mary Whitney died, Grace again had not opened a window but "thought with a rush of fear" that she should and ran across the room to open one. She swears that she heard Mary whisper in her ear "Let me in" despite the clearly dead body of Mary next to Grace. But Grace hoped that she heard the words wrong and Mary had actually said "Let me out" - which is why Grace ran to open a window. When she learns of this custom - open windows to let out the soul - Grace unfortunately experiences a few unsettling situations which she believes are the ghosts and spirits of her loved ones that are trapped in the rooms where they die. She seems to sincerely believe that the broken teapot and the whispers were because the spirits were angry with her for not letting them out. This is too much of a burden for such a young, impressionable girl. | | | | 2 | 8/23/2011 11:19 AM | Atwood's Writing Style I find the way in which Margaret Atwood has written Alias Grace to be most intriguing. While written by an author in modern times, Atwood does very well in creating a novel written with a Victorian, mid 1800's language. This helps in both visualising the living conditions and way of thought of those during Grace Mark's time, along with allowing the reader to feel encaptivated in that time period. This writing style is key in understanding both Mark's and Simon Jordan's characters. | | | | 1 | 8/23/2011 11:14 AM | Alias So I haven't finished this book yet and I'm really not far because I started it a few days ago after finishing The Picture Of Dorian Gray. I'm up to Young Mans Fancy and I understand that Two people have been murdered and of the Two accused, one was hung and the other is "serving her time." I know Grace Marks has no recollection of murdering anyone and so far my prediction is that she is two sided and her alias Mary Whitney is the one who murdered Nancy and Thomas. The only thing I'm confused about is when reading Grace makes comments about what Mary Whitney said or would have said. Is Mary Whitney a real person? | | | | 0 | 8/23/2011 12:55 AM | Setup Every book I've ever read consitsts of some boring stuff at the beginning, a table of contents, and then finally the book begins. Chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter. This book however consists of the same nonsense at the begginning but then, however, something different. This book has sections? Well I think they're sections that contain chapters, or are they chapters with sections? Also there is just a giant random poem? I obviously don't completely understand whats going on with the setup of this book, but I must say I find it oddly refreshing that it's so different from anything I've ever encountered when reading and the best part is that it just fits. | | | | 1 | 8/23/2011 12:05 AM | Murderess " Sometimes at night I whisper it over to myself: Murderess, Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt across the floor.
Murderer is merely brutal. It's like a hammer, or a lump of metal. I would rather be a murderess than a murderer, if those are the only choices." -Grace Marks, pg. 23
Stated in the begining of the novel, this quote is important in portraying society's standards on Grace Marks and other women during that time period. Part of the reason Mark's case was so famous was the fact that she was a women, and it was shocking to the public to find out that a woman was part of such sinful and brutal acts. To some, such as Reverend Verringer, it is incomprehensible. This shows how women were viewed differently from men. They are believed to either to innocent and kind or to weak and cowardly to commit such crimes. A key thought, along with others in the novel, that address the belittlement of women.
| | | | 0 | 8/21/2011 8:00 PM | What is in a name? Chpt 46/pg 379:
Grace is trying to determine what Dr. Jordan was named for - perhaps "Simon Peter the Apostle"? Which leads her to her own name - Grace. Her mother never told her what she was named for (along with many other things never told). Grace hopes that she was named after the hymn:
"Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but no I'm found,
Was blind but now I see."
Grace thinks, "I hope I was named after it. I would like to be found. I would like to see. Or to be seen." There is her connection to anything religious - her hymn - and her connection to her life. Yet it also describes the very thing she wishes for, more than anything in the world - to be found and to be seen. Not by the public who condemned her before the trial but by someone who can see past all that and break through the tough exterior she has so carefully built since she was a little girl Ok...yes, this sounds like the perfect 'knight in shining armour' that all girls dream about but Grace is in desperate need of someone to just see her as her. Maybe someone like....Simon Jordan (no Doctor title to hide behind - just Simon Jordan).
[Next, read chp 46, pg 388 - the second paragraph of the big bulk - starting with "A lazy, indulgent lfe... - there might be a knight in Simon Jordan already!!] | | | | 1 | 8/21/2011 7:34 PM | Favorite Character My favorite character is definitely the governors wife. Her mysterious personality and almost eerie interests are intriguing, such as her scrap book full of the newspaper clippings from the murders, the trials, and the hangings. I find it very strange, humorous, and almost admirable that she uses it as a tool to determine which of the inmates she will as miss Lydia put it "be a worthy object of charity". She also openly flaunted it to Dr. Jordan as if it was completely normal, which was in my opinion humorous because dr. Jordan thinks "the woman must be a ghoul as well as a hypochondriac". Grace says at one point "she is not afraid of me, she doesn't mind me or care what i have done" Her none judge mentality is very admirable. | | | | 0 | 8/21/2011 7:18 PM | Relations btwn Characters There are some rather surprising and some almost inappropriate relationships between some characters.
-----Nancy and Mr. Kinnear: Master and housekeeper/mistress sleeping together. Mentioned in another post, Nancy was disgraced for having a child out of wedlock but Mr. Kinnear still took her in (and according to McDermott it was more because he know she would 'put out' since she already had for someone else). With there being no Mrs. Kinnear, Nancy has assumed that role without the actual title which is not usual.
