Grace says she awoke to a “beautiful pink sunrise” (pg. 237). In the next paragraph, however, she says, “In fact I have no idea of what kind of a sunrise there was.” She goes on to explain that in the prison the windows are so high, deliberately, so you can’t see out. So, you can’t imagine yourself dropping below the horizon. All you see is “light without shape.”
In one moment, it seemed, the moment she opened her eyes, everything was “beautiful” and “pink.” In the next moment everything was the “same all the way through, like lard.” Is it prison that makes her tough? Or is it the reminder of foul deeds that are constantly thrown at her face?
This lack of confidence, lack of drive, frustrates me about Grace. I see so many good things in her; how capable she is. Yet, she doesn’t stand up for herself. She really does take on and remain in the role of servant. She is constantly the victim of events that surround her. I found myself wanting Dr. Jordan to give Grace the wherewithal to stand up for herself. Indeed, I found that even I wanted to give her that.
But those were different times, far different than present. Each of these things, those that frustrate me, are things that I look at up close and I try to identify with and understand. It is only when I take a few steps back and begin to see how these actions fit in with the rest of the story, only then, do they make sense. Only then do they have justifiable significance…much like the individual pieces of a quilt. But that’s a whole different topic.

One selection in this novel that I feel is really important is on page 270 when Grace is telling her story about the four shirts. Atwood wrote: "But there were four of them, not three, as they said; for two were in McDermott's carpetbag, and one was found covered with blood behind the kitchen door; which was the one McDermott had on when he was disposing of Mr. Kinnear's body. And the fourth was on Mr. Kinnear himself, because James McDermott put it there. So that makes four, not three." This passage not only helps support that fact that Grace did not actually kill Mr. Kinnear. But it is also so descriptive of the crime scene and such a little detail in the whole spectrum, but to Grace this little detail is very important. Atwood has this way of making the smallest things in life look like a big deal. At the end of the passage on the same page she ends her thought very nonchalantly with "it was only then I remembered the peas that I'd dropped in the garden, and went outside to pick them up." It is almost as if Atwood wants people to notice all the small things and put the puzzle together themselves, which is why the lack of narrator is okay. Also, the addition of random facts in this novel helps support her layers throughout the novel. There is always something interesting going on in this novel just like in real life.

A really important passage in the book is on page 254, it's a pretty long quote so I won't write it all out, but it starts with "They are hypocrites, they think the church is a cage to keep God in..." and then it ends with "But God is everywhere, and cannot be caged in, as men can."
The passage is really important because it brings about the notion of an all-knowing God in connection with Grace and her actions. These people put on fancy clothes and go to church thinking that they are true and faithful people, when in fact, their actions prove otherwise. People can pretend that they are God-fearing people and live their lives as true Christians should, but in fact, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Atwood uses this theme of not being able to "hide" from God throughout the entire novel.

Page 180 when Mary Whitney has died and Grace went into some sort of coma. I'm not sure what significance this has, but it has stuck in my mind throughout the whole story. Maybe because this is the point at which Grace first assumes Mary's identity; "And when they told me that I myself was Grace, I would not believe them...". Or that this passage shows an instance of Grace's mental instability, as she seems normal otherwise. She says that "...I had no memory of anything I said or did during the time I was awake, between the two long sleeps", so perhaps she in fact realizes that there might actually be something wrong with her. Undoubtedly the death of Mary Whitney had a huge impact on Grace, as reflected in her quote, "And so the happiest time of my life was over and gone". I find that the most peculiar thing about this incident is what brought it on was actually Grace imagining that she woke up next to Mary’s corpse and then actually convinceing herself that that did happen. Up until this point, I thought Grace was a misunderstood scapegoat for the crime, but after reading this, I think there may be some validity to the allegations of her mental problems.

whoops- I didn't see that there was a 200 word requirement. So it looks like I'm going to elaborate more on the passage.

Anyways, I believe that the quote can be applied in many other aspects of the novel. As well as being an intricate part of the role Grace played (or did not play) in the murders, it also applies to the rest of the characters. Nancy, Mr. Kinnear, Simon, all of them hide certain unappealing characteristics about themselves that they cover-up. The notion of God being the ultimate "judge" of all actions in the end is a pretty heavy concept in the book. The part of the quote where it says "looking into the depths and darkness and doubleness of their hearts, and their lack of true charity;" is another example of how Grace believes that these people she encounters can put on their Sunday best, go to church, make small-talk, and act innocent, but they cannot hide from God, and God knows the truth of their character.

"It's the middle of the night, but time keeps going on, and it also goes round and around, like the sun and the moon on the tall clock in the parlour. 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, whuch comes around again like clockwork. It begins with the day before the day before, and then the day before, and then it's the day itself. A Saturday. The breaking day. The day the butcher comes" (Atwood, p. 295).

As cliche as it sounds, I thought this was one of the more interesting passages I have come across in a book. I found myself reading the paragraph repeatedly in attempt to understand the reason for Atwood's unique sentence and punctuation usage. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about it is the way in which she uses the same words, but rearranges the sentences.
It seems that Grace is relating her mundane life in jail with the repetitiveness of the public's opinions. Just as the day continually breaks, people will always be talking. She is unable from keeping the public from talking or having opinions, nor can she stop the day from breaking. The reason for the day always breaking will forever be unknown, just as the motives and circumstances of the murder will remain unknown. Either way, the day continues to break, and the public continues to maintain opinions.
Finally, Grace adds that it becomes the "breaking day." Therefore, the opinions and judgments that Grace, as well as the people surrounding her, suddenly develop into "truths."

The question of Grace's innocence was a primary motivation for Atwood writing this novel and is apparent to the reader throughout the novel. On one hand, Grace could have been an innocent young girl at the time and was taken advantage of by McDermott. Or Grace could be great manipulator and used her own innocent image to frame McDermott. In her early meetings with Dr. Jordan, Grace describes the process in which Dr. Jordan brings an object, "He always brings something with him; the first day it was a dried flower of some sort, blue it was, the second day a winter pear, the third an onion, you never know what he will bring, although he inclines to the fruits and vegetables; at the beginning of each talk he asks me what I think about this thing he has brought, and I say something about it just to keep happy, and he writes it down," (pg. 66). Within the same chapter, Dr. Jordan asks Grace about her dream from the previous night, she describes the dream for the reader, but claims not to remember it for Dr. Jordan.
Grace is very aware of what she wishes to reveal and what she wishes to keep hidden. I think she is scared of having her thoughts or dreams analyzed by Dr. Jordan for fear that he will learn more about her than she wishes to share. In this sense, I feel Grace knows exactly what she is doing and therefore can be seen as manipulative. As I continued to read this novel, that passage came to mind, where I questioned the innocence of Grace.
I also recognized Atwood's interpretation of the story where she was able to portray Grace in this very innocent and at the same time manipulative way. It makes me wonder what Atwood thinks of Grace and her role in the crime.

The character Jeremiah greatly interests me. The first time we are introduced to him the pedler tells Grace ‘you are one of us’(p154). Later he tries to persuade her to leave Mr Kinnear's house and work with him as a medical clairvoyant; ‘I would teach you how and instruct you what to say, and put you into the trances’ (p268).

These meetings set the scene for the hypnotism which I find one of the most intriguing passages in the book. Simon Jordan describes the event; he trusted that Jeremiah was the Dr Jerome DuPont he professed to be, whilst the reader knows that Jeremiah is a charlatan. Simon tried to remain objective and wondered '[w]hat has DuPont said or done to her before bringing her in here?' (p396) but at the end of the episode he craved a glass of brandy 'to steady his nerves'(p405). Reading this I had to keep reminding myself that DuPont was Jeremiah; but then conversely that Jeremiah foretold Grace’s future on more than one occasion previously. Was Grace such a good actress that she could fake her part so well? How could she see in the dark to know that Simon was holding Lydia’s hand? Was Jeremiah actually 'a little desperate … surprised … relieved …at a loss…shaken' as Simon believed, or just a good actor?

