reading response 2

Response 2 Guiding Questions:

1. For the middle chapters, the place in Alias Grace changed. Grace Marks' memories flash back to the place of her employment. Since Grace had been locked in the Asylum due to her involvement in the murder of her employer and housekeeper. However, Grace Marks' past and her mental disorder are caused in her childhood. Her employer, Thomas Kinnear, is the victim of her. His house is not only the place she got employed but also the area murder happened.
2. In the middle chapters, the general feeling is mysterious. Moreover, the up-and-coming expert, Dr. Simon Jordan, has his own affair with his landlady Ms. Humphrey, he is confused by his own sentiments. As a result, sexual element is one of the key clue to help me explore more about Grace's story.
3. The characters I choose to compare are the Governor's wife and Nancy Montgomery. Both female characters have high social status. But both characters treat Grace Marks with different behaviours. For the Governor's wife, she treats Grace with as a lady; as for Nancy, she treats Grace hard, because she thinks Grace might love Mr. Kinnear; the Governor's wife is an intelligent woman with her sagacity, while Nancy is the housekeeper relying on Mr. Kinnear, they are not couple. Nancy has to work hard on Mr. Kinnear's house. While the Governor's wife only needs to investigate crimes with her husband. Nancy thinks about Grace "lately become quarrelsome"; as the Governor's Wife, Grace is "tidy and handsome".
4. 1)Grace and Nancy: both characters have fight because Nancy always suspects that Grace might grab the love of Kinnear but Grace never thinks about it.
    2)Dr. Jordan always struggle among his own sentiments: he doesn't know how to arrange his own motion about love, or he can hardly recognize what is corruption, what is love.
5. In the middle chapters, Grace Marks is the narrator. She is involved in this novel since she is the murderer of her housekeeper and the employer. She talks about her past before she became a murderer.
6. this book is written in both first narrator and third narrator. By using both narrative ways, it shows the social background and its cultural identity.
7. in these middle chapters, I have a feeling that rash loves always lead people to corruption, In these middle chapters, from chapter12 to chapter24, these eleven chapters describe main characters involved in emotional issues and they paralyzed. People are easy to get corrupted.
8.  “When I was younger I used to think that if I could hug myself tight enough I could make myself smaller, because there was never enough room for me, at home or anywhere, but if I was smaller, I might fit in.” (P 33) I choose this quotations, because it totally shows the other aspects of a murderer. According to psychologist, most murderers have their own internal inhibitions. They release them through murder. Grace has her own constraint as well. She wants to protect herself so that no one will hurt her anymore.