Alias Grace: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

Grace notices that Dr. Jordan “looks more disarranged than usual, and as if he has something on his mind.” He asks after the new quilt Grace is working on, and she replies that it is a Pandora’s Box pattern, which, she says, “puts [Dr. Jordan] in an instructive mood.” Grace catches Dr. Jordan off guard when she reveals that she knows the story of Pandora’s box. They discuss the concept of hope, but instead of saying that “[she has] been getting along without it for some time,” Grace asks Dr. Jordan if he is ill. He replies that he is only “preoccupied,” and asks Grace if she will continue her life story to help distract him. She obliges.

Grace says that she has “come to a happier part of [her] story,” where she will tell Dr. Jordan about Mary Whitney. Grace describes the Alderman Parkinson house, “one of the finest houses in Toronto,” where she began work. Mr. Alderman Parkinson is never at home, because he is busy with his work in politics. Mrs. Alderman Parkinson is “an imposing figure,” and, as Grace tells Dr. Jordan, “Mary Whitney said she ought to have been the Alderman herself, as she was the better man.” The Parkinsons have two college-aged sons and they keep a large house staff. Grace is placed in a one-room bedroom with Mary Whitney, a laundry maid; the two live down the hall from the two chambermaids, Agnes and Effie. Effie’s betrothed was deported for his involvement in the Rebellion, and Mary explains to Grace that her family was also involved; her father died hiding in the woods and her mother died of grief.

Grace says that she “liked [Mary] at once.”  Mary takes Grace under her wing and teaches her about her duties as a maid. Grace describes Mary as “a fun-loving girl, and very mischievous and bold in her speech when we were alone.” She tells Dr. Jordan that it took her a while to become accustomed to Mary’s coarse language; Grace says she eventually “put it down to her being a native-born Canadian, as she did not have much respect for degree.” Grace recalls Mary’s daydreams: “If she had half a chance she would run away to the woods, and go about with a bow and arrow, and not have to pin up her hair or wear stays; and I could come with her.”

Mary helps Grace bathe and wash her clothes. The two then go shopping in Toronto to purchase materials to make Grace “a decent dress.” The next day, when a peddler named Jeremiah comes to the Parkinson house, Grace purchases thread and buttons from him. Jeremiah gives Grace an extra button in addition to the four she has purchased; “people of that kind,” Grace tells Dr. Jordan, “consider four an unlucky number, and odd numbers luckier than even ones.” He also tells Grace, “You are one of us.” Grace admits that she was confused by this, but decided that Jeremiah “meant that [she] too was homeless, and a wanderer.” Though the house feels “stale” after the excitement of Jeremiah’s visit, Grace’s dress turns out well and she finally looks “trim and respectable.”