Social Class and Separation
In Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, the concepts of social class, more specifically, how it plays a role in the Neo Victorian genre, is embodied through the main characters and their interactions with one another.
From the beginning of the novel, protagonist Grace Marks is already subject to the explicit nature of class distinction. Through her interactions with Dr. Jordan, she seems to obtain a sense of self as an individual with something valuable to offer when asked about her opinion—this is something she seems to have not come in touch with before, “I smiled at that but was just as shy. I was not used to having my opinions asked […] especially by a man with a notebook (81 Atwood)”. This can be seen to highlight gender and class working hand in hand because in the previous sections, Grace clearly mentions that the only men who ever asked anything of her were those she was afraid of. It speaks to the class divide between men and women during the time indirectly, and makes it clear that women did not have much of a voice that was truly taken into consideration by society.
In the novel, Thomas Kinnear’s housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery, is someone who clearly crosses the lines upholding the construct of class in their society through her inappropriate actions. Grace begins taking note of Nancy’s unprorietal behavior early on, and does not take lightly to it when she realizes that Nancy is not simply just a housekeeper to Thomas Kinnear, “I lost much of the respect I’d once felt for Nancy […] I let my scorn show, and answered her back more than was wise […] there were arguments between us which came to raised voices, and on her side a slap or two (307 Atwood)”. Grace’s feeling towards Nancy after her discovery, makes it clear that Grace finds herself bound to the construct of class whether she realizes it or not because she immediately directs judgment towards Nancy for performing actions unfitting of her role, such as eating alongside Mr. Kinnear. She also does not seem to pass heavy judgment on Mr. Kinnear, the upper class male equally involved in the situation. It is not much later that Grace seems to hold resentment for Nancy even further, as she remembers her deceased friend, Mary Whitney, being in a similar situation regarding her pregnancy, but resulted in having an unfavorable outcome.
Joan Douglas analyzes the details of the text in regards to the upper class and provides a clear example of how the upper class held more influence in society, as the main reason Grace was even able to have Dr. Jordan potentially vouch for her innocence, through psychological study, was because upper class elites brought her case to the table, “We come to know Grace as a convicted “murderess”, but a group of wealthy upper class men and women believe her to be “so young and vulnerable” and hire Dr. Jordan in order to report in their favor and free Grace Marks ”(3 Peters). Had it not been for the influence of the elites, Grace would most likely have had no listening ear to her situation that could potentially set her free.
As one might be able to gather from this, social class plays an important role in terms of Alias Grace and the Neo Victorian genre in general through being the factor that so clearly assigns specific roles to many of certain characters to show how they function together in the particular society they are in.
Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret. Alias Grace. McClelland & Stewart, 1996.
Peters, Joan Douglas. “Feminist Narratology Revisited:
Dialogizing Gendered Rhetorics in Alias Grace.” Style, 49:3, 2015. .