-----Mr. Kinnear and Grace: Grace refused but Mr. Kinnear kept trying to become intimate with Grace - much to Nancy's disgust. Mr. Kinnear made some advances towards Grace and was always more polite than necessary between master and maid.
-----Nancy and Grace: Nancy had some major mood swings - one minute she would be friendly and the next she would be making Grace scrub the kitchen floor as punishment. Whenever Mr. Kinnear paid a little more attention to Grace than he did to Nancy, Nancy would be furious. But whenever Mr. Kinnear was not at home, she would request that Grace slept with her - to protect her from robbers and whoever else.
-----Mary and Grace: Mary was older than Grace, more experienced, more adventurous than Grace was. She took Grace under her wing right away. She taught Grace the ins-and-outs of service as a maid and hints on life, etc. But Grace and Mary seem to be complete opposites of each other, which, I guess kind of makes them perfect for each other.
-----Dr. Simon Jordan and Rachel Humphery. Mrs. Humphrey is Dr. Jordan's landlady turned mistress. It is scandalous for Mrs. Humphrey - who is not actually a widow though her husband left town - to have an intimate relationship with her boarder, especially as a married woman of class. It seems as though Mrs. Humphrey is trying to replace her living husband with the next closest man (which unfortunately happens to be Dr. Jordan). But, Dr. Jordan does not stop the relationship and continues to go through the "ritual dance" of tears, reluctance, comfort, and sex. He even thinks "Having a mistress...is worse than having a wife. The responsibilites involved are weightier, and more muddled."
-----Grace Marks and Dr. Jordan: Grace would never say it and Dr. Jordan is too oblivious and absorbed in Grace's story to notice anything but Mr. Kenneth MacKenzie (the lawyer) points out that there may be a possibility that Grace is withholding truths because she is in love with Dr. Jordan.
-----Mr. MacKenzie and Grace: according to Mr. MacKenzie, he thought Grace was in love with him during the trial and that she would do anything to get him to touch her. Grace says that it was the other way around though.
Of course, there are plenty more surprising and somewhat strange relationships but these are some significant ones. | | | | 2 | 8/21/2011 5:40 PM | Mary Whitney and Nancy Montgomery Mary and Nacy, at first glance, seem like they would not have anything in common:
---Mary: a sevant in the city, young, adventurous, and likes to push boundaries.
---Nancy: a mistress of a house that is not hers and secretly sleeping with the man of the house.
Yet, they have a few things in common. They work with Grace (Mary more of a friend to her than Nacy), they have sinned in the most extreme way and have faced the consequences (although to different degrees): Mary and Nancy both slept with a man and had become pregnant - without being married. Both of the men had run off and left their pregnant...'girlfriends' to deal with the baby on their own.
---Nancy's baby died and although she was essentially 'ruined', Mr. Thomas Kinnear "hired her and took her in anyway" and according to James McDermott Mr. Kinnear had other things in mind - "a woman once on her back was like a turtle in the same plight, she couuld scarely turn herself right side up again, and wa fair game for all."
---Mary was not so lucky with her undesirable situation. She tried to hide her pregnancy as best she could but when she started showing, it would be the end of her income flow. There was no way she could hide her condition long enough to give the baby away or raise it on her own. Instead she decided to visit a doctor that would take care of it. There were too many complications with the surgery and Mary bled out during the night and died.
So although Nancy and Mary seem to be 'opposites' in Grace's life, they have commonalities that cant be completely dismissed. Grace is around a lot of sin and bad judgement and consequences for a young girl barely sixteen.
