Pajiba

I'm intrigued by your questions about feminism in this and other Atwood novels. I've read her short stories and several speeches she has given and they are all much more strongly feministic than her novels.
One the reasons I usually get into arguments with people over this book is that I seem to find myself in a position where I have to defend Iris all the time. Laura is the sympathetic character for so many readers. I've even heard some people say that Iris reads as if she had been created by Ayn Rand instead of Margaret Atwood (which I think is very unfair to Iris). As someone who has three sisters and therefore has a keen nose of the nuance of sister relationships, I find it hard to understand why Iris is so loathed by so many people.

This is the first book I've read by Margaret Atwood, and I finished it weeks ago and have been dying to talk about it with someone. She told a story about a family conflict and a love story without cliches or anvil-like metaphors, and I was left in a sort of afterglow for weeks after finishing it. This novel in a way reminded me of my favorite Bronte novel, Villette, as the reader is so much in the narrator's head that we only see what is going on with her perspective. Villette's heroine Lucy Snow is my favorite because we're inside her head where things are funny and biased and the reader comes to feel like he or she really knows her. In the Blind Assassin, we only understand Laura as much as Iris does (which is to say, not much), or Alex, and while that could be frustrating, it's mostly fascinating.

As for the question about Iris' relationships with the other women in the novel, her relationship with Laura was something I've thought about. I don't have sisters, but I know from my friends that a sisterly relationship can be very paradoxical, and you see that with Iris. She is fiercely protective of Laura at times, but also resentful and jealous of her. However, the relationship she has with Reenie seemed consistent, that of a kind of removed reverence and dependence, where even in her old age, Reenie's daughter takes care of her. However, all of her relationships with women are detached, and she never opens up to anyone about what she's thinking or feeling. Iris stays very much in her own head, and with no real other perspective to learn from, she stays isolated with a sort of half understanding of those around her, at least until her later years when she has had the time to think on it all. I guess that's what keeps me thinking of it so much. I can only work with what Iris gives me, and with that one perspective, I may never really know the whole story. I can't wait to read what everyone else thinks!

SPOILERS AHOY
I felt that Iris was definitely a sympathetic character. How could she not be? She felt the burden of her family's business on her shoulders. She wanted to please her father and did what she thought would make him love her or, at least, interact with her. Iris is in this marriage with Richard and his sister, Winnifred. (I suspect that Winnifred would have been happier if she could have married her brother instead of some young girl who could never live up to the expectations she has for the life she wants to project for her brother's aspirations (and probably Winnifred's aspirations as well).)

Laura was a red herring to me. I felt that there was no way that she could have written The Blind Assassin because of her character. I will admit, however, that I went back and forth several times thinking that Laura had written the book, just not about herself and then that she had written the book and it was about her own experiences. I was caught off guard by the relationship between Laura and Richard, even though I had begun to suspect it.

Feminism is not something that came to mind while reading this. Iris was still not independent. The only time she decided to do something that she wanted to do was because of her imagined reaction from Myrna. It was childish and utterly dependent on garnering attentions of some kind from other people. She was still trying to get what she never got from anyone other than Reenie and, sort of, Alex. Still, I sympathize with her.

Also, I didn't realize I thought all of this until I started typing.

Also, I didn't realize I thought all of this until I started typing.

That's the best part about doing the book club, Pinky. Just formulating a response to fellow Pajibans causes me to examine the book in different ways and leads to new insights.

And unfortunately for me I'm going to be unable to spend much time on Pajiba today due to insane work requirements so I won't be able to participate much. I do look forward to reading through everything when I get the chance.

I'm enjoying all the comments, and I agree about Laura. I think I felt bad for her the first time I read it, but this time she really just kind of annoyed me. She was incredibly judgmental of Iris's choice, and while I think Iris would have married Richard no matter what to please her father, I definitely think her concern for Laura added to her pressure to do this. And yet, Laura still basically revolved her life around a guy. Also, this is probably the thirteen year old girl in me coming out but I just wanted to tell her to stop fantasizing about Alex Thomas because he was Iris's. Yep, definitely the thirteen year old girl in me.

I think I really disliked this book while I was reading it. I was annoyed with all the characters. Even though Iris had said in the beginning that Laura was the author of the book, I kept thinking, “ There is no way that girl could have written this.” That’s because even though Laura seemed to have a “different” pov (and by “different” I mean she wanted to hang out with poor people and wanted to get a job – oh my!), she would also just write the book with kind of a judgmental tone of voice. And “The Blind Assassin” just wasn’t judgmental.

But the first time I fully realized that Iris wrote it was when she described (as Old Age Iris) being by a window and seeing a man wave in his v-neck shirt, and then later in the book (but as young Iris) she referenced it again. And I thought, “Oh duh.”

