Atwood's Style
The halfway mark of Alias Grace has been reached and boy was it a tough 230 pages. This novel is so dense with hidden plot and mysteries and beautiful writing that it is challenging to read yet so addicting. At this point, a lot has happened on Grace's journey, let me catch you up.
Grace Marks has now told Dr. Jordan almost all of her story up until the deaths of Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear.
After she left Ireland with her family, her mother died on board the ship but the rest of the family arrived in Canada. They found lodging in the back rooms of a women's house. Her father began drinking too much alcohol again and kicked her out of their home so she could get a job to pay for his drinking habits. She got a job as a maid where she met Mary Whitney. Mary Whitney died because of an abortion gone wrong, and Grace moved from home to home for the next three years finding different jobs as a maid. She eventually was asked to go work for Thomas Kinnear by Nancy Montgomery and she moved to the country to work for him. She explains her daily tasks for the Kinnear household on Dr. Jordan's request. This is where the halfway mark is.
Now onto the stylistic analysis!
I can't wait to read more about this work of art! I will tell you what I have discovered next week!
Grace Marks has now told Dr. Jordan almost all of her story up until the deaths of Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear.
After she left Ireland with her family, her mother died on board the ship but the rest of the family arrived in Canada. They found lodging in the back rooms of a women's house. Her father began drinking too much alcohol again and kicked her out of their home so she could get a job to pay for his drinking habits. She got a job as a maid where she met Mary Whitney. Mary Whitney died because of an abortion gone wrong, and Grace moved from home to home for the next three years finding different jobs as a maid. She eventually was asked to go work for Thomas Kinnear by Nancy Montgomery and she moved to the country to work for him. She explains her daily tasks for the Kinnear household on Dr. Jordan's request. This is where the halfway mark is.
Now onto the stylistic analysis!
Atwood begins the novel with her unique writing style, but I found that I really began to understand once I had read over 230 pages. There are so many interesting aspects of the writing in Alias Grace, though highly confusing. The novel is like most novels, but at the start of each section there is a poem, and either a news paper clipping, or passage from novel. Occasionally a chapter begins with a letter or letters sent by or about Dr. Jordan. The novel also switches between 1st and 3rd person depending on the chapter. 1st person is always used when the chapter is from Grace's point of view, and in 3rd person, but restricted, when in Dr. Jordan's mind.
I have been wondering why Atwood chose to have the novel switch almost constantly when I came upon an idea which is now my current standing on the subject. Grace Marks does not ever say that she did or didn't assist in anyway, the murders of Nancy and Mr. Kinnear. I believe that changing of style of delivery, and the refusal to admit, that Atwood is attempting to make the reader solve the crime. It is a game of Clue for the reader. Piece together the articles and outside information, with Grace's life story, and Dr. Jordan's observations and come up with a reasonable solution to the issue at hand.
Each article suggests a new idea, one example is from page 182, "Grace was of a lively disposition and pleasant manners and may have been an object of jealousy to Nancy...There is plenty of room for the supposition that instead of her being the instigator and promoter of the terrible deeds committed, she was but the unfortunate dupe in the whole dreadful business." This suggests that maybe Grace is completely innocent and later goes on to claim that McDermott was untrustworthy and could have potentially made up the stories of Grace's part in the murders.
I find that the novel reads more like a journal than a story. It is personal and close to Grace Marks and stands almost as a reminder that Grace is the only one still alive who was there at the time of the murders, and Dr. Jordan is simply an outsider.
Grace's story is told through conversations with Dr. Jordan. She begins with her childhood, or her life between ages 0-12, this was in the last section I read. I realized, while reading the second quarter of the novel, that Grace's monologue is made up of long sentences. These long sentences allow for it to feel like a conversation between Grace and the reader instead of Grace and Dr. Jordan. For example, a paragraph is made with a short sentence and the rest entirely with this line, "She soon guessed that I wasn't as old as I said I was, and she swore not to tell; and then she looked over my clothes, and said most of them were too small for me, and fit only for the scrap bag, and that I would never make it through the winter with only my mother's shawl, as the wind would go right through it like a sieve; and she would help me get the clothes I needed, as Mrs. Honey has told her..."(151), and it continues on for a few more lines.