The letter Grace writes to ‘Signor Geraldo Ponti, Master of Neuro-Hypnotism…’ does not shed any light on the subject. She intimates that the hypnotism was a trick, or at least that "the committee" would think it so, but wants to believe that Jeremiah had read her fortune to give her something to cling to. The hypnotism gives Reverend Verringer renewed vigor in his attempts to gain pardon for Grace and might have been instrumental in achieving that outcome. It plays a pivotal role in the story as well as being one of the many passages that confuses and unsettles the reader.

On page 146, Dr. Simon Jordan comes once again to meet with Grace. The passage begins, “Today Dr. Jordan looks more disarranged than usual, and as if he has something on his mind; he does not seem to know quite how to begin. So I continue with my sewing until he’s had time to gather himself together; and then he says, Is that a new quilt you are working on, Grace?” (Atwood, 146). The scene continues on with their discussing of the quilt and of Pandora’s Box, the type of quilt Grace is sewing.
Like most of their meetings, this particular one seems to give the reader some questionable ideas that pertain to the rest of the book. By including the idea of a quilt, hope, and of course their personal relationship, many assumptions can be drawn from this passage. I find that the inclusion of the quilt leads me to the theme of what a quilt is and how that process is mirrored in this novel. Like a quilt, each meeting Grace experiences with Dr. Jordan is a section of the story being put together. But not only is it Grace’s story, I feel as though Grace herself (and us as the reader) is learning about Dr. Jordan too. Both of their stories are being strung together by a series of meetings, which in the end comes together for the reader.
Then there is the idea of hope which comes about from the discussion of Pandora’s Box. Dr. Jordan and Grace discuss the horrors of Pandora’s Box but how at the very bottom is hope. Grace thinks (but does not say out loud) that she has lost all hope, but instead turns to the problems of Dr. Jordan and how he “does not look himself today . . . (146). Like the quilt, Pandora’s Box seems to be another representation of what may be Grace’s life and/or the role Dr. Jordan plays in her life. Through the horrible journey across the Atlantic and then to prison, she has experience such horrors. Now, as a servant, she is doing her time, but Dr. Jordan is there which could be her “hope” in reforming her life.
The personal relationship between Grace Marks and Dr. Jordan is one that confuses me. I find a hint of fondness between the two of them which is hard for me to completely understand. Is it a subconscious fondness?

One passage that struck me, though it may not be too truly important, begins on page 206. In it, Grace is just about to go to work for Thomas Kinnear, and several lascivious men are constantly attempting liberties with her. She describes a fortuitous turn of events that seems too contrived to be realistic. While one man is attempting to do his creepy man thing to her, and she is in need of some help, who should walk in but Jeremiah the Peddler, fresh out of fond memories. Jeremiah attempts to stop the man, who pushes him. Then he falls backward into a pile of manure and then, Thomas Kinnear shows up and bears her away on a fancy coach with a nice horse. Assuming that this isn’t just cheesy writing, it makes me suspect as I read that everything Grace says to Dr. Jordon is embellished, amended or otherwise not entirely true. I understood the concept that Grace was an unreliable narrator, but this passage in particular really reminded me that she may be glossing over, omitting, or even lying about the events in her story. Or I suppose it could just be a weak section in the plot.

I was taken aback by one of Grace's descriptions of Simon, mostly because it was a seemingly inconsequential line that, when I stopped to ponder it, was a lot more loaded than I initially thought. "Like most gentlemen" Grace says of the doctor, "he often wants a thing to mean more than it does."

I'm ashamed to admit the literal truth in this line, at least as it pertains to my own experience. I shudder in remembering the all-too-often times I've misinterpreted an alleged signal from a lady—a signal that just wasn't there—simply because my baser instincts wanted that interpretation. My strikeouts aside, though, I found this description alarming, both in the context and construction of the novel.

Though Grace refers to the doctor, she may as well be referring to Atwood herself. Again we're met with all the notions of and problems with a authority. When thinking about this issue, I'm always reminded of Billy Collins who described schoolchildren as eagerly tying poems to a chair and beating them with a hose. Though the postmodern paradigm insists Alias Grace's meaning is independent of Atwood and therefore constructed by what experiences the reader brings to her text, it's hard to dismiss the fact that Atwood was the one who put its words to the page in a particular order. Doesn't that give Atwood some kind of authority? By extension, does the William Morris epigraph gain some sort of extra importance, in comparison to, say, the Susanna Moodie excerpt on page 43, because of its prominent position in the text (before the story begins!)—a position decided upon by Atwood?

The other aspect to consider is the gender aspects in the quote. If one were to acknowledge Atwood as a figure of some importance (if nothing else, she who arranged Alias Grace), then is she assuming the title of "gentleman?" Clearly Atwood is concerned with issues of feminism: the critique is definitely there in The Handmaid's Tale, and she plays here with not only the "murderess," but the doctor/patient and master/servant power dynamics also found in HMT.

This is all bigger than me—I'm not prepared to address this properly. But the critique is rich, and all from a throwaway line!

On page 457 Grace says "For a long time I could not find it in me to pardon them". Here she is referring to both Mary Whitney and Nancy Montgomery, but what is it she felt they needed forgiveness for? Grace believes that in such situations as these were it is the victim, not the perpetrator that must be forgive as the victims "cause all the trouble". "If they were only less weak and careless, and more foresightful... think of all the sorrow in the world that would be spared." Grace blames Mary and Nancy for being so naive and believing that they had no reason for caution in their situations. It is they who need to be forgiven as they were not more aware and could not avoid the fate they suffered. It is this statement that truly leads me to believe Grace is innocent. Though the novel never clearly states whether Grace was innocent or guilty I believe this proof of her innocence. It has been my experience that when one does something wrong he or she will blame anyone and everyone but themselves to avoid punishment, such as in the case of James McDermott. (In my case I just blame my brother and in doing so often escape punishment.) Grace, however, blames herself for not being more knowledgable about her situation and courageous enough to warn Nancy and Mr. Kinnear of McDermott's plan for them. She blames herself for the predicament which she found herself in with McDermott following the murders and the predicament she was in for nearly 30 years proceeding that. She asks forgiveness for her inability to stop the acts commited by James McDermott and therefore I cannot help but truly believe her to have been innocent.

I found the scene on the ship following Grace's mother's death (p. 120-121) to be particularly interesting. It is a short scene, yet the death of her mother stays with Grace throughout the book as a defining moment in her life. The passage begins with, "I did not cry. I felt as if it was me and not my mother that had died..." She is extremely practical concerning her mother's death. She chooses to wrap her in an old sheet rather than the one new one that they have, arguing, "since she'd always placed herself second best in life..." Grace also removes her mother's shoes and shawl before burying her, as she will no longer need them. I admire her practicality and ability to think of the future in the wake of her mother's death. I do, however, feel that her mother's improper burial haunts Grace throughout the novel. She cries at Mary's funeral at the thought of her mother's death and burial. At various other points throughout, Grace has visions of her mother floating faceless in the sea wrapped in a white sheet. I feel that this scene is also further proof of Grace's coolness in matters that would cause extreme emotion in others. Her lack of emotional expression works against Grace at her trial, where some take her to be a cold blooded murderess, yet the scene depicting the death of her mother shows that Grace is merely very practical minded and able to deal with such situations rationally, though they do continue to haunt her thoughts.