| | | | 0 | 8/21/2011 4:26 PM | Dialogue I really enjoy Atwood's writing style as well. When writing from Grace's POV she uses no quotation marks, and it almost gives off the feel that Grace is stuck inside her mind in a way, like how she has been trapped inside of a cell for the last however many years of her life. She isn't free, and it almost seems like she holds back a lot. Perhaps she wants that freedom, yet she is scared. Then when Atwood focuses her writing on Dr. Jordan in 3rd person, she writes in present tense. I don't know, but I find it very interesting. | | | | 0 | 8/20/2011 6:48 PM | Media There was a definite acknowledgement of a role in the media. Grace addresses the fact that she is "gossiped" about in all different perspectives and views. She makes a point to attack the fact that all of the journalists contradict themselves, such as: "that i am handsome, with a brilliant completion, that i have blue eyes, that i have green eyes that i have auburn hair, that i have brown hair" she goes on into more details on the useless, pointless, things they say to show that the media will never change; always conniving to get the best information. Even if they have to make a few things up | | | | 3 | 8/20/2011 2:32 PM | Governor's wife
In Puss in the Corner Grace tells us about the Governor's wife and talks about her scrapbook. She describes her book compared to the other women, and her actions toward Grace compared to other women. The Governor's wife is kinder and the women glare at her. Their scrapbooks are filled with pleasant memories and the Governor's wife's with newspaper articles and clippings or criminals. Why? Grace says, "She does not like being the Governer's wife, she would prefer the Governer to be the governer of something other than a prison." If she hates the prison so much why is she obsessed with the criminals? Is it possible that she herself has a past and perhaps that's also why she takes pity and compassion on Grace? Also are the quotes at the beginning of some pages supposed to represent the "newspaper articles" about Grace in the scrapbook? | | | | 0 | 8/20/2011 2:27 PM | The Press's influence in the 1800s Referrenced in the book a few times, journalist Susanna Moodie wrote many pieces about Grace Mark's and her trial. She, along with many others, described Grace in a savage and crazed way, which was shown to not be the case. Even the auithor, Margaret Atwood, believed much of what was written by the press about Grace Mark's for awhile. However, Atwood soon disagreed with many of the "facts" and portrayal of Marks, which is why she chose to write Alias Grace. I just find it interesting how, when given free speech and free press in the 1800s, writers exaggerated much to make a sensational story, even if it ment tarnishing the reputation of others. | | | | 2 | 8/20/2011 2:18 PM | Mary Whitney Upon reading chapter 20, I realized something about the Mary Whitney Character. Atwood creates her to be the exact opposite of a "common" woman of the time with the same "common" woman desires. Mary is improper, strong-willed, and independent, however she still wants to get married and have a family. What I find very interesting is that Grace looks up to Mary as her role model. Throughout the entire story, so far, Grace always thinks of "What would Mary do," which in some ways could be part of the reason that Grace ended up in the prison. I question how much Mary has influenced Grace up until the point she got caught, as well as, who Mary truly represents in the story. | | | | 1 | 8/20/2011 2:08 PM | Grace's Likability When reading Alias Grace, I can't help but like GRace as a charecter. She is relatable and down to earth with her messed up childhood. Her calculated thoughts are interesting and exciting to follow knowoing that we are the onl person other than Grace who knows what she is thinking. The other charecters agitate me. The Reverend and Dr. Jordan are too preoccupied in women; the Goveneour's daughters are needy and obnoxious. Grace is one of the only charechters whom i can't help but like, which leads my bias to believe that she did not commit the murder. | | | | 0 | 8/20/2011 2:03 PM | Grace's Childhood I really enjoyed that Atwood begins Grace's story as far back as her childhood in Ireland. It makes a great story, and also creates possible factors that may have had a later effect on her psyche. Throughout the whole section of "Broken Dishes" a thought that I coninued to have was this: It is fascinating and almost saddening to realize that even the most brutal killers (I'm not necessarily saying Grace was a brutal killer) were once innocent children, and were corrupted throughout their lives to create the monsters they become. | | | | 0 | 8/20/2011 1:52 PM | Spoken and Unspoken On pgs. 100- 101 Dr. Jordan asks Grace, "What did you dream last night?" In her mind, Grace recalls vividly her dream with the strange peddler in Mr. Kinnear's home. However, once she is done remembering the the dream, she simply replies to Dr. Jordan, "I can't remember, Sir." I found this to be very humorous, but at the same time it shows Grace's struggle to open up her mind to others. I often wondered what exactly made it hard for Grace to tell her thoughts, as there are many factors. It could be her shattered relationship with her father, the death of her confidant, Mary, her strange relationship with McDermot, or the way society treated her post-trial. | | | | 1 | 8/20/2011 1:35 PM | Continued: Writing styles I'm about half way through the book already and I really do enjoy Atwood's way of writing. For starters, I noticed how at certain parts of the book, there isn't any actual dialog. I like how it makes it seem like the words are really coming from Grace Mark's mouth and it makes the story all more special. The only downside I've found to not having any actual dialog is when reading, I'd get confused with who was talking and when someone was talking. Over all, I enjoy the writing styles Atwood uses. | | | | 4 | 8/20/2011 1:11 PM | Title This posting might seem like I am going insane but I am just merely suggesting something that popped into my mind.
---"Alias Grace" On page 10 of the book, there is a drawing of "Grace Marks alias Mary Whitney". Grace uses the name Mary Whitney as a cover name when she and James McDermott are on the run. Originally I just took this to be as is, nothing strange about it - I mean, of course, if you are running from the law after committing a murder you are certainly NOT going to use your real name so police can track you easier and arrest you more quickly. But...upon further reading, there was a moment where I thought that maybe Grace Marks really thoguht she was Mary Whitney for a period of time or that when Mary died, a part of her attached herself to Grace and in a way 'controlled' some of Grace's actions. (I know - this sounds crazy - paranormal or whatever but bare with me for a moment - it might make some sense eventually).
When Mary dies, Grace hears her whisper in her ear "let me in". A little while later, Grace "fell to the floor in a dead faint". Supposedly she lay there for hours, unable to be awaken. When 'Grace' finally did wake, she did not know where she was or what had happened and she kept asking for Grace - almost as if she was Mary, like Mary's spirit inhabited Grace's body for awhile. Later, Grace woke again from a deep sleep, knowing to be herself and that Mary was dead. But she has no recollection of any of this happening whatsoever.
---I cant help but think that after Mary dies, a piece of her does stay with Grace, not just in memory but in the depths of her 'soul' or 'spirit' or whatever it is called. It is almost like it is Mary still living on and Grace died. So when it comes to the title of "Alias Grace", maybe the drawing had it backwards - instead of Grace Marks alias Mary Whitney it is actually Mary Whitney alias Grace.
