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Dr. Simon Jordan
Mary is Grace’s dearest friend. The two meet when Grace begins work at Mrs. Alderman Parkinson’s, where Mary is also a servant. Mary, who is several years older than Grace, takes Grace under her wing and teaches her the life of a servant. Mary is mischievous, lively, and funny. A native-born Canadian, she has a coarse way of speaking and passionately believes in the equality of people, regardless of their class status. Grace is incredibly close to Mary; in fact, there are several hints throughout the novel that Grace might be a lesbian, and that she was in love with Mary. After Mary becomes pregnant by her employer’s son, Mr. George Parkinson, she undergoes an abortion and dies from complications of the procedure. At the climax of the novel, when Jeremiah (disguised as Dr. Jerome DuPont) hypnotizes Grace, Mary Whitney’s voice reveals that, upon her death, her spirit possessed Grace’s body. Mary claims that she has intermittently taken over Grace’s body and that she, not Grace, is responsible for murdering Nancy Montgomery. The novel never clarifies whether the reader is meant to believe that Grace has been possessed, or whether it is actually Grace herself who is pretending to have been taken over by Mary’s spirit.
Mary Whitney Quotes in Alias Grace
The Alias Grace quotes below are all either spoken by Mary Whitney or refer to Mary Whitney. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 48
Quotes
“You killed her,” breathes Lydia. “I always thought so.” She sounds, if anything, admiring.
“The kerchief killed her. Hands held it,” says the voice. “She had to die. The wages of sin is death. And this time the gentleman died as well, for once. Share and share alike!”
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Chapter 53
Quotes
But three of the triangles in my Tree will be different. One will be white, from the petticoat I still have that was Mary Whitney’s; one will be faded yellowish, from the prison nightdress I begged as a keepsake when I left there. And the third will be a pale cotton, a pink and white floral, cut from the dress of Nancy’s that she had on the first day I was at Mr. Kinnear’s, and that I wore on the ferry to Lewiston, when I was running away.
I will embroider around each one of them with red feather-stitching, to blend them in as a part of the pattern.
And so we will all be together.
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Get the entire Alias Grace LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mary Whitney Quotes in Alias Grace
The Alias Grace quotes below are all either spoken by Mary Whitney or refer to Mary Whitney. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 48
Quotes
“You killed her,” breathes Lydia. “I always thought so.” She sounds, if anything, admiring.
“The kerchief killed her. Hands held it,” says the voice. “She had to die. The wages of sin is death. And this time the gentleman died as well, for once. Share and share alike!”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 53
Quotes
But three of the triangles in my Tree will be different. One will be white, from the petticoat I still have that was Mary Whitney’s; one will be faded yellowish, from the prison nightdress I begged as a keepsake when I left there. And the third will be a pale cotton, a pink and white floral, cut from the dress of Nancy’s that she had on the first day I was at Mr. Kinnear’s, and that I wore on the ferry to Lewiston, when I was running away.
I will embroider around each one of them with red feather-stitching, to blend them in as a part of the pattern.
And so we will all be together.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