I would like to quote GRace Marks on page 314 as she says "they said they were not dreams at all, Sir. They said I was awake. But I do not wish to say any more about it." Dr. Jordan is exploring and questioning Grace's mind in this passage. What Grace reveals here is that she has what I would like to call double-consciousness. Throughout the entire novel we see how Grace can't recall certain events because of amneisia. What I believe it to be is Grace actually slipping in and out of her own consciousness. I find this interesting because although we see it in Grace evidently in the duration of the novel, in another part of the book Dr. Jordan questions his own consciousness. On page 363 "Nature took advantage of him, creeping up on him as he lay entranced, without his daytime armour; his own dreams turned against him. This is the very thing Rachel claims of herself: she was, sleep walking, she says." This passgae sheds light on the fact that both Dr. Jordan and Mrs. Humphrey are both experiencing the same double-consciousness that Grace was. It shows that they were acting as if they were unconscious and both claim to that. What both of these passgages show is how one can do things while they are physically awake but unaware for some reason. For Grace it was a traumatic event and the constant persona she embodied of Mary Whitney. For Dr. Jordan and Rachel it was the passionate sequence of love. The role that dreams have is very interesting and how they correspond with that of reality. I think it is a topic that could be looked into further for a solid essay of Alias Grace.

---BEN---

The scene that sticks out to me is when Dr. Jordan (Simon) and Grace first meet on page 37. As he enters the cell that she is contained in, she starts to analyze him. She can tell that he is a doctor, but there is something different about him, unlike the others. I think it’s ironic, for Dr. Jordan is working with Grace to analyze her, her thoughts and actions and try to regain the repressed memories she holds, while Grace is doing the exact thing to him. Although, he knows she is an intelligent woman he doesn’t know how intelligent and cunning she really is. I feel that Grace has more advantage over him then he does of her. As he asks Grace many questions, to somehow get into her mind she is actually one step ahead of him. Throughout the whole book I this continues. She knows how to respond to his questions as to get around them. She is very witty with her remarks as to stay that extra step ahead of him and to get away with answering him, as he wants her to answer. Since Simon had to refrain from visiting Grace because it was getting too much for him to handle, I believe that she intended this to happen. She is fully aware of her intentions and knows that he is up to something, because after all his is a doctor.

As I go to write this blog for the third time now I realize more than ever how much Atwood and her characters in Alias Grace have made me think. She's totally innocent..no no she definitely did it..I switch back and forth..just like I believe, Atwood expects her readers to do. And how much better does that make the novel? I have learned more from this novel than I have others because the conclusion and final verdict are left for me to decide. I love how readers of this book are reading the exact same text yet all have different views and opinions towards Grace's role in the murders, I believe this was a major intent of Atwoods.
While I believe one could argue both Grace’s innocence and her guiltiness through I tend to believe that yes she did play a role in the murders. This conclusion has not come easy for me yet there are some reasons and passages in the novel that I just can’t get out of my head and led me to find Grace guilty. The way Grace completely controls all her sessions with Dr. Jordan makes me believe she is conceiving and able to do something like commit murder. It comes so naturally to her that I believe she herself may not even entirely be aware of her deceit and ability to persuade others. Since she has had such numerous meetings with Dr. Jordan it is not surprising she has learned a lot about him and in doing so can use this knowledge to outsmart him. The sentence “this is what I told Dr. Jordan, when we came to that part of the story” which is in the first chapter of the novel, to me, even the way it is positioned as a separate paragraph on the page stands out as a sign of Grace’s deceit. She’s not saying, and this is what happened but this is what she told him, making me believe it is different than what really happened. Another notable passage that persuades me to think this way is the last paragraph on page 98. Within the passage are the thoughts of Grace herself “you should be careful about saying what you want or even wanting anything, as you may be punished for it.” You are not generally punished for wanting something that is right to want. Therefore I was forced to think of this as an insight into her wanting Nancy and Mr. Kinnear dead but believes now (in jail) that she shouldn’t have said anything because someone like McDermott will (and did) listen and help her achieve that want.
A last thing I found interesting in the novel was in a theme of the novel, the idea that you shouldn’t believe something just because it is written or published (like Moodie’s documentations of Grace) yet that is exactly what as a reader we are doing if we are to believe Grace’s stories before anyone else. She is just as capable, if not more, of amending a story as any journalist or person is.

Earlier in my previous post I had mentioned that I wanted to gain a better sense of past and present Canadian culture. While reading "Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood the idea of hysterics really stuck out in my mind as a major theme that Atwood wanted to strongly express through Grace’s struggles. Hysterics wasn’t just supported by the American culture, but also by the Canadian people during this time period.

Hysterics are defined in the book as “fits” that “take place, for the most part, in young, nervous, unmarried women” (p.137). Furthermore, characteristics contained in hysterics are said to include “fits of laughter, crying, or screaming” (p.137). First and foremost, “fits of laughter” (p.137)?!? Young women are the only ones who broke out into fits of laughter, and that made them crazy? Sounds like misogyny to me. I feel like Atwood purposely put this blurb from the Beeton’s Book of Household Management, which dates back to 1859-1961 to get the point across the reader (if they haven’t picked up on the clue yet), that perhaps she believes Grace’s harsh treatment was due to her female gender. The idea of hysterics sparked a chord with me since I learned about the term extensively in Valerie Rohy’s Critical Approaches to Lit class last semester. The term was coined by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century. I doubt it’s a mere coincidence that the theories surrounding Grace’s alleged murder took place around the same time as women were thought to be acting like maniacs in response to their sexual repression.

Here is another thought: where is James McDermott? It seems to me that the controversy surrounding Grace was much more significant obviously in this book, but in reality. Where are all the books written on McDermott?

Although I wouldn’t say that today’s society roots hysterics, or more modernly depression, back to the sexual repression of female’s and the Oedipus complex, I do see a glitch in today’s society that directly relates to that. Even just the action described on p.137 as the “shedding of tears” is more often than not labeled a female characteristic. Atwood knows the stereotypes that your average Joe reader will know all too well. By setting the novel up to let the reader pick apart the intricate and interweaving quilt work, personal conclusions can be drawn. Those final thoughts will ultimately have been greatly impacted by the way we have been taught to see society.

During the long chapters where Grace is remeniscing about her past, two instances come up where she is haunted by a close death. The first death occurs when Grace is on the boat from Ireland, and her mom falls ill and subsequently dies. The Catholic lady who befriended Grace warned her that she had to open a window in order for her mother's soul to be released, or else it would be trapped. Since there are no windows to be opened below deck, Grace worries that she had failed her mother, who might be stuck in a sort of limbo. This fear is reinforced by Grace's choice to send her mother away wrapped in the cheap sheet, a decision that continually came back to haunt her both in her dreams and in real life.

The death of her close friend, Mary Whitney, was just as devastating to Grace, who opened a window to release her soul, but was still haunted by it. (179). At one point, just thinking about it made her faint. When she awoke, she implored that she was not Grace Marks, and had no idea where she was. She was completely unreasonable until she woke up the next day.

These deaths are important because they represent the two most devastating points in Grace's childhood, and also marked her first (debatable) lapse of sanity. Together, I think they developed in her a cynicism towards life and other people that was strongly reinforced by the depictions of her in the press later in her life.