Plus, Grace does not strike me as a person who would commit the murder she is accused of doing (so far at least) but Mary...she is a very different story.
(Just some food for thought...)
| | | | 0 | 8/19/2011 11:58 PM | Thoughts I read this book last year during the school year and really enjoyed it. I found it fascinating to learn about the troubles of a "mental" person in the 1800s. Everything was so much different back then. They could just imprison a person without knowing all the facts which is something that should never happen now. I don't know if it says this on the book but Alias Grace was based on a true story and Grace Marks in real life was a 16 year old Irish immigrant. Going to jail and being accused of a murder must have been terrifying for such a young girl. Just some thoughts i thought i would share about the background of the book. | | | | 0 | 8/19/2011 2:42 PM | Impressionable Grace While reading this book, Im completely preoccupied by Grace's attitude. Im sure this has been discussed before but I need to bring it up again in a new light.
Grace is way too impressionable. She is a younge girl who lost her mother. She doesnt that have that guide post like other girls, no one to tell her that its ok to stand up to her father or to move out. She has no one to tell her what shes doing is right and that her father is wrong. When Grace is told to do something she obeys. When she is told that spirits need to be let out through a window she HAS to do it. Its not a tradition she'll only follow if she remembers. Its a neccesity.
She also seems very calm. Whether is was 'Grace' or 'Mary' who commitedd murder (see PiltcherA's post; there great!), Grace is aware now and she is almost... too relaxed. We see movies or read books of a trial gone wrong, innocents locked up, and most people find this very disturbing and the victim of such misconceptions are hysterical. So why isn't Grace? Perhaps she has commited murders and she finds this her punishment, her way of repenting. Then again, she doesn't actually try to 'repent' her sins in a visible or noted way. She allows herself to be locked up but praying and becoming a 'born again Christian' is completey not on the books for her.
So why is Grace so calm? Wouldn't you be a little worried about being locked up?
Then again, her impressionable morals and actions come into play. Exscuse me if this makes no sense but im merely puts thought into words:
What if while she was out of consiousness as Grace but instead was acting like she was Mary (or really was Mary) she killed and ran off with her man. When she came to as Grace she was told that she had become a muderer and would be that way the rest of her days. So now Grace is thinking she is actually a murderer, shes actually been convinced she has done a unspeakable crime and she didnt realize it. Maybe thats why she doesnt repent, she draws the conclusion that she doesnt remeber- but she has done it- but she doesnt need to be forgiven. Much like dr. Jordans method of this is a onion- its from the ground- so are bodies.
This is a complete spin off of thought i had on PiltcherA's post. I've created a new topic because I found this a little too 'Spun Off' from her post and a new subtopic should be created!
| | | | 2 | 8/18/2011 12:49 PM | Innocence Grace seems to be one of the most innocent and "normal" charechters so far described. Reverend Verringer is way too interested in Grace's appearence, Simon is infatuated by the Govenour's daughter,the govenour's wife has an odd hobby of collecting murder trials. The charecter's thus far have been callous or cruel. Dr. Binswanger is very incensitive towards Grace and describes her as a bother. But as so far described, Grafce seems to be very innocent by the way she talks and acts. The only possible non innocence about her is her possible crime. | | | | 2 | 8/17/2011 11:02 PM | The Quilts The novel is divided into chapters which take their names from quilts. The different quilts parallel the novel. For example, the first chapter is labeled "Jagged Edge" and the main idea of the chapter is to show the reader Graces mental state. The second chapter is "Rocky Road" and tells about the trials and Graces account of what happened in the form of a poem. I thought this was a very innovative way of labeling the chapters of the novel and kept me guessing at what would happen next. The quilts were also a metaphor for Graces attempt to tell Dr. Jordan her story. She was speaking out, but in a coded, unclear message. just like a quilt. | | | | 2 | 8/17/2011 10:53 PM | Writing Style Margaret Atwood gives her book more life by adding different perspectives. When Grace Marks is the speaker you may believe she is innocent; however, when someone such as Dr. Jordan is the speaker it adds more mystery to the story. I enjoy the different perspectives because I think it helps to complicate the trial of Grace Marks and what the reader can assume.
| | | | 1 | 8/17/2011 10:30 PM | Identity and Quilting Just finished the book and my what an ending. So, just a heads up, spoiler alert!
******************************************************
After all the talk of quilts, I started to pick up that the chapter heads are really quilting patterns. Did anyone else have a notion like that? I thought it was really interesting, and seamed the motif of identity together well. How is identity connected to quilting you might ask?
Well, to connect the two, its important to know the different modes of personal identification Atwood uses throughout the book. First there are the social labels such as "murderess" and "innocent victim" which Grace was in turmoil over as the Governor's wife flaunted her prize prisoner to her lady friends in the third chapter. Next is identity based on expectations, as Simon is somewhat molded by his mother's expectations for his life and later marriage. Towards the middle of the book, he makes several remarks about aspects of Lydia and Grace which would sate his mother, and almost proposes to the former on the spot. Also, as we discover later, Grace's identity as a caregiver to her family is defined by the type of father she puts up with.
