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Summary: The golden lock

Iris describes the contents of Laura’s notebooks, which allude to her being molested by Mr. Erskine and also feature the photo of Laura with Alex. Then, in a cryptic code, Laura includes the dates and locations of the times when Richard raped her. Iris suddenly realizes that Richard had been abusing Laura all along and that he, not Alex Thomas, must have been the father of Laura’s child.

Summary: Victory comes and goes

A few weeks after Laura’s funeral, while Richard travels on business, Iris hatches a plan to get her belongings out of the house, and she takes Aimee with her to Port Ticonderoga. She leaves a letter for Richard, telling him that she knows what he did to Laura. She will not create a scandal, but she wants him to leave her alone and provide her with enough money so that she and Aimee can live independently. Iris also consults with Callista, who denies ever feeding Richard information about Alex’s whereabouts.

Winifred eventually comes to visit Iris, insisting that she return home. However, Iris accuses her of being complicit in Richard’s abuse, and insists that under no circumstances will she let him have contact with Aimee. Winifred reluctantly gives up. Using money from Richard and from Laura’s estate, Iris begins to build a modest life for herself and her daughter. She is often lonely, especially because Reenie dies only six months after she returns to Port Ticonderoga.

Summary: The heap of rubble

Iris describes sending off the manuscript for The Blind Assassin and having it accepted for publication. At first the novel attracts little attention, but eventually the sexually explicit content makes it a book of interest to the general public. This popularity leads to investigations into Laura’s life, threatening to expose Richard’s abuse. Richard is furious, and he also takes the novel as confirmation that Laura had a lover. Iris encourages him to believe this. Richard dies, and Iris implies that Richard’s death was suicide, covered up by Winifred to seem like natural causes. Out of rage and spite over Richard’s death, Winifred takes Aimee away from Iris.

Present-day Iris finally openly states that she is the author of The Blind Assassin. She presented it as being written by Laura because she wasn’t ready to openly admit the truth. But now that she is dying, she wants Sabrina to know the truth. She also explicitly states that Alex Thomas was Aimee’s father, so Sabrina has no biological connection to the Griffen family at all.

Summary: The Blind Assassin Epilogue: The other hand

The woman gazes at the photo of herself with the man at the picnic, fondly remembering their love. Although it caused her so much pain, she cannot bring herself to regret it.

Summary: The Port Ticonderoga Herald and Banner, 1999

A newspaper article announces that Iris Chase Griffen has died quietly at home. Her granddaughter, Sabrina, is expected to return to see to her affairs.

Summary: The threshold

Iris concludes her manuscript musing on a daydream in which she and Sabrina are finally reunited.

Analysis: Parts XIV & XV

Through her self-focus and willful blindness, Iris only understands Laura’s secret once it is too late. Although Laura tried to hint the truth to her sister many times, Iris was never willing to see what was truly happening in her own house. The theme of blindness is reflected not just in how Iris failed to see the truth about her sister’s tragedy but also in The Blind Assassin, in which Iris writes about a character who experiences childhood trauma and loses his sight as a result. Similarly, the losses and suffering Iris experiences makes it impossible for her to see that her sister is also being manipulated and suffering. Iris felt powerless in her marriage, so she devoted all her energy to building an alternative world where she could escape with Alex. There was no room left to examine Laura’s situation. The escape Iris made for herself came at the cost of her being able to see what was happening to the woman who was a parallel version of herself.

Understanding what happened to Laura is the one thing that finally motivates Iris to take action and break free. Because she failed to protect her little sister, she becomes determined to protect her daughter. Iris can no longer make excuses for Winifred and Richard or pretend that she does not understand what they are capable of. In a sense, once Laura dies, some of her agency, determination, and independence seem to be passed on to her sister. Iris is also able to apply some of the skills she learned while conducting her secret affair, and she gets herself and Aimee to safety. Iris does indeed have to sacrifice the wealth and luxury she has always had in her life, but she discovers that she is actually capable of providing for herself, as Reenie and even Laura did before her. Nonetheless, Atwood doesn’t paint an entirely rosy picture of Iris’s newfound independence. Because she is much less wealthy and powerful than Winifred, Winifred is able to take Aimee and then Sabrina away from Iris, highlighting the terrible cost to women who claim independence from the patriarchy.

Once Iris takes charge of her freedom, she can also begin to tell her story. At first, she does so anonymously by publishing The Blind Assassin and attributing it to Laura. This deception about the novel’s authorship reflects Iris’s tendency to deceive and withhold the truth to protect herself. At the same time, it also serves as a way for Iris to honor her sister. Laura was the one who lived a braver life and tried to stand up for her principles, even though she never had the chance to become an artist or fall in love. By attributing the novel to her sister, Iris ensures that Laura’s memory will live on, and, by extension, the Chase name will be remembered, just as her father wanted. Finally, Iris does tell the full story so that, even if it is only after her death, Sabrina will truly know who her grandmother was. Thus, Iris takes the first step toward liberating a new generation of Chase women from their family history of secrets, lies, and oppression. Once Iris has finally told her true story, she can pass away in some peace.


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