In the last section of Alias Grace on pages 447-448 where Grace Marks is leaving the penitentiary, we as readers are exposed to a really interesting part of the book. It is fascinating to read Grace Mark's description of leaving this penitentiart that she has been at for the last 30 years of her life. One aspect that she mentions is her quote "...like passing through the gates of Hell and into Paradise," brings an amazing image to the reader. This idea that the penitentiary is this evil place of fire and death and the real world is Paradise. But what truly intrigued me was as you read on further into the next couple of paragraphs she talks about how she has a "sort of regret" about leaving and that even though the penitentiary is "forbiddding and a place of sorrow and punishment" it is the only home she has ever truly had.
Another aspect of her leaving was her nervousness with the train and how she is not used to traveling in such a way. I feel as though she has been in this penitentiary almost living inside this story of her murder that she tells to Dr. Jordan and she has failed to pay attention to the world outside. Not that it is easy for someone in a penitentiary to pay attention to the modernization of the outside world, but I feel it shows that Grace Marks was so entrenched in this story that the world went zooming by. All she knows is the ways of the penitentiary and the story that she tells. As the books goes on we see that there is never a true description of who Grace Marks is? What she looks like? but instead the only way to know anything about her is through her sessions with Dr. Jordan.

While I was reading Alice Grace¸ the passage in which Grace describes her good friend Mary Whitney’s funeral (Chapter 22) struck me as an extremely interesting aspect of the book. This passage really marks a turning point in Grace’s life; her best friend is dead and gone and all she can do is look back upon the struggles she has overcome and try to move on into the future. As Grace describes to Doctor Jordan, “I was thinking of my poor mother as well, who’d had no proper burial with dirt on top the way it should be, but was just tossed into the sea” (198). This passage is successful in accomplish a few things. Firstly, it shows how Grace has grown as a person through her struggles. Her mother has died, her best friend has died, yet she has the strength to grow as a person and move on and fight for her own survival. This portrays a good deal about what the reader may expect from Grace later in the novel. Secondly, this passage allows the reader to sympathize a great deal with Grace. Although Atwood never openly states Grace’s innocence, she alludes to the fact that Grace may not be guilty. One of the main reasons one supports Grace is the tragedy of her plight. Throughout the novel she truly suffered and this passage epitomizes these struggles.

I am first choosing to write about the cover of the novel. I was about halfway through it when we discussed in class that the American and Canadian paperbacks have a different cover. I feel like the cover makes the book. It is the first thing you see and I will sometimes even base a novel off of its cover. When I first saw its cover I thought that this was going to be about a woman who is put in jail. I could not tell if she was innocent or not from her facial expression either. I thought the cover did a good job with this because her emotions play important roles throughout the book. The cover was a good set up to the story.

Secondly, I am not sure if anyone else noticed this, but I think that she skipped over some facts. Some parts of the story seemed a little fuzzy and too perfect for me. I forget what page this is on, but there is a scene when a couple of men are trying to take advantage of Grace. Thomas Kinnear comes and rescues her. This could be true, but some of the details of this scene seem to be fake. It seems like something that could be found in a fairy-tale. Has anyone else felt this while reading the novel?

“And the other quilt was called Attic Windows; it had a great many pieces, and if you looked at it one way it was closed boxes, and when you looked at it another way the boxes were open, and I suppose the closed boxes were the attics and the open ones were the windows; and that is the same with all quilts, you can see them two different ways, by looking at the dark pieces, or else the light.” pg. 162

As we have mentioned in class, quilts are a main piece to this book. Chapters are titled after them, and Grace spends much, if not all, of her time with Simon Jordan working on one quilt or another. She knows all the patterns, and has quilts she has always dreamed of making for herself. Out of all the passages in this book concerning quilting (and there are a lot), this one strikes me as hitting the heart of the novel, or at least what struck me the most about it. It seems to me that the novel is about finding truth. However, as Simon searches for the truth about Grace’s past, he finds that many roads lead in different directions. He must take information from different sources and piece them together in the same way as one would piece together a patchwork quilt. Of course the information he finds will look different to him depending on how he looks at it, which is exactly what this passage is saying. Looking at correspondences Simon is having with others, as compared to his talks with Grace, he could draw two completely separate judgments about her. Grace’s story consists of all the light pieces of the quilt, and other accounts comprise the dark pieces of the quilt. Of course, in the end, there is no right way to look at a quilt. One way is no better than the other. This is similar to Simon’s search for truth. There is no way he will ever find it; he must simply do the best he can with the information he is receiving. He will always be able to look at Grace’s story in two ways, just as she will be able to look at her quilts.

“Agnes said, It is the curse of Eve which we must all bear, and I knew Mary would have laughed at that. And then I heard her voice, as clear as anything, right in my ear, saying ‘Let me in.’ I was quite startled, and looked hard at Mary, who by that time was lying on the floor, as we were making up the bed. But she gave no sign of having said anything; and her eyes were still open, and staring up at the ceiling.
Then I thought with a rush of fear, But I did not open the window. And I ran across the room and opened it, because I must have heard wrong and she was saying ‘Let me out.’”

This scene, to me, was one of the most truthfully descriptive scenes in the book thus far. The point, in which Mary’s brutal and graphic death comes to be the turning point in the book, proves to be an important one. There was a lull there for a minute where, as a reader, I was getting tired of reading about housework and stable boys. With that said, I felt Atwood changed the tone of the book at the perfect moment. It brought about a sense of change and a symbol of courage for Grace, although that image was already accurately executed. While I have to admit that I unfortunately cannot extend my knowledge of how this scene would hold its importance throughout the book, because I am struggling with time to finish it as we speak, it literally sent chills down my spine and was a pivotal point for me.
I think the relations to the images of Grace’s mother and Mary dying were terribly recognizable, both dying in their sleep, wrapped up in sheets, both with extreme stomach pains, both in close proximity to Grace, both being her confidante at the time. Both mother and Mary having awful luck with men, securing the independence of Grace and her fear of getting involved with them. Grace didn’t feel she gave her mother the burial that she deserved; she possessed some level of self-doubt and inadequacy through that. That I believe is something that she carried with her, trying to make it right with Mary. I think the voice she heard, “Let me in” was the reassuring voice of her dead friend, that everything that was at one point Mary’s, now belonged to Grace. Including not only her strength and poise, but also her actual being. And Grace took it as something else, a way to correct a flaw she felt she had involving her mother’s death. At that point I believe that Grace began to lose herself in the struggle. And killed two birds with one stone, by slowly morphing and taking the personality traits passed down from her friend Mary, and finally opening the window for her mother.

There are many parts of the novel that stand out in my mind but the passage that resonates with me most comes from the very beginning of the book on page 23 when Grace says:

"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 blackgaurd forced against ym will and danger of my own life, that I was too ignorant toknow how to act and to hang me would be judicial murder, that I am fond of animals, that I am very handsome with a brilliant complexion, that I have blue eyes, that I have green eyes...[it goes on like this for a while]
...ANd I wonder, how can I be all of these"
different things at once?"

In class discussion once I mentioned that for a supposedly insane person, that this was a very sane passage, that Grace's self reflection and her analysis of others' comments are very legitimate, articulate if not artful and certainly cogent. At that time I had made a decision Grace was a victim. As the tale progresed however I found myself increasingly put off or annyoed by Grace's willingness to be a victim, she as a character to me seems so inhuman I began to truly dislike her...actually maybe that sounds a little bit crazy...! Anyhow, I think someone else mentioned a passage later in the book on page 237 where Grace tells of waking up to a beautiful pink sunrise, then in the next paragraph, her words quickly turn dark. Grace, to me, does lack something very important but I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's just that human drive and ambition that it seems like we all innately posses, yet she lacks. These flaws make it very difficult for me to trust Grace as I did in the beginning, it seems like a person so hopeless may just be capable of the unthinkable.