As Grace details in her meetings with Simon, the different quilt patterns are meant for different occasions in one's life: Marriage, finding a Home, Happiness etc. So, to Grace, stitching together the Tree of Paradise quilt at the end is symbolic of her discovering herself. As she says, her trees will have fabric remnants of three defining parts in her life: a piece of Mary Whitney's dress, the prison dress, and Nancy's dress. | | | | 2 | 8/17/2011 10:25 PM | Quotes Page 23 "I think of all the things that have been written about me-that I am an inhuman female demon, that I am an innocent victim of a blackguard forced against my will and in danger of my own life, that I was too ignorant to know how to act and that to hang me would be judicial murder, that I am fond of animals, that I am very handsome with a brilliant complexion..." This passage stood out to me because it reveals how popular this trial is. Grace Marks is known very well and she has been titled as so many different things by people who have never actually met her. The passage continues on like this "that I have blue eyes, that I have green eyes, that I have auburn and also brown hair..." People have so many different views toward Grace and it just adds to the confusion of who Grace Marks truly is. Grace closes the passage by saying "And I wonder, how can I be all of these different things at once?" Grace is witty and she knows more than the stereotypical 'mad woman' knows. She knows how ridiculous it is to be called all of those things at once. | | | | 0 | 8/15/2011 11:30 PM | Grace Marks; Innocent or Guilty?
Although the time period in which this book was set and in which the real event took place (mid 1800’s) was not capable of determining a definitive verdict regarding the innocence or guilt of Grace Marks, Margaret Atwood wrote her fictionalized version in 1996, a more recent time period with more modern scientific answers. Attwood’s prose is certainly misleading; as the plot twists so many times that the reader becomes less certain of their position regarding Grace. However there is one spot that, I think, gives away Atwood’s opinion. When Jeremiah, alias Dr. DuPont, hypnotizes Grace, she starts speaking in a voice not her own, and claiming to be a personality not herself. Before even this happens, Grace herself claims to have periods where she cannot remember her own actions, even though others will readily account for her being fully awake and responsive. Some may doubt her testimony, may think that she is cleverly avoiding any incriminating memories, but I think it is something else. Along with modern medical knowledge we have learned of a mental disorder known as Multiple Personality Disorder and/or Dissociative Identity Disorder. The afflicted person has more than one distinct personality, which often includes a different name and different behavior patterns, and which are often completely unaware that they each exist. Grace meets those criteria, and so there is the scientific conclusion; she is innocent because her other personality was the one who committed the crimes. But Atwood goes even further into promoting this by suggesting a verdict that is acceptable in time periods predating even the 1800’s. Along with religion, there came the concept of spirits and souls. To put it simply, Grace could have been possessed by the spirit of her friend, which would also be the one held accountable for Grace’s actions, not Grace herself. In a transitional time period between religion and science, either one of those explanations would have been satisfactory, but by combining them, Margaret Atwood creates one that satisfies it all and so thoroughly wraps up this conclusion that it would be hard to doubt in any context. | | | | 1 | 8/15/2011 10:56 PM | Spiritual Aspect Alias Grace is set in a time period that was going through a transition from supernatural to spiritual. This transition was not in Grace's favor. "two hundred years ago, they would not have been at a loss...It would have been a clear case of possesion. " pg 405. At the time of Graces trial and such, a more spiritual apprach was taken and it was believed that if you did any wrong( generally in the eyes of society) you were going to hell. The people of this time were dependent on faith and proof that god was real. This idea was embodied in Alias Grace through the scene of Nancy and Grace going to church and the scene with Jeremiah the peddler performing a sceance. The Fact that Jeremiah was the one performing the sceance also made the reader skeptical due to the fact that we knew that character as a peddler. This made the sceance seem like a scam, we have also been raised in a society that no longer puts much stock in the supernatural. This spirtiual aspect further complicates the question of wether or not Grace is guilty or innocent. | | | | 0 | 8/14/2011 9:41 PM | Dr. Jordan When Dr. Jordan is first introduced, he appears to be a smart, put together, mentally sound man who has a clear understsnding of his morals etc. However, by the end of Dr. Jordans presewnce in the novel I was questioning wether or not he was being affected by Grace and her puzzling situation. During the first few discussions with Grace he is focused and completly absorbed in the task at hand to the point where he was staying up late at night to review and study his notes. Then he starts to falter, this is where flashbacks to his childhood come into play and the relationship with his lam]nd lady occurs. Now Dr. Jordan may also have been affectede by the news of his mothers ailing health along with her constant pressure to find a suitable wife. I found it quite ironic that the doctor sent to help a mental patient becomes a little mentally unstable himself. | | | | 0 | 8/14/2011 9:15 PM | Quotes "this must stop. This can't go on. But nothing has been going on, and therefore nothing can stop."
