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Alias Grace
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BetaPart X, Chapters 38-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part X: "Lady of the Lake"
Chapter 38 Summary
Grace takes up her story again the next day. She comes to in her own bed, but she is damp. James McDermott says that he threw a bucket of cold water on her to revive her after she fainted.
He tells her it’s time for her to give him what she promised, which is to sleep with him. She puts him off. She is convinced that McDermott is a madman. She plays along, out of fear that otherwise he will kill her too.
They decide to rob the house before they leave, and they take all the valuables they can find, including Mr. Kinnear’s personal effects, like his gold watch, and the silver candlesticks. Grace puts on Nancy’s clothes and burns her own.
She cannot find her kerchief, and she asks McDermott where it is. He laughs and says she should know that it’s in the cellar on Nancy’s neck, where she put it when she used it to strangle her.
They take the horse and wagon and set off for Toronto with their loot that evening.
Chapter 39 Summary
They reach Toronto a little after five a.m. They have breakfast, and Grace is afraid all the time because McDermott is swaggering around drawing attention to them. The ferry for the United States leaves at eight a.m.
When McDermott goes off to get shaved, Grace has an opportunity to get help, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t want to betray McDermott.
In these chapters, after she chooses not to run for help, she calls him James rather than McDermott. They take the steamer across the lake to the United States. James tells her they should pretend to be brother and sister. She takes the name Mary Whitney, while James becomes David Whitney.
When they reach the United States, they head for the first tavern they can find to eat. James drinks a lot. Up to this point McDermott assumes that he and Grace are going to get married. Grace tells him she’d rather marry the devil. She decides that she’s going to get up early and steal away, as they are in separate rooms because they are pretending to be brother and sister.
Grace fancies that she has left no marks behind by crossing the water, and she’s gotten away, saying, “It’s almost the same as being innocent” (342).
Chapter 40 Summary
In her room in the tavern, Grace dreams that she is walking up the drive at Kinnear’s. Mr. Kinnear is walking with her to make sure she is safe. A lamp comes on in the parlor window, and Grace knows that Nancy is waiting inside to welcome her, but then it is Mary Whitney waiting inside for her. She is very happy to be home. Then, someone knocks on the door.
Part X, Chapters 38-40 Analysis
Grace’s rationalization describing why she doesn’t betray McDermott rings false, particularly because she shows no sympathy for him at any other point. She repeatedly says that she is afraid that he will kill her. If she were truly as afraid of him as she claims, she would run for safety as soon as she could and throw the blame for everything on him. She doesn’t, which perhaps indicates that she is a willing or even equal participant in what happened to Nancy and Thomas Kinnear. She also calls him James, after calling him McDermott since the beginning of the story. Something has changed in her relationship with him.
Her memories, however, seem to be truly lost, and she is consistent in what she doesn’t remember. The fits described here are also similar to others she’s had when she experiences trauma. She continues to have trouble distinguishing between her dreams and being awake, even outside of her fainting fits. However, no one remains who can corroborate the reality of her fits.
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