Alias Grace*
by Margaret Atwood
- Alias Grace is a fictional account of an historical event. To what extent does this affect how you read it? How illuminating, for your reading of the novel, are the extracts from the various contemporary records of events? Does the afterward change your interpretation of the novel in any way?
- This novel is rooted in physical reality, on one hand, and floats free of it on the other, as Atwood describes physical things in either organic, raw terms (the "tongue-colored settee") or with otherworldly, more ephemeral images (the laundry like "angels rejoicing, although without any heads"). How do such descriptions deepen and reinforce the themes in the novel?
- The daily and seasonal rhythm of household work is described in detail. What role does this play in the novel in regard to its pace? Compared to your own routines, how much has changed over the past one hundred years?
- Mary Whitney is mentioned almost from the beginning of the novel, although we do not meet her for some time. How important an influence on Grace is Mary? What was your view of Mary Whitney before you met her in chapter 18? During the time she was working with Grace at Mrs. Alderman Parkinson's? When you hear of her again? Do the earliest references and asides about her illuminate her role in the novel later? What do you make of her final “appearance”?
- Atwood employs two main points of view and voices in the novel. Do you trust one more than the other? Atwood uses the interviews conducted by Simon Jordan as a means of telling some of Grace’s story, rather than having Grace speak directly to us at all times. What affect does this achieve?
- Grace's and Simon's stories are linked and they have a kinship on surface and deeper levels. For instance, they both eavesdrop or spy as children, and later, each stays in a house that would have been better left sooner or not entered at all. Discuss other similarities or differences in the twining of their stories and their psyches.
- Both Simon’s and Grace’s dreams are recounted in great detail. To what extent do you find that their dreams shed light on the rest of the novel?
- Atwood offers a vision of the dual nature of people, houses, appearances and more: dark and light. Discuss these manifestations of dark and light in this novel. Do you share her vision? If not, why not?
- Looking back, can you identify clues throughout the novel that foreshadowed certain events? Did you find key events surprising and inevitable?
- In a letter to his friend Dr. Edward Murchie, Simon Jordan writes that "...Not to know--to snatch at hints and portents, at intimations, at tantalizing whispers--it is as bad as being haunted..." How are the characters in this story affected by the things they don't know?
- At her trial Grace gives three different versions of the events leading up to, and following, the murders. She continues to deny any memory of the murders. Does your opinion of Grace’s culpability change during the course of the novel? At what points did you waver one way or the other? What conclusion do you reach at the end of the book, and why?
- Did any character in the novel freely choose his or her course of action?
- As Atwood points out in her afterward, Grace’s contemporaries were enthralled by her part in the murder. The opinions expressed about her conduct embody an ambivalent assessment of the nature of women widespread among the Victorians. What are those opinions? Are there other female characters who are the target of this ambivalence, particularly as it is expressed by men?
- How do their employers, particularly men, treat servants? In what ways do the worlds of servants and employers overlap? How do servants see their employers, and visa versa?
- Why do you suppose the book is titled Alias Grace?
*Questions written by Mount Prospect Public Library Staff
Published 1996