"Soon it will be daybreak. Soon the day will break. I can't stop it from breaking in the same way it always does, and then from lying there broken; always the same day, which comes around again like clockwork. It begins with the day before, and then the day before, and then it's the day itself" pg 295
These were two of my favorite quotes in this book. They show a pattern or a cycle. LIke Graces life. ABuse, and neglect, something positive and then its taken away, repreat. Its really quite sad, and why this book was so touching. It appealed to its reader emotionally. Atwood tries to get you to feel sorry for Grace so that the decision to consider her a crazy murderess is that much harder. | | | | 0 | 8/14/2011 9:03 PM | Society's Standards Through out the novel, the standards of society affect the actions of the characters. For example, Dr. Jordans mother seems more concerned with maintaining her familys reputation and marrying her son off to a "respectable" girl then encouraging him in his educaton and career. Pg 50. Another example is the gaurds that work for the penitentary. They are extremely rude and disrespectful of Grace and she can tell that "they are a low class of person" (pg 64) these men are considered respectable men making a living, but Grace, who in this scene is by far more civilized and mannerly is shunned by society. Reputation is everything in this book. Grace will forever be a "murderess" which she thinks can be an opppressive title. "Murderess is a strong word to have attached to you. It has a smell to it, that word- musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase." (pg 22-23) Dr. Jordan will be "allureing" because he is educated and knowledgable, making women think he can solve their problems when in reality he most likely can't. | | | | 0 | 8/14/2011 8:25 PM | Romance/ loneliness There were several relationships that happened throughout Alias Grace. Dr. Jordan falling for Grace pg 352, as well as 388-389. Dr. Jordan also had a sexual relationship with his land lady Rachel, on top flirting with the Govonors Daughter Lydia. Grace also had feelings for Dr. Jordan, as well as Jamie whom she ended up marrying. Macdermott and the prison gaurds also had feelings for Grace but it is suggested that it is only physical attraction. There was also Nancy and Mr. Kinnear. All of these relationships weren't based on love. They formed because of lust or loneliness. This made the book so much more melancholy and tragic because there was no happy ending. Only "Fatal Attractions" and lust. These relationships created or destroyed wharever hope the reader had of a resolution to this story. Even when Grace marries Jamie Walsch at the end after being released from prison, I wasnt left with a satisied feeling that she was happy. She was settling, and while it makes for a really annoying and unsettling ending. It drives home that emotion of loneliness, and need for companionship that atwood was trying to express throughout the novel. | | | | 0 | 8/14/2011 7:49 PM | Politics Alias Grace was about much more then a murder. There were many other political topics and views brought up as well. Immigration, " there is still a widespread feeling against Grace Marks; and this is not a most partisan country. The Tories appear to have confused Grace with the Irish Question."(pg 80)
Feminism, How women are viewed in society " Attitudes towards her reflected contemporary ambiguity about the nature of womwn: was Grace a female feind and temptress, the instigator of the crime and the real murderer of Nancy Montgomery, or was she an unwilling victim, forced to keep silent by Mcdermott's threats and by fear for her own life?" (Author's Afterword, pg 464)
I thought this was interesting, if you find anymore political topics comment! | | | | 0 | 8/14/2011 7:39 PM | Insane or not insane? I loved how Grace knew what society considered as "mad" and thought about how others would precieve herbefore she acted or spoke. " Red hair of an ogre. A wild beast, the newspaper said. A monster. When they come with my dinner I will put the slop bucket over my head and hide behind the door, and that will give them a fright. If they want a monster so badly they can have one" (pg 33) She is smart enough to know when being crazy will work in her favor and when it will not. She pretended to have "fits of madness" so she could stay in the asylum where she was treated better then in the penitentary. I do not think she is insane at all. She is perfectly aware. Especially when providing the doctor with information. She only tells him what she thinks he wants to hear. | | | | 0 | 8/14/2011 7:10 PM | Different time frames I think that the reason we never find out wether or not Grace commited the crime or not is because two different time frames are used in telling the story. She starts out the story in prison and the Govonor's mansion, and as the story progresses moves into the past to her childhood and the Kinnear's. This made the events hard to analyze not only for Dr. Jordan but the reader as well. We learn about Grace as a prisoner then Grace as a child, Grace as a maid in the Govonors Mansion, Grace as an adolesent. The more information Grace provided, the more complicated her story became and changed how people saw her. | | | | 0 | 8/14/2011 6:57 PM | Different perspectives I found the different perspectives in this story very interesting. There was a first person account of the story from Grace, and this made the story very believeable because it was coming directly from the source. Then you had third person accounts from Simon(aka. Dr. Jordan) and the various newspaper clippings. These third person accounts made me question what I had previously believed about Grace and the murder. Through these different perspectives Atwood really emphasizes how much is unknown about this event and makes the reader question everything about the novel. | | | | 2 | 8/14/2011 1:19 PM | Possible Themes Up to page 105, Margaret Atwood has made Alias Grace confusing and challenged people to quesiton the themes for a specific reason I believe. While the themes are not totally defined yet, I have noticed a few possible themes. Grace's voice, as pointed out earlier, is only heard when she is narrorating the chapter. Margaret Atwood may be trying to show how no one really listens to Grace's voice, except possibly Simon, which is the only chapter in which Grace has quotatons. And even Simon often takes her reponses at face value when in Grace's mind she has carefully calculated every response. I believe Atwood wants us to question whether everyone , including ourselves, just assumes that Grace is guilty because others say she has commited a serious crime. Even those such as Reverend Verringer seems to be more attracted to Grace's appearence than commited to setting her free becuase he believes she truly did not commit Nancy Montgomery's murder. | | | | 2 | 8/13/2011 10:37 PM | Atwood's writing styles I've just started reading "Alice Grace", and I really admire Atwood's writing style. What I really enjoyed was how, instead of describing the murder, she actually puts in the form of a poem. I feel as though it adds more personality to her writing and the book itself. Not only did I enjoy the fact that this part in particular was written this way, but she made it so it was understandable and enjoyable to read.
