Blind Assassin:

outline

Usage of the term “Double” Definition of Doppelganger Iris vs. Laura Iris’s reconstruction of the history in

order to cure her haunting past

Double The double refers to a representation of the ego that can

assume various forms (shadow, reflection, portrait, double, twin). Sigmund Freud quotes him at length in "The Uncanny" (1919). However, the idea of the doubling of consciousness is present in his first texts on hysteria (1893, 1895), and the unconscious itself is introduced by Freud as a second consciousness capable of producing dreams, parapraxes, and so on. The theme of the double is taken up by Freud and integrated in his concept of the uncanny. "The 'uncanny' is that form of terror that leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar" (1919), but has become terrifying because it corresponds to something repressed that has returned. "The double," Freud wrote citing Heinrich Heine, "has become an image of terror, just as, after the collapse of their religion, the gods turned into demons." (1910).

Double

Doubles have sometimes been analysed in terms of their use in the contrasting of character type opposites. For female characters this often translates into fair maiden against femme fatale, madonna as against whore, or the virtuous lady against the dark and dangerous temptress.

Doppleganger

Doppelganger: The term doppelganger was first coined by

Jean Paul Richter in Siebenkas (1796) in a footnote that stated, "so people who see themselves are called,"

Further explained by Freud: The term doppelganger is associated with a monstrous self, typically described in opposite terms, that continually haunts its alter-ego.

Iris vs Laura Rivalry : Lilianna/ Reenie/Alex Thomas

quest for the mother’s/Reenie’s love:

Mother:

After Laura’s birth my mother was more tired than usual. She lost altitude… Her will faltered; her days took on a quality of trudging. (84 bread day)

I felt I was the victim of an injustice: why was it always me who was supposed to be a good sister to Laura, instead of the other way around? Surely my mother loved Laura more than she loved me. (93 Bread day)

Iris vs. Laura Reenie:

“Shouldn’t we tell Reenie?” I asked tentatively.

“She might not believe me,” said Laura. “You don’t”

But Reenie did believe her, or she elected to believe her, and that was the end of Mr. Erskine. (165 Ovid’s Metamorphoses)

I told myself. Laura could be suffering from delusions… Reenie had ruled it out, however: no matter what story Laura had told her, she’d believed it

“Take care of yourself” said Reenie. She didn’t kiss me (Betty’s luncheonette)

Alex:

I wanted his attention. He was talking mostly to Laura (189 Loaf givers)

Iris VS. Laura

Alex Tomas Tension among the sisters:”The rivalry between the sisters

over Alex must ultimately be understood as a deadly division of each within and against herself” (p693, "What isn't there" in Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin: The Psychoanalysis of Duplicity)

He turned then, and at first I was not sure he could see me. I stretched out my hand, like a drowning person beseeching rescue. In that moment I had already committed treachery in my heart (321 Besotted)

Mirroring Photo “The sisters had appeared as mirror images of each

other on either side of Alex.” (ALIAS LAURA: REPRESENTATIONS OF THE PAST IN MARGARET

ATWOOD'S THE BLIND ASSASSIN)

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. (The heap of rubble p513)

She wore a yellow cotton dress of mine from the summer before, and the hat that went with it. Seeing her from behind gave me a peculiar sensation, as if I were watching myself .(The water Nixie p389)

Mirroring Within the narrative there is a frequent slippage

between Iris and Laura as the possible she in the novel (ALIAS LAURA: REPRESENTATIONS OF THE PAST IN MARGARET ATWOOD'S THE BLIND ASSASSIN)

The ambiguous usage of “She”

Pregnant “she” bids farewell to Alex Thomas (The top hat grill)

I can’t do anything. I can’t sew, I can’t type. There is another reason too, she thinks, but I can’t tell him that. (361)

She feels heavy and soiled, like a bag of unwashed laundry. But at the same time flat and without substance.

She lies on her bed, sheets over or under depending on the time of day. (The tower)

Mirroring Romance relationship with Alex

Iris: 1935 in Toronto (Besotted)

Laura: 1934 in Port Ticonderoga

They’d first been spotted down by the soup kitchen; then, later, sitting on a park bench – on more than one park bench. (198 Hand tinting)

Haunting Nightmares Where is mine? said Laura in her five-year-old’s voice. I look

down at her, but then we were not children any longer. Laura had grown old, like me; her eyes were little dried raisins. This is horrifying to me. (The men with his head on fire p380)

“I can’t sleep,” I told him. “I dream too much”

“Then if you’re dreaming, you must be sleeping” he said, intending a witticism

“You know what I mean ” I said sharply. “It’s not the same. The dreams wake me up.” (the ashtray p372)

By its light I could see that there was indeed a single plant left alive: a glossy sort of bush, with one white flower Laura, I said. (Xanadu 329)

Male characters in Blind Assassin• Repressive forces of masculine culture:

Mr. Erskine/Richard• Mr. Erskine: the role of femininity• Richard:

Besotted: Sexually abuse/ physically abuse

Sacrifice: For Chase family/ For Alex Thomas

Laura Laura: the spiritual collaborator of Iris: Iris’s lost of self/ Laura’s statement about their marriage: “like

a sleepwalker” (The Arcadian Court 237) Saint ly Woman/Sacrificed rape victim :” It was horrible, but I had to do it. I had to make sacrifice. I

had to take the pain and suffering onto myself. That’s what I promise God. I knew if I did that, it would save Alex” (487 Diana Sweets)

Bella Vista/madness and the idea of replacement :”The specialist – the mental specialist – said that Laura must

be insanely jealous of you,” said Winifred. “Jealous of everything about you – she wants to be living your life, she wants to be you, and this is the form it’s taken.” (431 Beautiful)

Iris’s anxiety

“Should I have behaved differently?” “Should I be able to read Laura’s mind?” “Should I have known what was going on?”

“Not because of what I’ve set down, but because of what I’ve omitted. What isn’t there has a presence, like the absence of light”

When you’re young, you think everything you do is disposable. You move from now to now, crumpling time up in your hands, tossing it away… You think you can get rid of things, and people, too – leave them behind. You don’t yet know about the habit they have, of coming back. Time in dream if frozen. You can never get away from here you’ve been. (396 The chestnut tree)

constructing the past Iris’s attempt to make sense of her misperception of her

sister(Iris’s action of re-memory):

She had become unknown to me, as unknown as the inside of your own glove is unknown when your hand is inside it. She was with me all the time, but I couldn’t look at her. I could only feel the shape of her presence: a hollow shape, filled with my own imagination (441 Betty’s luncheonette)