Tuesday 27 September 2011

Wait, where is that?

The setting of the novel, Alias Grace, takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The picture above is how Toronto looked at about the time of Grace's time, in the 1850s'. Since the story of Grace Marks is a true story, it takes place in a real place.

Another place that is important to the story is the Kingston Penitentiary, where Grace was kept in prison.
The building was opened on June 1, 1835, and was built to hold about 500 prisoners. Today it is a national historic sight.


The entrance of the Kingston Penitentary.

Friday 16 September 2011

All is fair in love and war...?

So far in the novel, Grace, who is now 24, is in prison, and tells the reader the reoccurring dream she has about her past, which is rather confusing since you don't really know what's going on. Grace then says she is a model prisoner, which isn't always easy to be. You then read an exerpt from the Toronto Mirror dated November 23, 1843, and from the Punishment Book of the Kensington Penitentry. The rest is a poem basically summing up what happens for the rest of the novel. After this, it returns to Grace, who currently works at the govenors' home in the penitentry, and talks about the women that come to visit his wife, and then goes on to say that when she reads things about herself in the newspaper, she says they are lies, and not true. Basically, one could say this sets up the background for the story that is going to take place.


To me, some themes that begin for form are that of innocence in terms of, "Did she do it? Or didn't she?" This comes more into question when Grace says that what the newspapers say about her are a lie. Also the themes of fairness as well. Is what happened to Grace fair in terms of her part in the murders? So far, this question can't be answered since I'm not far enough to answer that. Also there is the theme of "love" if you could call it that, or better yet, lust. So far in the poem in the 2nd chapter it talks about Nancy Montgumery and Thomas Kinnear having a relationship, while Grace, who was jealous, and James McDormmat, who liked her also, probably was used for sexual favours in order to kill Thomas and Nancy. I believe the author right away introduces these themes since she wants to captivate the readers attention; since there is obviously more to them then just what's on the surface.


Thus far, my only secondary sources have been the wikipedia, which is rather devoid of any good information save the most basic information.


"Out of the gravel there are peonies growing." Chapter 1, Page 1
This is the first line in the first chapter of the novel. This sentence reminds me that out of something ugly, something good can happen. After all, what's so good looking about dirt? Nothing really, I suppose. Yet the peony can be something very lovely. At a certain point, when I hit rock bottom at my old high school, I didn't think anything good could come out of it.
In Gr. 11, I was friends with this guy, so we'll just call him John Doe. I also had a group of female friends too, and the so-called "leader" was a girl we'll call Jane Doe. John and Jane never really were friends when I met them both. After all, it was because of me they started as friends anyway. Jane became more and more jealous of my friendship with John, so she would do anything to make me feel like dirt. It wasn't long until she completely alienated me from my group of friends, and then I was basically friendless. It was that way for a long time, even after Jane and John began to date. However, I would like to thank Jane. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have learned how to show true compassion and kindness to people. I learned how not to treat people since she treated everyone like they were very simplistic, and made them feel horrible about themselves. So thank you, Jane Doe, because you treated me and everyone else so horribly, you showed me how to be a better person!

Monday 12 September 2011

Alias Grace ~ A Basic Introduction

The other day, we were chosen to pick a book in English, and I chose Alias Grace, a historical fiction novel based on a true story; that of Grace Marks. This novel was written by Margaret Atwood in 1996. The number of pages in this novel is 470-so it's a good read as far as length goes.
There are a  few reasons why I chose to do this novel; firstly, the novel is set in Toronto, not far from my own home. Secondly, this story really leaves you wondering, "What happens next?" since this is a mystery/suspense novel. Also, from what I have read so far, it seems that Grace's point of view is "could haves", which really makes me wonder if she is being truthful or not. Thirdly, it's the murder aspect of the novel that I find rather bewitching-after all, don't you wonder who did it? Convicted doesn't mean you did it (in a few cases.)


So far from what I have read, I find this book to be both an attention-grabber and very hard to put down. So far in the book, the first chapter is a bit confusing, since you don't really know what's going on, and then it shifts to 1859, where Grace is in prison, telling us where she is now; which is prison. She then begins to talk about how she got to where she is. The relationships that are mentioned in a poem in chapter 2 are rather intruging, which leads one to keep reading trying to find out how and why this happens.

Currently I have read up to the beginning of chapter 3, and thus far I find this book to be one you should at least give a chance.