I've also enjoyed how she uses her literary devices to her advantage. I thought it was clever how she described the word "murderess" as "musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase."
| | | | 1 | 8/13/2011 10:27 PM | How Grace is represented As someone else has mentioned, when Grace is speaking the author does not put quotations around her sentances. Margaret Atwood may have done this for one of two possible reasons:
1) IT could be following one of the possible themes, which is women's place in society. Women in the time period of Alias Grace were not supposed to have much of a voice or opinion.
2) Whenever Grace is talking it is in her perspective. Atwood seems to change the narrorator depending on the chapters. The only time Grace's voice is heard is in her narrorated chapters. | | | | 4 | 8/13/2011 10:20 PM | Religion I haven't been able to read too much of this book yet but Im hooked so far. Unfortuently, im reading this book from my kindle so I wont be able to mention page numbers, only locations and percentages.
In locations up to 834, i've noticed the subtle and obvious mentions of religion. Grace is at one point harrassed by a younge women who attempts to baptise her with soup. This girl apparently suffers from 'religious fantacism', meaning she is too transfixed and devoted to a diety. Over- religion. The mention of religion in this context is obviously negative. IN fact, most mentions of religion or a god throughout this book are negative. When Doctor Simon Jordan begins to question Grace, she hasn't associated him with anything positive, and at one point refers to him as 'a Doctor of Divintiy' (location 653, 8%). This is all after he presents her with an apple, connecting him to the snake in the story of Adam and Eve, again negative. Im sure by the way the Penitentiary is described a a Greek Temple, though the pagent god is not known, Atwood will continue with this theme of religion in a negative light. | | | | 0 | 8/13/2011 6:27 PM | Quotes I'm about 70 pages in and I'm enjoying the read! I love the mystery behind who Grace really is. I'm not sure if I believe that she did assist in the murder, or if she is actually sane. What is confusing me a bit is Mary Whitney. Grace mentions her throughout the story; however, I still don't know much about her.
I have marked some passages that stood out to me. The first one I'll share is on page 23. "Sometimes I whisper it over to myself: Murderess, Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt across the floor. Murderer is merely brutal. It's like a hammer, or a lump of metal. I would rather be a murderess than a murderer, if those are the only choices." The simile about the skirt shows that Grace is feminine I think, and also how a word like 'murderess' is unpleasant but still Grace will repeat it to herself at night. And then on another level, there's 'murderer' which is nothing like "a taffeta skirt across the floor" instead, it is more masculine and heavy. | | | | 0 | 8/12/2011 10:15 AM | Quilts I have noticed the recurrence of quilts and quilting. On pg. 162 and 163, Grace discusses the multiple means of the different types of quilts and about how Mary wants to make the three quilts because every woman should make three quilts before getting married, or something like that. What I am wondering is what is the symbolism of the quilts? Do the quilts represent the different patches of Graces life? Also, earlier in the book, Grace discusses what her quilt would look like if she made one for herself. I am just curious as to why Atwood made quilts such a large symbol within the book. | | | | 0 | 8/12/2011 10:10 AM | Jeremiah the Peddler Who or What does Jeremiah represent in this story? On pg. 155, he says to Grace ,"You are one of us." Grace pends the question and comes up with the conclusion that he means that she is homeless/ a wanderer, however I think that he means that she is someone who will never find herself. She will always want to be like someone else such as Mary. Jeremiah can do multiple taks and yet he has not found exactly what or who he is. Maybe that is what the title means, "Alias Grace" because Grace always wants to cover up who she is. What does the title really mean?
| | | | 2 | 8/11/2011 12:46 PM | Quotation marks Has anyone else noticed that until about page 73, there are not quotation marks when Grace is speaking. Even when she is talking with Dr. Simon Jordan, there is nothing to officially distinguish between what is said and the rest of the sentence. It is readable of course, it just caught me off guard a couple of times (thats what I get for reading too late at night I guess). That is until chapter 10. In this chapter Dr. Jordan mets with Reverend Verringer. During their conversation, there are quotation marks. They also appear in chapter 11 when Dr. Jordan visits at the Governor's residence and speaks with the Governor's wife. I cant help but notice that when it is an intellectual or educated person speaking with another educated person there are quotation marks - which makes the sentence "proper" for lack of a better term. When there is even one less educated or non-intellect in the conversation, there is a lack of marks; when Grace speaks, whether it is with Dr. Jordan or at the Governor's house this occures. It probably is nothing but this subtle pattern seems to be persisting and it just caught my attention for a bit. | | | | 0 | 8/10/2011 1:55 PM | Response to Ashley's "Atwoods Mini-Preludes" (and extra)
The first 50 pages or so are very interesting. I agree with Ashley that the poems and personal accounts allow for us readers to get different viewpoints on who Grace Marks is and what she may or may not have done. Although they are clever interductions and preludes, I found them to be almost distracting from getting into the book. I think that if they were a little more spread out in the first 100 pages or so, they would have been more effective - or even if they were the first pages of each new chapter.