After our last class and the introduction to intexuality, I looked through Alias Grace and discovered another aspect of the text that I was not consciously aware of when I was reading initially. I reexamined some of the epigraphs and felt that they played a significant role in the delivery of ideas/concepts that M. Atwood wanted to use to set off various platforms of the novel. More specifically, the epigraph on page I don’t know but it comes before page one seems to layout how the book will open up to us as a reader. “I cannot tell you what the [truth] is, but I can tell you what it is not…” (Eugene Marais). It seems to cast doubt from the get-go which established the tone that I would touch upon through the course of A.G. We mentioned a number of aspects from the book that alluded to how things are portrayed and even conceived. These images seemed to be very powerful and provide more insight to what M. Atwood is saying with Alias Grace. The images/ideas that seem to provide the most interest to me are the epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter and their connection to the idea of quilting.
It seems that the book, as mentioned by someone in class, is indeed a quilt. It is made up of different memories and stitched together to produce a larger structure. This larger structure embodies the epigraphs and the tale of Grace Marks and it is with the completion of this patchwork that you are left with the tools to determine nothing about Grace’s guilt or innocence. But it does make you skeptical of the critics and nah-sayers which follow the post modern theme that seemed to be the foundation of the above quote from Eugene Marais and the overpowering nature of Grace Marks’ perspective.

Oh, I’m Nate and I’m a 4th year business student that was intrigued by the stories of Professor Martin so I manipulated my schedule to fit in ENG 180. This was the first summer that I had the opportunity to “leisurely read” but opportunity is not a mandate for action and so it is with embarrassment that I confess that it has been many days since I have picked up a book and finished it purely for the joy of it. That is not to say that I haven’t picked up a book and thought to myself that this appears to be an interesting read. Among the list of books that I have shown interest in reading but have yet to gaze past the dust jacket would be: On the Road, The Professor and the Madman, and The Last Train to Memphis.

In struggling to finish this book last night and falling asleep with still two-hundred pages to go, I’m giving in and am going to answer the question without knowing the end of the book. Grace shows throughout the book a love for animals and living things. This sensitivity doesn’t always coincide with the graphic murder descriptions she formulates in her head when she really hates a person, or when she is repeating something Mary Whitney told her. When she is told by Nancy to go and kill the chicken, she cries and begs Jamie to do it for her (pg 249). However, when she thinks of her father, she can formulate vivid, murderous scenarios of how he could hopefully die. This contradiction appropriately makes me question which side of Grace is truest; I have seen her cry over having to kill a chicken, will I see her follow through with any of her murderous daydreams?

It is Grace’s awareness of truth and lies throughout the book makes me think I should be prepared for the kill just as I was prepared for her to cry about the chicken. Perhaps Grace is in denial about her own lies because she excuses them as her own necessary alterations of her personal truths. On page 237-238 Grace is in her prison cell getting ready for the day and sings herself a song, changing the last two lines to better suit her love for animals and living things. In the song, the pig is eaten and the boy, Tom, is beaten. She says, “but I didn’t see why I shouldn’t make it come out in a better way; as long as I told no one of what was in my mind, there was no one to hold me to account”(pg238). This is a very typical comment to be heard from Grace. She likes to keep things from the doctor, after telling the reader what she was really thinking, and she rarely feels guilt for or sees any harm in holding back truths or altering such songs to suite her better.

So, whatever I do or don’t find out in the next few hours of reading, I am completely stuck in the middle about who Grace really is and if she has a darker side to her that is only unleashed under the most extreme circumstances. We shall see.

ps - how do I make paragraphs within my entires? just pressing Enter doesn't seem to work.

The area that I focused on was when Grace is speaking with Dr. Jordan for the first time. When he is speaking to Grace he asks her for his opinion and she seems hesitant. She has never been able to speak her mind. When she says "I smiled at that, but I was just as shy. I was not used to having my opinions asked....and they were from newspapers, and made up lies about me".(67) I found this very intriguing because throughout the whole story I feel as though Grace does not even know who she is. We never get a clear consensus as to if she is telling the truth herself. Later the story speaks about how the papers gave different accounts of her and she cannot herself answer these questions. I almost got the feeling that she was a little of each of the characters she spoke of with her time with Dr. Jordan. The title of the story led me to believe this was her alias and she used tidbits of everyone else’s life because she did not even have an opinion or truly know herself. This is what made Dr. Jordan’s time so frustrating. This is what also leads me to believe that though on the surface she may not be mad, but within her soul she has no identity and uses the accounts of other peoples lives to make up her own story to make her feel at ease.

On page 22, Grace starts saying that, "Murderess is a strong word to have attached to you..." She continues to describe how the word affects her. She says it has a smell to it, like dead flowers. She often says she whispers it at night. I find this really interesting because of the label and how much power it gives Grace. She is not just a common murderer that can be slandered and hung on the gallows, she is a murderess, something different, something that people are not used to. Newspapers and other people/publications say so many different things about Grace. Some say that she is a female demon and others that she was an innocent victim forced against her will. This confuses Grace completely. While everybody else knows her story and what she did, and what she should be called, she does not. I feel that this passage connects to the book with another quote of Grace asking, "How can i be all of these things at once?" pg. 23 That passage and final quote tie into the book because later in the novel, Grace exhibits all of these different characters and devolopes a better sense of who she feels she is.

On page 33, Grace begins to contemplate how she should act as an "insane" person and the effects of her imprisonment, more specifically her isolation start to become apparent. She says, "If they want a monster so badly they ought to be provided with one." This is after Grace contemplates all sorts of absurd behavior that would be the more typical behavior expected from an institutionalized individual. However, she quickly follows up by stating that she never actually follows through on the behaviors, simply considers them. It is at this point, very early on in the novel, that not only did I begin to sympathize with Grace, but also believe her. It is an interesting look at the idea of the effects of isolation and culture on an individual. At this point in the story her sanity is still greatly in question as the murder she was allegedly involved in was still somewhat unresolved, however, it is clear, despite the cloudiness of the situation, that she is an intelligent, coherent woman. Yet the isolation she is exiled to already has her questioning her own being and whether or not she should cater to her surroundings and act as they would expect to her. The only thing that keeps her grounded and stops her from behaving in this way is the thought that if they do believe she is actually insane, she will be stuck in that room forever. Perhaps I'm drawing on persona experience somewhat, as when I'm hiking alone, or just isolated for an extended period of time, all the deepest, darkest thoughts of consciousness begin to arise, mainly as a result of a lack of anything to inhibit them. In society the simple presence of others prevents people from acting a certain way, when in isolation, the fear of embarrassment and persecution from others is lost, and perhaps these thoughts are truer and more honest, perhaps they are actually insane, either way Grace's incarceration is an interesting experiment of the human psyche left in isolation.

I have been thinking about this post for a few days now and its been difficult not because I couldn't find a passage that connects with the whole book but because there is so many. Every intertext that Atwood puts into the novel could be taken and applied to the rest of the book. So after class today I thought about how last week Prof. Martin said that all you need to know about any novel can be found in the first chapter as long as you know what you're looking for so I picked a passage out of the first chapter that the first time I passed over with little thought,"I watch the peonies out of the corner of my eyes. I know they shouldn't be here:it's April, and peonies dont bloom in April. There are three more now, right in fron of me, growing out of the path itself. Furtively I reach out my hand to touch one. It has a dry feel, and I realize it's made of cloth,"(6). I chose this passage because this short paragraph because its in between a paragrapgh about Grace's present,prison, and the past,the murders. Grace at first sees something thats real but then as she moves closer to the truth of it and touches it, and then after establishes that it isn't real goes on to talk about the day of the murders to Dr. Jordan. This ties in with the rest or at least the majoirty of the novel because just like this Grace tells Dr. Jordan things that appear as if they are reality but if you were to "touch" or get to the reality of what she was saying one would discover that its just a veil just covering over reality.