So far, there is only one major motif: quilting. Every new part of the novel is labeled with a different quilting pattern and Grace mentions quilts and making quilts within almost every chapter. The quilting passion was sparked with Mary Whitney telling Grace about how "a girl did not consider herself ready for marriage [there] until she had three such quilts, made by her own hands," (160). Quilting to Grace could be either a form of relaxation, or an outlet for her dreams of marriage that she no longer believes she will be able to pursue. I really am looking forward to developing my opinions about the quilts.
Each article suggests a new idea, one example is from page 182, "Grace was of a lively disposition and pleasant manners and may have been an object of jealousy to Nancy...There is plenty of room for the supposition that instead of her being the instigator and promoter of the terrible deeds committed, she was but the unfortunate dupe in the whole dreadful business." This suggests that maybe Grace is completely innocent and later goes on to claim that McDermott was untrustworthy and could have potentially made up the stories of Grace's part in the murders.
I find that the novel reads more like a journal than a story. It is personal and close to Grace Marks and stands almost as a reminder that Grace is the only one still alive who was there at the time of the murders, and Dr. Jordan is simply an outsider.
Grace's story is told through conversations with Dr. Jordan. She begins with her childhood, or her life between ages 0-12, this was in the last section I read. I realized, while reading the second quarter of the novel, that Grace's monologue is made up of long sentences. These long sentences allow for it to feel like a conversation between Grace and the reader instead of Grace and Dr. Jordan. For example, a paragraph is made with a short sentence and the rest entirely with this line, "She soon guessed that I wasn't as old as I said I was, and she swore not to tell; and then she looked over my clothes, and said most of them were too small for me, and fit only for the scrap bag, and that I would never make it through the winter with only my mother's shawl, as the wind would go right through it like a sieve; and she would help me get the clothes I needed, as Mrs. Honey has told her..."(151), and it continues on for a few more lines.
So far, there is only one major motif: quilting. Every new part of the novel is labeled with a different quilting pattern and Grace mentions quilts and making quilts within almost every chapter. The quilting passion was sparked with Mary Whitney telling Grace about how "a girl did not consider herself ready for marriage [there] until she had three such quilts, made by her own hands," (160). Quilting to Grace could be either a form of relaxation, or an outlet for her dreams of marriage that she no longer believes she will be able to pursue. I really am looking forward to developing my opinions about the quilts.
I can't wait to read more about this work of art! I will tell you what I have discovered next week!
A beautiful image of Grace Marks
From the Netflix Original TV Series
Nice discussion of the style overall. I wonder if the quilting motif also relates to the structure of the novel. You mentioned how there are all of these pieces to connect together to figure out what has happened, which is kind of like piecing a quilt together.
ReplyDeleteMrs. LaClair,
DeleteI hadn't thought of that at all and I love the idea! The way it reads can definitely be related to the way of a quilt. I had been having trouble with the quilt motif but I think from now on I will understand it a lot more.
Thank you so much!
First off, I 100% agree with everything you said. The long sentences are absolutely what make the book feel like a conversation, and I really enjoy the comment about the book reading like a journal. When you were reading, did you find that a lot of the element of The Handmaid’s Tale seemed to come through (a demur main character, an influential friend now gone, etc)? Another of Atwood’s novels, The Bling Assassin, also makes use of these characterizations. What do you think about the archetypes that Atwood creates for her writing? Do you think that they are overused or unique?
ReplyDeleteHey Cass!
DeleteSorry I haven't replied earlier!
I think that Atwood has a distinct writing style for sure. I find that she tends to write her novels about something that has to do with women's rights (although I have not read the Blind Assassin), I also find that she writes in a stitch-work, story-telling, fashion. I love that the has similarities between her novels and that I could pick one up, without knowing who the author was, and take a pretty good stab at who wrote it. Having only fully read two Atwood novels, I could not say if they are overused. I do plan to read more of her work though and I can't wait to explore her more!