I did however think that the poem was a great way of "condensing" (if you please) what Grace Marks and James McDermott were accused of doing. Instead of having pages and pages of single viewpoints with very detailed accounts of the murders, the poem served as a way to provide some significant details: the relationship between Grace and James before, during, and after the murders.
There seems to be a lot of unexpected and/or inappropriate relationships even in the first 50 pages. Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery; Grace and James - later Grace and Dr. Simon.
As Ashley noted, Grace uses the alias Mary Witney: I too also thought that Mary Witney might be anoter personality of Grace. Mary would be what Grace really thought: the crude comments and unlady-like actions. Either Grace is really good at hiding her split-personalities or the doctors are just really terrible doctors for not noticing I guess.
| | | | 1 | 8/9/2011 10:31 PM | Grace's Childhood In chapter 12, Grace talks about her family life. She talks about the troubles she had growing up as a child and how she had to be tough. One interesting thing she had mentioned was what her Aunt used to think about her father. Her Aunt used to say that he had a "murderous" look about him. I find it an interesting connection because Grace is considered to have been involved in the murder and has been convicted. On a side note, her upbringing was very hard on her which could be part of the reason that she was involved in the murder. It has been proven over time that children (Grace was only 16 years old at the time) with harsh upbringings turn to violence and worse. Her upbringing is part of the reason she is where she is, just like so many other criminal cases. However, Grace still does have the soft side of a young woman that is common and natural. It makes me question if she really had the strength to be involved in the murder. This chapter made my previous assumptions very questionable. | | | | 1 | 8/9/2011 12:12 PM | Relationship between Simon and Grace In chapters 10 and 11 I started to find a strange pattern in the topic of feelings about Grace and Simon. Simon, when asked about Grace in chapter 10, describes her to be this beautiful woman who has an interesting innocence and a commonality found in most women, however he continues with describing her to be different than most women that throw themselves at him which he finds an intriguing aspect to his study. Grace, on the other hand, finds Simon to be a handsome man which she can trust, even with his strange approaches with his study. I am not saying that any sort of feelings are forming, but I am finding that there is a stronger connection between the paitent and the doctor. How would the relationship between Grace and Simon be defined? | | | | 0 | 8/4/2011 2:18 PM | THEMES I've began to notice multiple themes throughout Alias Grace and one of the ones that stands out to me the most is the treatment of women in the 1800's. After Grace is locked up in her little room when she had her "freak out" episode about the doctor with the "knives" she begins talking about how many of the women locked up in the asylum aren't mad at all. She believes they as well as she are actually quite sane. She goes on to discuss how people are sane when sober and how she understands this well. Could that have been for reason for the murdering Nancy? If she really did, was Nancy crazy when she was drunk or did she abuse Grace? Also Grace goes on to talk about how one woman stays there because her husband beats her and how he is actually the mad one. Is it also possible that men send their wives there? Grace then is accused of not repenting by one of the reidents at the asylum annd she becomes angry and screams, "I did nothing, it was her, it was her fault!" I have two ideas on what she could mean by this. The first goes back to the idea that Grace has to personailities and the other is Mary Whitney, could she be the "her"? The other is that Nancy did abuse Grace and that's why it was her(Nancy's) fault. | | | | 0 | 7/25/2011 6:21 PM | The Image pg 10 and Reference to it on pg 58-59 The description of the image from Simon's point of view creates a interesting take on Grace Marks appearance. He describes her to look older than she is in the image (16) as well as making her seem tough yet lost with his comment on Marks' eyes to be "large eyes gazing at nothing." Along with the account of Marks' appearance, Simon makes a comparison with James McDermott, the other person depicted in the image. He continues with a description that he follows with the comment, "the artist must have admired him." Following the narrative from Simon upon looking at the image, he reports his pre-conceived notions of Grace which he then admits to be wrong. What does this description of the image and the image itself represent? And why does Simon ignore the "Grace Marks alias Mary Whitney" text underneath the picture? Does this image indicate any spilt persona of Grace? | | | | 3 | 7/24/2011 6:24 PM | Atwood's mini-preludes I'm about fifty pages into Alias Grace, and I really like how Atwood structures her chapters! The poems/ personal accounts (from the actual trial of Grace Marks?) really add a lot to the narrative. I feel like you take away so much more from a story when you hear different points of view, but since this book is written in the first person, there wouldn't otherwise be a chance for that. Also, since there's such a conflict over exactly who Grace Marks is(conniving murderess, innocent girl etc), the poems and such provide some background information of the preceding events that led to Grace's imprisonment.
Continuing to appreciate Atwood's miniature chapter preludes, has anyone deciphered the text below the picture on page 10? I'm fairly sure it says 'Grace Marks alias Mary Whitney' which would lead me to believe that Grace has a split personality or something thereabouts, because she refers to a 'Mary Whitney' quite a few times as having opinions about this and that.
Anyone else pick up on those nuances of identity? | |
|
|
|
|
|
|