Post 3: They’re (Finally) Dead!

Hello again! Yes, you read that right: we finally got to the part of the book where Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery were murdered! It took a while, but we got there! Was the wait worth the big reveal? Absolutely not.

Since I last blogged, it seems like very little has happened. To begin with, Grace started to realize how sketchy the Kinnear residence is. She grows weary of Nancy, who is a devout worshipper having an affair with her employer, and Mr. Kinnear, who gets creepier with every sentence, and of course, James McDermont, who is the definition of the scary farmhand from hell, much like Judd from Oklahoma! While Grace tells her story, it becomes more and more clear that Dr. Jordan is developing unprofessional feelings for Grace, which can only add conflict to the story.

About half way through the reading, we come to find that a peddler from Grace’s past named Jerimiah is posing as a neurohypnotist named Dr. Jerome DuPont. He symbols to Grace to keep this a secret.

Then, the fated moment arrives: Thomas tells Grace of his plan to kill Nancy and Mr. Kinnear, and then rob them. Grace tries to stop the terrible plan, but she can only do so much when she feels she is against a madman. On the fated day, Grace tells Dr. Jordan that she only remembers hearing the sound of the ax hitting Nancy, but she blacked out. Then, later that day, McDermont killed Thomas Kinnear with a shot to the body. Grace and McDermont run away together, and McDermont tries to rape Grace to get “what he is owed”. She manages to stall his advances, and the section ends with Grace dreaming and then saying “Just then there was a knocking on the door,” (343).

Now that I have updated you on the state of the story, onto the analysis! Since now I fully understand the characters, I thought it would be best to give you a true explanation of them now:
Grace Marks: the “protagonist” of the story. Grace has been accused of aiding and abetting the murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, though she herself does not know if she did it. Grace’s early life was quite tough, as she lost her mother and had to deal with a drunken father. Her only real friend, Mary Whitney, died of a botched abortion when Grace was 15. Unable to bear working where her friend died, Grace goes to the Kinnears for a fresh start. Her quiet demeanor and soft personality certainly makes the reader think she is innocent of any crime, but is she just a snake lying in the grass?
Dr. Simon Jordan: a psychologist from the States. He is studing Grace mostly out of curiousity, and I find him to be horribly creepy. He sits with Grace almost everyday to listen to her story and telling of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, taking notes and asking questions to help uncover the truth. As far as personality goes, he seems to be obsessed with women, particularly Grace.
Thomas Kinnear: you’d think since he’s so important, he’d be in the book more. We know little of Thomas Kinnear besides the fact that he travels a great deal, keeps mostly to himself, and he’s having an affair with Nancy, his house runner. He too gives off creepy vibes to Grace, and seems to make subtle advances on her.
Nancy Montgomery: I don’t think anyone in this book likes Nancy. Her biggest personality trait is that she’s horrifically two-faced. She’ll scream at Grace and McDermont one minute, then joke nad laugh with them as if nothing has happened. She is incredibly jealous when Grace does anything for Mr. Kinnear and with throw a fit at Grace for the smallest things. Her temper makes her incredibly unlikeable, and makes it somewhat difficult for the reader to feel very bad about the fact that she’s dead (just being honest, guys).
James McDermont: the man with a worse temper than Nancy. Breathing around McDermont is all it takes to get him to sulk. Anytime he is described in the book, he is described as “glaring”. He develops an infatuation with Grace almost as soon as she starts at the Kinnear home; this infatuation comes with raging jealousy and feelings of possession, which lead him to think that Grace belongs to him and has “led him on” meaning she must have sex with him in order to pay a debt to him.

All in all, a lot of these characters are very unlikeable. It’s hard to root for any of them, except Grace; however, the reader must remember that Grace is the one telling the story. Not only that, but she is telling the story to a man who could help her get out of prison, so wouldn’t she make the story as favorable to her as possible? Wouldn’t she say that Mr. Kinnear was absent, Nancy was difficult, and McDermont was insane to help her own case? These are questions that must be asked anytime a first person narration is involved, but particularly in a case like this when the truth is so mysterious.

So, that’s all I have for this post! Thanks for joining me and tune in next week when I tell you whether Grace is innocent or guilty!