Alias Grace

Grace lies sleepless on Tuesday night. She knows that tomorrow she will have to tell Simon about what she remembers about the day of the murders. Grace poses a series of questions to herself to try to distinguish what she knows from what she’s been told, or what others have said she did. The crux of the matter for Grace is that other people have said she did and said things of which she has no memory. Atwood has Grace piece together a story through questions, and the questions Grace asks do reveal some of that fateful Saturday’s events. Mr. Kinnear is the man who kisses her neck that night she sleepwalks outside. Nancy fires her, as a result of what she thinks is going on. Grace is found crying in the kitchen by McDermott. Grace may have said out loud that she wished Nancy dead, and McDermott may have acted on that. She sees the red flowers blooming on the wall and falls asleep.

Simon narrates the beginning of the chapter, looking back on the previous day as he drinks tea on Wednesday morning with the Governor’s wife. His speech on Tuesday night was a success. After the speech, Dr. DuPont tells him that the Committee have agreed to have DuPont attempt a session of neuro-hypnotism with Grace. Simon is angry at the interference, but there is nothing he can do to stop it.

Grace takes up the narration, again directly addressing the reader, not Simon, as she did in the previous chapter. Grace helps out at Simon’s speech event with food preparation. Grace is stunned to meet the gossiping Dora, the Humphrey’s maid, and realize that she is gossiping about “her” Simon. 

During the refreshments after the speech, Grace is brought out to meet Dr. DuPont. She is amazed to find that Dr. DuPont is really Jeremiah the peddler. DuPont manages to communicate to Grace that she should trust him and let him try to hypnotize her. She agrees to be hypnotized, though as she thinks about it, she realizes that it may not be just a fake conjuring trick. Jeremiah told her that he has worked as a mesmerist and medical clairvoyant, so he might put her into a “real” trance. She says, “That brought me up short, and gave me pause to consider” (306).

Simon and Grace meet to discuss the murders. Simon assures Grace that he just wants her to tell what she remembers, no more, no less.

Grace begins by reporting that Kinnear left as usual on that Thursday for his regular trip to Toronto. Simon misses important details, like the name of the horse. Grace gives him a look. He gets impatient, and asks her if Kinnear ever touched her or made advances. Grace gets angry at Simon for his impertinent questions and prurient mind, and he has to apologize.

Grace says that as soon as Kinnear left, Nancy told her that she and McDermott were both to be gone before Mr. Kinnear’s return and that Mr. Kinnear is in agreement with this. Grace doesn’t believe that Mr. Kinnear knows that Nancy was going to fire her. She believes that Nancy is jealous and wants Grace out of the way. She is crying in the kitchen when McDermott comes in. They drink some of Mr. Kinnear’s whiskey. They are both afraid that Nancy is going to turn them out with no references and is going to refuse to pay them. Grace has nowhere to go.

McDermott tells her his secret, after making her promise not to tell anyone: he is going to kill Nancy, kill Mr. Kinnear when he comes home, and rob Mr. Kinnear. He will not let Nancy turn him out without paying him. Grace doesn’t entirely believe him, but she is also afraid of him, and he has threatened to kill her too if she tells anyone.

Nancy is away visiting a friend while this is happening. When she returns, Grace goes to bed in the same room, as she always does when Kinnear is away. She locks the door to the bedroom to keep McDermott out.

Having fired them, Nancy wants them to all part with no hard feelings, so the next day she arranges a party with Jamie Walsh to play the flute, and good food and drink as a send-off for Grace and McDermott. That night Grace warns Nancy that McDermott is terribly angry with her and wants to kill her. Nancy laughs it off, and Grace realizes that there is no way she can save her.

Grace first dreams of Mary Whitney. Next, she dreams of red peonies coming up through gray gravel and bursting in the wind as she walks, and Nancy with a bloody head holding out her hands for mercy. She keeps walking, and Nancy scatters into white and red cloth petals. Then she is in the dark cellar, as a man with a candle blocks the stairs. She knows she will never get out.

Grace asserts that she had this dream before the murders and many times since. She tells Simon that the bad dreams are why she was sent to the asylum. They told her they were not dreams and that she was awake. 

Grace continues her narration of the next morning, Saturday. Grace wakes up at dawn, feeling light-headed and detached from herself. She goes about her chores, and when she goes outside, she begins hallucinating—seeing the world covered in a silver film, which she imagines is God. After she milks the cow and returns to the kitchen, McDermott is there cleaning the shoes. She asks him if he is still going to kill Nancy. He says yes. She goes out to the garden to pick chives for Nancy’s breakfast omelet. She hears a dull thud and that is all she remembers for a while.

Simon questions Grace about things that she said in her confession, such as watching McDermott drag Nancy by the hair and throw her into the cellar. He asks her how Nancy came to be wearing Grace’s kerchief. She says she does not know. She also has no memory of talking with the butcher, who arrived that day as usual.

The next thing she remembers is standing in front of the house, and Mr. Kinnear is driving up. McDermott threatens her and makes her promise to help him kill Kinnear. She agrees, because otherwise she can see that McDermott will kill her too.

Kinnear looks for Nancy and asks where she is. Grace tells him that Nancy has taken a stagecoach into town. He thinks this is very strange, but he asks for food. Grace fixes it for him. Then, Kinnear lies down for a nap.

When Kinnear wakes up at about seven p.m., Grace gives him a meal. McDermott, who has been waiting all day for his chance, demands that Grace to help him lure Mr. Kinnear to his death. Grace won’t help. She hears a shot. When she runs in, Mr. Kinnear is dead on the floor. McDermott forces her to open the trapdoor to the cellar, and he throws Mr. Kinnear’s body into it.

Grace is so upset and frightened that she runs away, outside. McDermott comes after her and shoots at her. Grace faints, and she remembers nothing for a while.

Simon interrupts to say that Jamie Walsh came to the house at about 8 p.m. and talked to Grace, who was standing outside. Grace seemed perfectly well and told Jamie that Nancy was visiting a friend while Mr. Kinnear was not back yet. Grace has no explanation for this and doesn’t remember it.

She is clearly upset. Simon wants to comfort her by taking her in his arms, but he doesn’t. 

Simon leaves this session with Grace very discouraged. No new memories have come out; his sessions with Grace have had no results. He questions his methods and wonders if he should encourage a neuro-hypnotism session. He has nothing to lose.

He returns to his lodgings, where the porcine Dora lets him in the house. He discovers that Mrs. Humphrey has stolen a large quantity of his laudanum. He doesn’t dare confront her about it; it wouldn’t be polite.

Simon goes on a rowing trip with Lydia. He briefly considers an engagement and taking Lydia home to his mother.