I also saw the whole Richard-Laura thing going down when Iris said, early in the book, that Richard studied Iris, like he was trying to figure her out. He couldn’t give her presents or jewelry to make her listen to him, and he was trying to figure out some way to get her to respect him (I guess Iris said “respect,” and I thought, “Hah. ‘Respect.’”)

Regarding feminism – I don’t think that any of the characters are particularly strong or independent. But I don’t really see a feminist novel being about... Like a women smoking like a man and burning her bra, and telling it like it is. I do think that Atwood’s portrayal of the inner thoughts of a woman during a time in which their thoughts aren’t there (at least from the pov of society) is a form of feminism – especially since those thoughts are very unlike women of Iris’ stature. (I have to specify that Iris was a shell of a person as a child/young woman. She only starts to recognize her true feelings after she has her daughter) For example, one might say, without reading this book, that maybe Winifred could be a strong female figure since she wanted to be in charge a lot. But I would argue that the fact that she was playing a role in which most men expect her to play (organizing parties, buying gifts for people) would make her just a tool. She thinks she’s strong, but she really isn’t. Also, the fact that she was willing to say that her brother did no wrong after he basically blackmailed and raped a girl – god, what a dreadful character Winifred was.

The Blind Assassin is my all-time favourite novel, and I've reread it many times. I think the title doesn't simply refer to the eponymous character in the roman-à-clef, but to Iris herself as well. By telling Laura of her affair with the man Laura had an obsession with, she inadvertently caused her death. She didn't just tell her this because she felt Laura deserved to know, but to get back at her - Iris even says her fingers itched with spite.

In a way, Iris' father Norval was a blind assassin as well. He caused the death of his wife by impregnating her, even though she was already frail and in bad health. To continue this train of thought, Richard and Winifred were blind assassins too,

Iris' relationship with Laura is indeed very paradoxical and at times quite confusing. As much as Iris wished for Laura's well-being, she was unwillingly cast into the role of protector by her father, and by Reenie (the only real mother-figure in Iris' life). She was her sister's keeper, so to speak, and did not like that ('“I felt I was the victim of injustice: why was it always me who was supposed to be a good sister to Laura?")

I've always felt that Laura might've had some kind of communication disorder, though that might just be me. She takes everything literally, seems incapable of forming normal relationships, and gets obsessed by many things - the Bible, Alex Thomas, and so on.

Laura's only way of showing her true thoughts seems to be colouring photographs. She colors photographs to convey messages, or to state an opinion.

Through the photos in Iris' wedding album which Laura vandalized, Iris and the reader come to understand Laura's inner thoughts. She coloured Richard and Winifred in green.When she was young, she did the same to people she really despised ("It's the color of their souls"). In one photo, Iris got whitewashed (as if she wasn't present), and in another she was painted blue. This is Laura's way of telling Iris she behaved like a sleepwalker.

I guess that The Blind Assassin isn't so much a feminist novel as a novel about women, their thoughts and relationships. Iris certainly never truly stands up for herself. But would the book still have been as good if she had? Maybe the one true feminist character in the novel is Laura, who takes control of her own life, not only by running away from home, finding a job and escaping from the Bella Vista clinic, but also by killing herself. Though this might of course also be seen as a sign of weakness.

There's also a lot of Biblical imagery in this novel, and mixed portrayals of religion. Iris herself is not a religious character at all (and might represent antiquity - "I prefer to be upright and contained--an urn in daylight"), whereas Laura is thoroughly devoted in her own way. Laura believes God is fair, and that he never cheats. That's why she sacrificed herself to Richard, only to find out later her triangular bargain never worked out.

There are also lots of events that foreshadow Laura's death. Take for instance the fact that nobody but Reenie believed her when she accused Mr. Erskine of sexual molestation, and the fact that she almost drowned herself in order to bring her deceased mother back. And then there's the reference to the Surpreme Sacrifice, which refers to the soldiers who died in the First World War. Laura is told that these soldiers willingly gave their lives to God, because that's what God wanted. Laura truly believed that God would reward her for giving in to Richard's blackmail.

Another interesting question is whether we should take everything that Iris says at face value. Might there be some things she left out?

Love this book and love Atwood, she has YET to disappoint me.

Re the sisters: I always felt sorry for Laura as she was so clearly (to me) misunderstood, not respected, not taken seriously, including by her own sister, who imo, had her head up her ass. To me, even though Laura was young, she was more honest and true to herself [if somewhat naive] and oh so vulnerable to getting taken advantage of. Atwood does this well (writing from the POV of someone that's not always a likeable protangonist...sometimes, they're kind of the antagonist [by this I mean Iris]) and I'm sure she did this on purpose: writing from Iris' point of view, but giving you the experience of the POV of someone that might not be so sympathetic. I frankly ended up hating Iris for being so obtuse about so much and just going along with things. hate that.

