Alias Grace Dialectical Journal
Spikes | 1
Spikes | 2
Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood
Dialectical Journal
Date
Text
7/21/14
p. 5 “Out of the gravel there are peonies growing. They come up through the loose grey pebbles, their buds testing the air like snails’ eyes, then swelling and opening, huge dark-red flowers all shining and glossy like satin. Then they burst and fall to the ground.”
7/21/1
4
p. 5 “It’s 1851. I’ll be twenty-four years old next birthday. I’ve been shut up in here since the age of sixteen. I am a model prisoner, and give no trouble.
That’s what the Governor’s wife says, I have overheard her saying it. I’m skilled at overhearing. If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.” 7/21/1
4
p. 11 “ The murders of Thomas
Kinnear, Esq. and his housekeeper
Nancy Montgomery at Richmond Hall and the trials of Grace Marks and
James McDermott and the hanging of
James McDermott at the New Goal in
Toronto, November 21st, 1843.”
Response
Margaret Atwood starts of the novel with this ominous tone. The idea of flower growing out of rocks inspires hope. She particularly mentions red peonies, which are a symbol of shame. This foreshadows the main character will be in a less desirable situation and still overcome it, becoming something as beautiful as silk, the finest material known to man, and reach a climatic end.
This passage gives the reader insight to the narrator and her setting. The year is 1851 and she has been a prisoner for eight years. She is always on her best behavior in hopes that one day she will be rewarded her freedom. Although they call her a role model for the other prisoners, it is not as easy as she makes it seem. The narrator compares it to dangling over a bridge, taking away all your strength. This leads me to believe the
Spikes | 2
Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood
Dialectical Journal
Date
Text
7/21/14
p. 5 “Out of the gravel there are peonies growing. They come up through the loose grey pebbles, their buds testing the air like snails’ eyes, then swelling and opening, huge dark-red flowers all shining and glossy like satin. Then they burst and fall to the ground.”
7/21/1
4
p. 5 “It’s 1851. I’ll be twenty-four years old next birthday. I’ve been shut up in here since the age of sixteen. I am a model prisoner, and give no trouble.
That’s what the Governor’s wife says, I have overheard her saying it. I’m skilled at overhearing. If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.” 7/21/1
4
p. 11 “ The murders of Thomas
Kinnear, Esq. and his housekeeper
Nancy Montgomery at Richmond Hall and the trials of Grace Marks and
James McDermott and the hanging of
James McDermott at the New Goal in
Toronto, November 21st, 1843.”
Response
Margaret Atwood starts of the novel with this ominous tone. The idea of flower growing out of rocks inspires hope. She particularly mentions red peonies, which are a symbol of shame. This foreshadows the main character will be in a less desirable situation and still overcome it, becoming something as beautiful as silk, the finest material known to man, and reach a climatic end.
This passage gives the reader insight to the narrator and her setting. The year is 1851 and she has been a prisoner for eight years. She is always on her best behavior in hopes that one day she will be rewarded her freedom. Although they call her a role model for the other prisoners, it is not as easy as she makes it seem. The narrator compares it to dangling over a bridge, taking away all your strength. This leads me to believe the