The part of the book that interested me most is on (pp.27-28). Where there's a doctor it 's always a bad sign.Even when they are not doing the killing themselves it means a death is close,and in that way they are like ravens and crows. But this doctor will not hurt me, the governor's wife promised it. all he wants is to measure my head. He is measuring the heads of all the criminals in the penitentiary,to see if he can tell from the bumpon their skull what sort of criminals they are ,wealther they are pickpocket or swinglers or embezzler or criminal lunatics or murderers,she did not say like you,Grace. And then they could lock those people up before they had a chance to commit any crimes and think how that would improve the world.

As a matter of fact,I found this passage interesting because no one loves to see the doctor around him or her when she or he is not sick. As it is mentioned above that it is a bad sign. the big picture behind this notion of a bad sign is that the life is under a threat or under critical condition. On the other hand,doctors are life savers,so we do need them round us as much as we need other stuffs in life but Grace never thought of this because she thought that the doctor would kill her.

the other is about how doctor could measure you head to determine what kind of criminal you are . Wealther you are pickpocket, swingler embezzler, criminal lunatics, and murderer. Personally I think that if this could have been true,this could be a easier way to trace all the criminals and murderers and confine them in an isolation area before they have done crimes to the society. That way, we can prevent any disaster that these criminals would brought to the society. That is how I feel,what do you think?

Deng ~~~

A passage I just barely read minutes ago, on page 377 when Dr. Jordan is talking to MacKenzie, I find to be incredibly important to the entire theme of this book. "'Lying,' says MacKenzie. 'A severe term, surely. Has she been lying to you, you ask? Let me put it this way-did Scheherazade lie? Not in her own eyes...'" The quote continues, but I wish to end there, as that is the part I find to be most telling of my point here. Throughout this entire novel, the readers (as well as Dr. Jordan I might add) are trying to figure out how innocent Grace truly is. We are presented with evidence that Susanna tells the reports on Grace and McDermott in a fabricated fashion, and as we are hearing the story mostly through Grace's voice, we feel like she is in fact innocent (or at least I do). However, is this what we want to believe? The truth is always what we want to believe-regardless of the information we are presented with, it's our choice to believe or disbelieve. This in turn, also shows us that Grace herself could be wanting to believe in her own innocence, so she might then word things for herself to come across as being innocent. Thus, the novel becomes what we find to be the truth, rather than what is Grace Mark’s “actual” truth.

“But underneath that is another feeling, a feeling of being wide-eyed awake and watchful. It’s like being wakened suddenly in the middle of the night, by a hand over your face, and you sit up and your heart is going fast, and no one is there. And underneath that is another feeling still, a feeling like being torn open; not like a body of flesh, it is not painful as such, but like a peach; and not even torn open, but too ripe and splitting open of its own accord.
And inside the peach there’s a stone”
(Alias Grace, page 69)

This passage is the free flow of Grace’s consciousness in response to Jordan’s attempts to aid her, and the hardships to come via this process. With this she admits to the reader of what her symptoms are, and we later come to understand that this psychosis is highly interwoven into her mind through the traumatic events she bore witness to. Later in the story she explains that she used to feel that she had a guardian angel because she sensed when anyone was watching her. One might also see this as a step (albeit one that doesn’t go far, given Dr. Jordan’s abrupt leave before deriving any results), in which she is subconsciously attempting to discern the truths of her unknown past, only to find them incoherently merged pieces of sand to her stone.

“He is both sane and normal, and he has developed the rational faculties of his mind to a high degree, and yet he cannot always control such pictures. The difference between a civilized man and a barbarous fiend- a madman say- lies, perhaps, merely in a thin veneer of willed self-restraint” (142)

What is happening in this section is Simon is evaluating his own reaction to Mrs. Humphrey who has just fainted in his room after bringing his breakfast up the stairs. In this sentence Simon steps back and observes him, pondering why his daydreams go to such charged places in which he enjoys a sense physical power over the scene displayed in front of him.
This is the first time in a sequence of scenes where Simon will be startled by his own reaction to something. Often finding himself daydreaming and not thinking in a “sane and normal” way but rather entering a thought process that is more akin to the criminal he distances himself from. This ties into a the larger theme that Atwood presents through out the book, the question of what really separates us from those we have locked away. Is there a place that resides in everyone which harbors such intensity- whether expressing itself through violence or through passion? What makes it so that Simon has not crossed the line that Grace is accused of crossing? And in fact Simon discovers he cannot control himself as strictly as he thinks he should be able to, proven through sleeping with the landlady. Perhaps there is something in his character, which lacks the intensity that is found in both passion and in madness, and instead his character can be pacified through a weaker display of its “primal” need. I’m not so sure I agree with this notion.

“I am aware of it,” says Simon, smiling. In his student days, he used to argue that if a woman has no other course open to her but starvation, prostitution, or throwing herself from a bridge, then surely the prostitute, who has shown the most tenacious instinct for self-preservation, should be considered stronger and saner than her frailer and no longer living sisters. One couldn’t have it both ways, he’d point out: if women are seduced in their turn, then they were mad to begin with. He’d said that it seemed to him a dubious piece of reasoning; which got him the reputation of either of a cynic or of a puritanical hypocrite, depending on his audience.” P 301

I feel that this quote has much to say about the reasoning behind this book. The thought that all women are mad, and that one can hardly do anything to stop it. Women are by nature of a more fragile nervous system, therefore they almost cannot be held accountable for their insanity.
For example, Grace is thought to be insane and a murderess, and yet she is a housekeeper for a well-to-do family. If she were truly were mad and murdered people, how could she be allowed to watch over these people’s children and cook their food? Yet she is not sane enough to be outside in the street. The reasoning behind it is astounding.
Simon makes the point that prostitutes should be considered more sane as they will do anything to survive, but most people cannot see this point of you. It’s a catch 22. She is insane if she doesn’t at least try to survive, and yet she is insane if she goes into prostitution, because what sort of woman does that?
I feel as though the moral of this book is that during this time, women really couldn’t do right! If you were a woman prone to bits of fainting or that would cry often, you might be considered insane. I wonder how many women during this time were actually insane or just accused, much like the Salem Witch hunts. Except most of these women were not killed, they were just forced into imprisonment, where they were forced to rot or become fodder for the guards.

One of the first difficulties that arises from the book is the question of Grace's sanity and or guilt for her crime. Undermining this though is the understanding of her mental capacity and her cognative understanding of the events surrounding her incarceration. This develops through the narration of herself and through others. My favorite passage pertaining to this is, "
I was not used to having my opinions asked, even about the weather and especially by a man with a notebook. The only men of that kind I ever encountered were Mr. Kenneth MacKenzie, Esq., the lawyer, adn I was afraid of him; and those in the courtroom at the trial, and in the jail; and they were from the newspapers, and made up lies about me." (67)
This brings us something important that we discussed in class which was Truth and all that surrounded it. As Grace states she can not trust those who are going to take notes or analyze her - as Dr. Jordan presumably wants to do because those who have preceded him either scared her or wrote lies pertaining to her guilt. She couldn't trust those who were willing to ask questions. I think that all in all this provides a deep insight into her character and early on allows us to understanding her mental state and where she is coming from throughout the novel.