And yet, I'm conflicted, because I can also see how Iris would have been as similarly oppressed and influenced by society, not to mention frustrated by Laura. I think Iris only became free near the end once she realized what an ass she'd been, including about Laura. My feeling about Laura was that there was always something about her behaviour that no one was paying attention to. And I felt that Iris' perspective on Laura was always somewhat slanted.

I don't know that Atwood was writing about feminism as a political statement, but was more writing about/questioning female relationships and how patriarchal society did affect them...she goes at it from an oblique angle.

The relationship with Alex is mystifying to me - or maybe it's Alex himself. We never really get his POV either; it's Iris's POV and for some reason, I always thought/projected that he would have been happy going out west and living free from that Toronto WASP era. I thought he felt as resticted by society as Iris.

Argh. I have to read this book again. There's precious little happy ending, just barely enough. But mostly, it's that Laura haunts me.

What bothers me is that what should have been a close relationship wasn't and that Laura suffered. Why couldn't Iris have taken better care of her sister? Again, society's expectations? To me, Laura did try to do her own thing and get out from under the weight of having someone taking care of her (agreed, she whitewashed Iris as comment she was sleepwalking instead of living life fully on her own terms)...but nevertheless emotionally, she was...bereft? Was she really obsessed about Alex? I always wondered about that and what might have occurred between Alex and Laura.

I definitely agree the title refers to Iris. She blindly killed her sister imo, by her obtuseness.

OMG this book...

I've been wanting to discuss this novel for ages. So thank you guys.

Finally JUST finished the book, but I haven't written my CR review yet. I think I'm still a bit in the afterglow that Dorothy Snarker mentions at this point. I'm going to comment on the comments, digest things, and write my review in the morning.

I don't think that I ever considered Laura as the author of the Blind Assassin, she didn't seem grounded enough in reality to write something coherent, even though it was science fiction. I just figured she was writing Alex's words - just as Iris said "I didn't think of what I was doing as writing -- just writing down."

Jen K asks Does showing that women’s lives suck necessarily translate into feminism? and Bas said that it wasn't specifically feminism, but a novel about women and their thoughts. What is feminism, if not that?

Pinky McLadybits says Iris certainly never truly stands up for herself.

Doesn't she do that when she leaves Richard? She does get sucked back into Winifred's machinations, but she does stand up and leave.

Jen K. also said Laura...really just kind of annoyed me. and Dene was annoyed by the characters too.

I also was annoyed by Laura, maybe because as the narrator, Iris lets us in to her thoughts. Granted, Laura goes through some terrible things, but she seemed to just willfully ignore reality - a nice way to live, if you can do that. But most of us have to face the world and do the dirty work.

I mentioned earlier the language and how I wrote down quite a few passages that I liked. I'll include some in my review, but I'll close with the last sentence, that I read several times.

But I leave myself in your hands. What choice do I have? By the time you read this last page, that -- if anywhere-- is the only place I'll be.

**afterglow**

Interesting quote Jen - that reminds me of this quote:

Laura was my left hand, and I was hers. We wrote the book together. It's a left-handed book. That's why one of us is always out of sight, whichever way you look at it.

They both erase each other? Maybe they both erase the truth.

Nah, I just spent way too much time analyzing this book. Oh, for anyone who's interested, I made a compendium of old photographs I collected on the web of places mentioned in the book - Union Station in the 30's and 40's, The Royal Fairmont Hotel, The Queen Mary, Diana Sweets..

@Mswas - I've always felt that feminism refers more too women's rights. The feminist novels I read actively plead for women's rights - The Blind Assassin didn't. So maybe it's passive feminism then? I love the fact that Atwood delves into Iris' mind and explores her persona so much. You feel like you get to know Iris.

The thing with The Blind Assassin is that you can interpret it several ways; you can even interpret Iris several ways. This duplicity is inherent to The Blind Assassin, I guess. Maybe Atwood even meant it that way.

My favourite passages are:

If you knew what was going to happen, if you knew everything that was going to happen next—if you knew in advance the consequences of your own actions—you’d be doomed. You’d be as ruined as God. You’d be a stone. You’d never eat or drink or laugh or get out of bed in the morning. You’d never love anyone, ever again. You’d never dare to.

What's also interesting is this comment by Iris: "I was sand, I was snow— written on, rewritten, smoothed over" In the end, it's Iris who writes everything down, who smooths history over - who gets to have the last word as the only survivor.

Doesn't she do that when she leaves Richard? She does get sucked back into Winifred's machinations, but she does stand up and leave.

To me it seemed that if Iris took a stand, it was in an empty room. She left when there was no one to confront her. I can sort of see that she's standing up for herself, but it seems a weak way to do it. Plus, I totally forgot about that when writing my first post, ha!

I'd like to accept the "I Suck" award, since this is still on my nightstand, still bookmarked at page 25.

The I Suck Award is a bunch of old shrimps in a diaper.

Snuggiepants I found that once I got into larger sections of Iris's narration, the book became more engrossing. I had a hard time in the beginning too.