Strap in you guys, because this is a wild ride.
So I’ll spare you the more boring details and do a condensed version of what happened. Grace continues to tell us about how her and Mc Dermint were captured and then out of trial. She talks about the emotional strain and pain of the trail, and how hard it was to have to sit through it. To learn more about Grace, Simon visits her lawyers office, but only gets more and more confused about Garce and her innocence.
With all other methods failing, Grace agrees to be out under hypnosis. One evening, Dr. DuPont (who is actually Geaces friend Jeremiah) comes to the House Grace works at, and in front of Simon, the Governor’s Wife, and many others, he hypnotized her. While under hypnosis, we are introduced once again to Mary Whitney.
It turns out that Grace has multiple identities living inside her. The blackouts that she experienced during the murders of Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear are actually her second personality taking over.
“Mary Whitney” tells the party that since Grace didn’t open the window when she died, Mary’s soul was trapped and found a home in Grace’s body. Mary tells us that she had Thomas Kinnear and James McDermont wrapped around her finger, and taunts Simon, asking if he wants to know “whether I did what you’d like to do with that little slut who’s got hold of your hand,” (400). Mary confessed that SHE was the one who strangled Nancy, not Grace. She begs them not to tell Grace about her, otherwise she’d get very upset.
Grace comes out of the trance having no memory of what happened. The book quickly cuts to a discussion of Grace waiting for her pardon to come in, and then finally receiving it. The book ends with Grace beginning a new life with Jamie Walsh, the man whose testimony put her away.
Now the big question: is it AP worthy? Well, I would have to say yes!
The amount of analysis needed to truly understand this book is tremendous. Every chapter requires a new depth of thought that the previous did not. For example, the beginning asks the simple question of innocence or guilt, while later parts of the book asks the reader to determine whether Gace is a good person or not. This question is funadamentally more difficult, because someone can be guilty but still a good person.
Another reason that this book is of AP worth is Margaret Atwood’s unique and complex style. Not only does she switch between two very unique viewpoints, but she also uses stylistic choices like leaving out quotation marks, to convey meaning. Leaving out the quotation marks makes the book a true narrative, a storytelling done by Grace. It makes the book seem like a conversation, as I said in one of my first blog posts.
Atwood also uses a great deal of literary devices in her work. She utilized many motifs, namely Peonies. As in her other works, she uses an imagery traditionally related to birth and life and turns it into a symbol of death. Any time peonies are mentioned, it is Grace talking about Nancy being dead or her own, very sad life.
For all of these reasons, this book is of great literary merit, and certainly worthy of being an AP book.
Hey Cass!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the novel is of literary merit but I was wondering what you thought of the results of Grace being hypnotized? I was wondering if you believe that Grace was in fact possessed by Mary Whitney or if it was a scheme created by Grace and Jeremiah (they were friends so he could have helped her come up with the idea and helped to play along?). I guess this question also leads to whether you believe Grace to be innocent or guilty? I personally think she is guilty even though I don't wish to believe so! Let me know what you think!
Hey Lil! I’m pretty torn on whether Grace is innocent or guilty, but if I have to pick, I think that she is innocent. I think that Mary Whitney is a second personality that she holds for a few reasons: one, it seems like a typical Atwood move, and it seems too simple otherwise. Two, Grace appears to have something of an obsession with Mary throughout the whole book, always wishing to be like her. I think it’s plausible that she has two personalities, but it’s also possible the whole thing is nonsense. Without a doubt it’s a question that requires a whole lot of debate!
DeleteI think that the results of the hypnotism were genuine. We, as readers, were in Grace’s inner monologue the whole time, and her distress and confusion seemed genuine enough to me. Of course, she has great reason to distort the truth, but I really believe that she did not.
I can’t wait to rewatch the series having read the book! Viewing party at my house?
Why does Grace end up with the man who testified against her? Do you think it's possible that Grace is just making up the multiple personalities? Remember that the title is "Alias" Grace.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to slow down a bit and go back and edit the first part of your post. It seems pretty rushed.
The man who testifies against her apologizes and then proposes to her. He had a crush on her when they were much younger, and Grace believes he only testified against her out of anger at Grace running off with James.
ReplyDeleteI think that’s it’s quite possible that Grace made up the second personality. It would be a great way for her to get pardoned because it accounts for her lack of memory and is difficult to argue, especially with Jeremiah being the one who hypnotized her. However, I think that this would be too easy for Atwood. It would make the ends tie up too nicely, and I think that it’s much more likely that she has a second personality or she was possessed, as Lilly mentions in her blog.
You bring up an interesting point about the title of the novel. At the moment, I cannot explain it. I’m going to have to think on it and perhaps do research (if allowed) to decide. I originally thought it could allude to using Mary Whitney as a false name to avoid capture after the murders, and then I thought maybe Mary Whitney did not exist at all. I think I’ll have to include that in my next post!