The historical fiction by Margaret Attwood, Alias Grace, is doused with allusions and figurative imagery. So much so that it becomes too well-constructed at times. One such passage appears in Chapter 47 when Dr. Simon Jordan returns to Toronto after visiting the former Kinnear residence.
After breakfasting on a slice of antediluvian ham and an egg of uncertain age, he continues on his way. Few others are abroad; he passes a wagon, an axeman felling a dead tree in his field, a labourer pissing into the ditch. Wisps of mist float here and there above the fields, dissipating like dreams in the rising light (387).
The images in this scene are described in a deliberate manner, guiding the reader to invoke specific scenes. For example his breakfast of “antediluvian ham and an egg” invokes images of Dora, the maid-of-all-work. She’s the old porker who annoys Dr. Jordan with ill-prepared eggs that are served in a way that proves her resistance to humbly accept her position as a respectful servant. Dora signifies bad taste in all senses of the term. She’s portrayed as a rejected prostitute upon basis of her thighs “which Simon envisions as grayish, like boiled sausages, and stubbled like a singed turkey; and enormous, each one as large as a piglet” (57). The chain link between the ill-prepared breakfasts is strong, but even more direct associations are boldly presented.
The imagery is eerily, but not coincidentally, similar to the murder scenes. Especially poignant are the images of “an axeman felling a dead tree” and “a labourer pissing into the ditch.” The allusion is more than obvious: McDermott, the laborer, and his tool of death. Here the axe man and laborer are two men, vaguely alluding to Grace’s multiple personalities. Furthermore, the dream-like state of Dr. Jordan’s ride is in accordance with the quasi-conscience recollections of the afflicted Grace whose light of the truth is shadowed by foggy dreams.
This passage represents the relative effectiveness of Dr. Jordan’s preferred psychoanalyst technique of memory association. He claims “the right object ought to evoke a disturbing chain of associations” (90). To his detriment, Grace’s associations did not lead to a definite truth behind the murders. The technique of memory association is flawed because the brain has a tendency to recall the most recent past first. Thus Grace’s associations revealed more about her prison life than of the repressed murders. Attwood avoids this kind of memory failure by generously supplying the reader with all the ‘right’ associative imagery. Attwood’s deliberate repetition is highly effective. She succeeds, where as Dr. Jordan fails.

In regards to my distate of Attwood's heavy-handed allsuions: I did enjoy the novel for its structure and form, that is the way in which she alternates narrators and points of view, but I prefer a more elliptical style that requires the reader to discover the subtle connections slipped in by the author. The ambiguity of Alias Grace is a result of the multiple layers of various perspectives along with numerous flashbacks and dream sequences. This type of ambiguity is a construct of reader disoreientation as opposed to vague obscurity. It's hard to decide which type of ambiguity, if any, weighs more heavily on the reader's interpretation. It's either confuse the reader to distraction; or, allow the reader to fill in the blanks. I think there's a saftey net built into elliptical stylings because the conclusion the reader makes cannot be contradicted by textual evidence. Disorienting the reader creates uncertainty and difficulty relying on the text as evidence. Personally, I think Grace is "guilty as sin," no matter what evidence there is to the contrary.

The question of Grace's innocence is a main theme of the book, as no one truly knows what happend. Margaret Atwood, in telling the story, tries to make the actual event as ambigous as possible. Grace remembers seemingly impossible details about her daily work, but then cannot recall the actual crime. On page 247 Grace and Dr. Jordan are meeting in the Governor's house and Grace has just received a radish from Dr. Jordan much to her delight. "Because he was so thoughful as to bringing me the radish, I set to work willingly to tell my story, and to make it as interesting as I can, and rich in incident, as a sort of return gift to him; for I have always believed that one good turn deserves another." In this manner Atwood intentionally forces the reader to question if Grace is telling the truth to the best of her knowledge, or if infact, is knowingly telling a lie to please Dr. Jordan. Then again on page 281 Grace watches Dr. Jordan taking down notes and thinks to herself "Dr. Jordan is writing eagerly...It does my heart good to feel I can bring a little pleaseure in to a fellow-being's life..." Once again we get the feeling Grace is toying with Dr. Jordan and carefully choosing what details to give.

Atwood is constanly throwing these things at the reader to question Grace's character. I noticed one such flaw on page 309 as Grace is telling Dr. Jordan McDermott's plan, "Then he said he was going to kill Nancy with the axe and strangle her as well." This seemed strange to me. It always seemed to me that McDermott (or whoever it was) had strangled Nancy out of necessity, not based on a premeditated plan in which the killer decided to wound with the axe and then finish off with choking. She says this before the crime and it is very interesting as to why she would include this unforeseeable detail. Another comment to make the reader ponder Grace's character.

In Chapter 24, Grace is explaining to Dr. Simon Jordan her first experiences at the Mr. Kinnear's household. At the end of her story on p.214 Jordan asks her what happened that night and she says just her usual duties. He then asks what duties these were and she is shocked to see in his eye that he is being serious and really does not know.
"Men such as him do not have to clean up the messes they make, but we have to clean up our own messes, and theirs into the bargain. In that way they are like children, they do not have to think ahead, or worry about the consequences of what they do. But it is not their fault, it is only how they are brought up."
The part of this quote pertaining to men not having to clean up their messes alludes back to the death of Grace's good friend Mary Whitney. Mr. George, (Mrs. Alderman Parkinson's son, assumed to be the illegitimate father) did not have to clean up the mess that he made with Mary Whitney, he simply denied it, gave her $5 to put towards an abortion, and put this event out of sight and out of mind. He dealt with this event they way he's dealt with everything else his entire life, pay someone else to clean up his mess and not assume responsibility for it.
The second part of the quote seems to be multi layered. "It is not their fault, it is only the way that they are brought up." What an interesting quote coming from a motherless child who was raised with an abusive alcoholic father. Grace is claiming men who have had everything handed to them on a silver platter to be the victims of circumstance.
Could Grace internally be justifying her own actions by this same quote? That she is in fact guilty not due to her own fault but as a result of her upbringing? How can she possibly be writing off others as victims of circumstance and not herself?

The passage that made the most impact on me is found on page 263, and reads as follows, "-exactly as if they'd all been lined up in a row at the door of my chamber, and taking turns at looking through the keyhole; which made me very sad, and also angry." It was at this point when I felt true empathy for Grace Marks. This story takes place in the mid 1800's. At this time there was no form of democratic law. The American idea of innocent until proven guilty was not an option. She was there in a cell, and she couldn't even remember the act that brought her there. She was even put under hypnosis (a procedure which can elicit many neurological disorders), and underwent the personality of her old mentor, Mary Whitney. Dr. Jordan was not even informed that this process was going to be performed by Dr. Jerome DuPont. Being under this personality she made a confession which would bring her to another jail sentence. While this would be seen as highly illegal by today's standards, there was no law to prevent such an occurance. She was put in jail for a good fraction of her life and this passage thoroughly illustrated that to me.

When reading Alias Grace, I couldn’t help but notice a similarity between Charlotte Gillman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. This text was written around similar times and I believe gives a pretty accurate portrayal of psychiatric care in the late 19th century. In the story it depicts a wife of a doctor who is put into a room because she is going through a severe depression. I found this best related to the novel because Grace to is isolated to her cell in the asylum. Where I found the strongest correlation in the text was how both women were able to manipulate the people around them. This woman from The Yellow Wallpaper became so engrossed in her surroundings it actually made her worse. Both were seen as “faking” their illness or at least trying to act a certain way around certain people. By reading this text I got a better sense of the general practices of doctors at that time. It poses the questions that were these people actual making them better or worse by trying to “treat” their illness or doing more harm? Luckily text written by people put into situations such as Grace and Gilman wrote some of their own reflections and revolutionized the field of psychiatric treatment for future sufferers. It really helps me think about the text and how we will never know if Grace was truly guilty, mad, or even a victim.

