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Summary: The cafe

In The Blind Assassin, the man and the woman meet in a seedy cafe. The man is in hiding, and the woman urges him to try and get away. He explains that he can’t cross borders. Although they are lovers, the man sometimes says cruel things to the woman, who accepts this quietly.

Summary: The Port Ticonderoga Herald and Banner, 1933

A newspaper clipping describes how Norval Chase will donate clothing items from his factories to impoverished people suffering during the Great Depression. While the article praises this effort, it also notes that other manufacturers, such as Richard Griffen, have been critical of Norval’s action. While Norval is trying to be charitable, the economic downturn of the Depression is also impacting factory operations.

Summary: The chenille spread

The man brings the woman back to a rundown house where he is staying since the weather has gotten too bad for them to continue meeting outdoors. Although the man taunts her, they still make love. Afterward, he returns to telling her the story.

Summary: The Mail and Empire, 1934

A newspaper article features commentary from Richard Griffen, praising the actions of Prime Minister Bennett. After a Communist leader named Tim Buck was jailed and then released due to public outcry, Griffen sides with Bennett’s firm stance on doing whatever is necessary to oppose Communism.

Summary: The messenger

The man continues to tell his story to the woman. As part of a sacrificial ritual in Sakiel-Norn, any young woman who is going to be sacrificed undergoes a ritualized rape the night before her death so that she does not die a virgin (which would invalidate the religious offering). On one particular night, a young woman, who is not yet named, lies in wait for the chosen courtier to come and have sex with her. However, an assassin (one of the blind former child slaves) is coming to kill her so that he can dress in her clothes, be taken to the sacrifice site, and then assassinate the king using the element of surprise. The courtier who is coming to have sex with the girl is the same one who has paid for the assassination of the king, and the assassin is supposed to arrive to kill her and disguise himself as soon as the courtier leaves. Meanwhile, an invading army of another tribe is on a mission to sack and destroy the city.

Summary: The Mail and Empire, 1934

A newspaper article reports on violent events in the town of Port Ticonderoga. A strike by workers at the Chase factories has led to violence and looting in the town. Military forces had to be called in to quell the violence. Outside disrupters are being blamed for inflaming the local workers.

Summary: Horses of the night

The woman and man continue to meet as he moves from place to place in order to stay hidden. He continues to tell her the Zycron story: the enemy invaders, known as the People of Joy, are now only a day’s ride outside of Sakiel-Norn. The invaders grimly discuss the gruesome battle ahead and their plans to slaughter everyone in the city.

Summary: Mayfair, 1935

A society column article references a party hosted by Winifred Prior to celebrate the engagement of Iris and Winifred’s brother, Richard. The article details the numerous high society guests who attended and the fashionable clothes they wore.

Summary: The bronze bell

The Zycron story continues with a description of the king meditating on his power. He has heard rumors of a plot against him, but he is unconcerned and also totally unaware of the threat posed by the People of Joy. As the man pauses in the story, he refers to his childhood growing up as an orphan. He goes on to describe the scene of the blind assassin entering the room where the maiden is waiting.

Analysis: Part IV

This section offers a window into the tense and sometimes complicated dynamic between the man and the woman who are having an affair in the excerpts from The Blind Assassin. They clearly have strong sexual chemistry since they take significant risks to continue to meet. On the woman’s side, the risks seem associated with concealing the affair. The novel makes clear that many readers of The Blind Assassin believe it is autobiographical, and it would have been extremely scandalous for Laura (or any woman) to have a sexual relationship with a man she was not married to in the 1930s or 1940s. There is also an increasingly apparent class division between the man and woman. The woman seems to be quite wealthy, whereas the man is not, and this would have made the affair even more scandalous for an upper-class woman. The man is also taking risks because he is hiding out from the authorities, and by continuing to meet with the woman, he risks exposing his location and being arrested. Although they desire each other enough to keep meeting, the man is not always very kind to the woman. He teases her about her wealth and privilege and sometimes tries to imply that sex is the only reason the two of them are meeting. Despite him sometimes treating her callously, the woman continues to meet up with the man, which implies that she feels both desire and affection for him in spite of the difficult circumstances.

Meanwhile, as Iris moves forward in her description of her childhood, historical events begin to play a more significant role in the fate of the Chase family. In the 1930s, the Great Depression had a significant impact on economic opportunities in many countries, including Canada and the United States. Jobs were harder to find, which led to a vicious cycle of businesses having to close and even more jobs being lost. Atwood offers a realistic depiction of how this historical trend would have impacted a business like Chase Manufacturing, as well as insight into what the emotional and psychological impact might have been for people living at this time. Initially, Norval seems to want to treat his workers fairly, and this stance positions him in opposition to Richard Griffen, who is harsher and publicly more concerned with a profit-driven “bottom line” stance. However, Atwood follows this information with newspaper articles that foreshadow how events will become more complicated. Despite Norval’s honorable actions, readers know that violence is going to erupt and that Richard and Iris are eventually going to marry, which creates momentum in the plot to see how these circumstances unfold.

The Zycron narrative echoes themes found in both the plot of Laura’s novel and in the events of Iris and Laura’s own lives. Although many things about Zycron seem fantastical, many of the elements of this society reflect the society Iris and Laura live in. The notion of a city where unequal distribution of wealth creates strong class divisions reflects both part of the reason why the man and the woman face a challenging relationship and also why the Chase family tries desperately to cling to its wealth and status. The idea of young women having their tongues cut out and then being sacrificed so that social order can be maintained in Sakiel-Norn symbolically reflects the ways that women like Laura, Iris, and their mother and grandmother are systematically disempowered. They are taught never to speak out or stand up for themselves, and they are often required to live within unhappy marriages, sacrificing their own ambitions and desires. The image of young women being silenced and sacrificed is particularly powerful given that it is located within a novel written by Laura, who died young, but seemingly was also able to find a way to break free by apparently having an affair with a man she loved and then writing a novel so that her experiences and identity would not be silenced or forgotten.


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