Alias Grace Study Guide

In the novel Alias Grace, author Margaret Atwood retells the story of Grace Marks, a real nineteenth-century Canadian woman who was accused of and spent thirty years in jail for the murder of two people. These murders were the most sensationalized story of the mid-1800s, and accounts of the trial and aspects of Marks’s life were well publicized. Atwood was first attracted to this story through the works of so-called Canadian journalist Susanna Moodie, who wrote about a wildly crazy Grace Marks. Atwood admits that at first she believed Moodie’s recounting of the circumstances that surrounded this famous murderess. In fact, Atwood wrote a collection of poems called The Journals of Susanna Moodie and also a television script based on Moodie’s version of Grace Marks’s life. Atwood’s interest in Marks waned for several years, but when it resurfaced, she dug deeper into the story. That was when she discovered numerous discrepancies in Moodie’s work and decided to write her own version of Marks’s story.

In real life, Grace Marks, a sixteen-year-old Irish immigrant, was sentenced to life imprisonment for her role (which was never fully defined) in the murder of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery. Kinnear and Montgomery were having an affair, and many people have speculated that Marks, who was recently brought into the Kinnear household as a servant, was jealous. Montgomery, after all, was a maid, not the mistress of the house, and Marks resented Montgomery’s airs of superiority. At least, that is one version of the story. Marks claimed various interpretations of her involvement in the murders, including one in which she states that she could not remember what happened on the day of the murders and another in which she claims to have been temporarily possessed by a dead girlfriend of hers. Alias Grace does not solve all the puzzles of this mystery, but it does present a patchwork story, details of which come from a variety of real sources as well as from Atwood’s imagination, thus leaving readers to come to their own conclusions.

Alias Grace, Atwood’s ninth novel, became a bestseller in North America, Europe, and in other countries around the world. The book helped win Atwood several literary prizes, including the Premio Mondello, Salon Magazine’s best fiction of 1997, the Norwegian Order of Literary Merit, the Giller Prize, and the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Author of the Year award.

Alias Grace Summary

Section 1: Jagged Edge
Alias Grace begins with a recurrent dream that Grace Marks has. Grace narrates this chapter and states that it is 1851, she is twenty-four years old, and is in prison. She is a model prisoner, she claims, but it is difficult. The chapter ends with the conclusion of Grace’s dream.

Section 2: Rocky Road
A clip from the Toronto Mirror from November 23, 1843, and a statement from the Punishment Book from the Kingston Penitentiary start chapter 2. The remaining text is a long poem written about Grace Marks and James McDermott. McDermott was hanged for the murders. Grace went to prison.

Section 3: Puss in the Corner
Grace works at the governor of the penitentiary’s home. She describes the governor’s family. She mentions the scrapbook in which the governor’s wife keeps stories of criminals. Grace reads the accounts of herself and says most of them are lies. Grace mentions her friend Mary Whitney. When a doctor enters the scene, Grace screams. She is afraid of him, but she does not tell the reader why.

Grace faints and is awakened and dragged back to the prison, still screaming. Later she describes her cell. She briefly relates her previous experiences at the “Asylum.” It was in the asylum, Grace contends, that she stopped sharing her thoughts. “At last I stopped talking altogether, except very civilly.…” And because of this, Grace is allowed to go back to the penitentiary.

Dr. Simon Jordan enters Grace’s cell and tries to quell her fears by stating he is not “the usual kind of doctor.” Grace protects herself, carefully selecting her words. Dr. Jordan brings Grace an apple. When he asks, in his analytical way, what the apple makes Grace think of, Grace plays stupid, something her lawyer had told her would save her life. Jordan tries to gain her confidence. He tells her he wants to talk to her, and her answers will not cause her any harm.

Section 4: Young Man's Fancy
Three letters begin chapter 6: one from a doctor friend of Jordan’s explaining what Jordan is trying to do in talking to Grace; one from Jordan’s mother; and the final one from Jordan to a friend, further explaining his project with Grace. The narration then switches to third-person, describing portions of Jordan’s life. Jordan is having second thoughts about his research on Grace. There follows a description of Jordan’s room in a boarding house, as well as an account of a servant woman who unnerves Jordan.

The narration returns to Grace, who talks about daily routines in prison. Jordan visits Grace at the governor’s house. Grace does not say much during their first meetings. To help begin a conversation, Jordan talks about himself. This approach seems to work as Grace opens up.

The third-person narration then returns as Jordan meets Reverend Verringer, who is fighting for Grace’s release but needs someone of Jordan’s stature to help. Jordan believes that the reverend might be in love with Grace. Jordan is invited to attend the Tuesday Discussion Circle. Miss Lydia, the governor’s daughter, flirts with Jordan before the meeting begins. The chapter ends with Jordan trying again to get Grace to talk.

Section 5: Broken Dishes
Grace narrates. Jordan asks what she dreamt about the night before. Grace relates her dream to the reader but tells Jordan that she does not remember. Jordan asks about her confession, which she says was only what her lawyer told her to say. Then Grace tells... » Complete Alias Grace Summary