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based on the real murder case in Canada in 1843 which caused a hugesensation not only in Canada, but also in America and British because the case involved sensitive issues such as sex, violence and class conflict at that time. Meanwhile, in the 100years after the incident happened, there were still people who wrote stories about the case.Atwood reconstructed the novel based on the restoration of historical truth as much aspossible. This novel showed the real life of Canada in the 19th century.

The novel told a complicated and poetic story. Maid Grace Marks and butler JamesMcDermott were arrested on suspicion of murdering their employer Thomas Kinnear and thehousekeeper Nancy Montgomery. Both of them were convicted of the crime and weresentenced to death. McDermott was hanged immediately. Before his death, he insisted thatGrace incited him to kill them. Different from McDermott, Grace survived and was sentencedto life imprisonment in the lunatic asylum in Toronto with the help of her lawyer andcommittee. The reasons for her survival were that she was too young and she had symptomsof mental disorder. Grace, who did spend some time in a Toronto psychiatric hospital, insistedthat she had no memory of the murder. There were always two completely different paradoxesabout this murder case. One was Grace’s innocence, the other was Grace’s guilty and evil.

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2 Literature Review

2.1 Studies on Alias Grace Abroad

Margaret Atwood has produced plenty of excellent works and Alias Grace, which haswon the Giller Prize for her, is considered as a masterpiece that transcends her previouswriting style. There are some researches and articles on Alias Grace abroad.Influenced by former metropolitan Britain and its culturally powerful neighbour, theUnited States, Atwood is concerned about Canadian marginalization on the world politicalstage. Of course, we cannot ignore the survival and social status of women which alwaysappear in her writings either. Atwood seeks to establish Canadian own culture, identity andexpand Canadian influence in the international literary world. Barbara Hill Rigney onceclaimed that “Atwood contributed to an international recognition of the fact of a Canadianliterary identity” (Rigney, 1987: 122). Therefore, her consistent creative style has providedanalyzing perspectives including the historical fiction, feminism, postmodern techniques andso on.
According to Gregor Henderson’s Book Review: Alias Grace, he comments that AliasGrace is a brilliant read as a book. He thinks that the book provides a lot of historicalinformation in mental health care. Atwood introduces a series of theories to promoteknowledge about hysteria, neurological disorders, amnesia and dyskinesia in the mid-1800s.And out of curiosity, Atwood uses the importance of dreams and introduces new theories andtechniques to understand and explain mental illness and mental state. Henderson also believesthat the character Grace’s behavior is deeply related to the identifiable condition and thetreatment to Grace leaves readers questioning the ways both by the caring system and thecriminal justice system (Henderson, 2000). In Don’t Ever Ask For The True Story,Coral Ann Howells argues that Alias Grace casts doubts on historical certainties and challenges any notion of an authentic national identity that derives from the legitimatingna本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。