While reading Alias Grace, one quote I found that I felt spoke for the book as a whole can be found on page 80. It is a discussion between Simon Jordan and Reverend Varringer, and the reverend states: "Even apart from that, we are caught between the notion of a possibly innocent woman, whom many believe to be guilty, and a possibly guilty woman, whom some believe to be innocent. We would not want the opponents of reform to be given the opportunity of crowing over us. But as our Lord says, 'The truth shall make you free.'" Doctor Jordan replies that "The truth may well turn out to be stranger than we think."
Throughout the entire novel authorities and professionals seek to categorize Grace. It does not seem that her guilt needs to be proven or disproven to protect Grace from herself or from others. Everyone from the characters in the story to the readers simply want to know what really happened. The above interactions between Reverend Varringer and Simon Jordon seem to be a good example of the post modern thought that we discussed in class. The reverend, like most others, really wants to know the truth: is Grace guilty or not? Dr. Jordon stands more for the post-modern view when he states that truth itself is strange. He seems to understand to some degree that this case might not clearly be one way or the other. It could annoy some readers, but Atwood really leaves the final conclusion to be open to individual interpretation. Because the entire story is obsessed with knowing what really happened, the question ends up being on the minds of the readers. Since the novel really doesn't give any definitive answer, it could be that Grace's innocence (or guilt) is really not that important. If it was truly an essential thing to know, chances are good that some sort of answer would be given by Atwood. In reality, whether or not Grace actually committed the crime does not alter the story line. The readers all see the way Grace lives her day to day life, see her punishments, experience her interactions with other characters, and know that she eventually leaves the penitentiary. I just thought that that quote was interesting because it addresses what is basically the central issue of the entire story, while at the same time questioning whether or not that issue even needs to be resolved.

The passage that I found most important while reading Alias Grace was found near the end of the novel, located on the last page. “But three of the triangles in my Tree will be different. One will be white, from the petticoat I still have that was Mary Whitney’s; one will be faded yellowish from the prison nightdress I begged as a keepsake when I left there. And the third will be a pale cotton, a pink and white floral, cut from the dress of Nancy’s that she had on the first day I was at Mr. Kinnear’s, and that I wore on the ferry to Lewiston, when I was running away. I will embroider around each one of them with red feather stitching, to blend them in as a part of the pattern. And so we will all be together” (Atwood, pg. 460).
I found this passage to be an excellent closer for the book: Alias Grace. Margaret Atwood did an excellent job taking three major themes and or chapters of Grace Mark’s life and smoothly sewed them together, successfully concluding this amazing murder mystery. Grace Mark’s trials and tribulations are focused on and discussed throughout the entire novel, pushing the novel’s readers to sway back and forth as to whether they feel Grace was involved in the murders. I felt it was important to show the importance and or significance placed upon the connection between Grace Mark’s three horrors. The passage connects to the book because it highlights three main occurrences that took place within Grace Mark’s life, molding and shaping her to who she turned out to be, ultimately bringing her story to an end. I think the passage symbolizes the complex beginning, the horrific middle and trapped ending that Grace had to endure in order to be led to her quiet life of happiness.

I just had a few more passages I wanted to comment on.

On page 237, a passage was written by Margaret Attwood describing Grace Mark’s view to the outside. “In fact I have no idea of what kind of a sunrise there was. In prison they make the windows high up, so you cannot climb out of them. I suppose, but also so you cannot see out of them either, or at least not onto the outside world. They do not want you looking out, they do not want you thinking the word out, they do not want you looking at the horizon and thinking you might someday drop below it yourself, like the sail of a ship departing or a horse and rider vanishing down a far hillside. And so this morning I saw only the usual form of light, a light without shape, coming in through the high-up and dirty grey windows, as if cast by no sun and no moon and no lamp or cradle. Just a swathe of daylight the same all the way through, like lard,” struck me as a very strong passage describing Grace Mark’s perspective and feelings toward the prison and the outside world. In this passage, Grace Marks perceives the prison as intentionally placing the windows and outlets to the outside world at an inaccessible position as to not give the prisoners any ideas of escape. Grace fantasizes about the outside world and its beauty which she is unable to experience. She dreams of the sunrises and beautiful fields and all the things that she is missing from being behind bars. This passage shows how Grace Marks has given up her dreaming and has accepted what the prison wants her to accept. They want her to understand that leaving will never be an option and yearning for something that is never in reach of achievement is a pointless activity. This passage connects to the rest of the book because Grace being in prisoned is a major theme and or discussion topic through out Alias Grace. The thought that Grace would never be let out into the outside world again to experience a normal life was a topic brought up several times throughout the book. Thoughts to whether Grace would ever be released were readdressed over and over again and this passage shows a glimpse on how Grace felt about her misfortune.

“It is not the question of your guilt or innocence that concerns me,” says Simon. “I am a doctor, not a judge. I simply wish to know what your self can actually remember.”

When reading Alias Grace, I felt that these few words written on page 307 were very powerful and announced clearly to Margaret Atwood’s readers what Dr. Jordon’s true intensions were. Throughout Alias Grace, the question raced through my head as to whether Grace Marks was guilty or innocent; did she help kill or was she taking advantage of? Many characters written in Alias Grace have a variety of opinions as to whether Grace Marks was guilty or innocent causing Grace to have her terrible convictions thrown in her face over and over again. Dr. Jordon was a sort of medium between the public who thought Grace guilty and the organizations who found her innocent. I liked the fact in this passage feels as though Dr. Jordon is not judging Grace, but is trying to help her figure out the one thing that is causing her so many problems: her memory. This passage connects with the book because one of the major themes is if Grace Marks is innocent, but no one can get a whole honest story because of her erased memory.

I have read the book but I can't come to the conclusion if Grace is innocent in the end or not. what confused me was the fact that in the end when jamie marries grace he is happy to hear of all her sufferings?

Upon entering this class late, I apparently didn’t catch this assignment. Luckily while scanning through the blogs now at the end of the semester, I caught this mistake. I did read this book so I will weigh in on it now.

One thing which I felt was very interesting of the character of Grace was how conscious she was about what she did or said around whom she acted around. This is particularly evident while the Doctor analyzes her. There are a couple of quotes which point to these strategic head games which she plays with the doctor. The first is on the top of page 60 when the doctor and Grace meet. “Her eyes were unusually large, it was true, but they were far from insane. Instead they were frankly assessing him. It was as if she were contemplating the subject of some unexplained experiment; as if it were he, and not she, who was under scrutiny.” This description of her behavior only highlights how connected to reality Grace is, while being examined to possibly prove otherwise. On page 66 this calculated behavior continues, “On the first two days there was not much talk to interrupt. I kept my head down, I did not look at him…Or else I looked over the top of Dr Jordan’s head, at the wall behind him.” Although part of the explanation for this body language is her difficulty talking to people after so many years, on can only help but think, based on her later unwillingness (to discuss her dreams for example), that it is the start of her opposition to the possible psychoanalysis from Doctor Jordan.

Deng Adit had an interesting post to the blog stating: “no one loves to see the doctor around him or her when she or he is not sick. As it is mentioned above that it is a bad sign. the big picture behind this notion of a bad sign is that the life is under a threat or under critical condition. On the other hand,doctors are life savers,so we do need them round us as much as we need other stuffs in life but Grace never thought of this because she thought that the doctor would kill her.”
I think that this is a good point that needs further exploration. She is clearly scared of the physical threats of doctors as shown on page 62. “You can have your own thoughts then, but if you laugh you must pretend you are coughing or choking; choking is better, if you choke they hit you on the back, but if coughing they have the doctor.” In this case the presence of the doctor causes a fear of that presence leading to medical death of the body, I think this represents a deeper fear of death for her, in this case death representing her being guilty of the crime.

I wouldn’t go as far as to conclude her guilt based on these actions alone. However, the way she acts and thinks leads me to believe that she has something to hide. It seems that she is consciously repressing something that she is anxious could be exposed even with cooperation.

Nice words!