The Blind Assassin

by

Margaret Atwood

Richard Griffen Character Analysis

Richard is a wealthy and powerful textiles manufacturer who marries Iris, having promised that he will save Norval’s button factory and secure Laura’s future—both of which he violates. Richard is a selfish, cruel, greedy man who’s seemingly obsessed with his own power. He favors right-wing economic policies, advocates harsh treatment of workers during the Great Depression, and is sympathetic to the Nazi regime. He treats Iris with cruelty—for example, he deliberately conceals the news that Norval died during their honeymoon, and he prevents her from communicating with Laura after he institutionalizes Laura in the BellaVista clinic. Indeed, Richard’s treatment of Laura conveys his most evil side: he rapes Laura by threatening to harm Alex Thomas (whom Laura is in love with) if she doesn’t have sex with him, and he forces Laura to have an abortion when she becomes pregnant. Nevertheless, Richard seems to believe that he genuinely loves Laura. Once the scandal caused by The Blind Assassin (Iris’s book published under Laura’s name) ruins Richard’s political ambitions and Iris falsely claims that Laura was having an affair with Alex, Richard kills himself.

Richard Griffen Quotes in The Blind Assassin

The The Blind Assassin quotes below are all either spoken by Richard Griffen or refer to Richard Griffen. 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:
Storytelling, Narrative, and Truth Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

The carpets were woven by slaves who were invariably children, because only the fingers of children were small enough for such intricate work. But the incessant close labour demanded of these children caused them to go blind by the age of eight or nine, and their blindness was the measure by which the carpet-sellers valued and extolled their merchandise: This carpet blinded ten children, they would say. This blinded fifteen, this twenty.

Related Characters: Man (speaker), Iris Chase Griffen, Richard Griffen, Woman
Related Symbols: The Blind Assassin, Sakiel-Norn
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

What would that be like—to long, to yearn for one who is right there before your eyes, day in and day out? I’ll never know.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Alex Thomas, Richard Griffen, Captain Norval Chase, Liliana Chase
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Although I was beginning to like him better, I’m ashamed to admit that I was more than a little skeptical about this story. There was too much melodrama in it—too much luck, both bad and good. I was still too young to be a believer in coincidence. And if he’d been trying to make an impression on Laura—was he trying?—he couldn’t have chosen a better way.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Alex Thomas, Richard Griffen, Captain Norval Chase, Winifred Griffen Prior, Callista (Callie) Fitzsimmons
Related Symbols: Avilion
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

I look back over what I’ve written and I know it’s wrong, 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.

You want the truth, of course. You want me to put two and two together. But two and two doesn’t’ necessarily get you the truth.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Laura Chase, Richard Griffen, Winifred Griffen Prior, Mr. Erskine
Related Symbols: Avilion
Page Number: 395
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Following the death of Norval, Laura has (reluctantly) been living with Richard, Winifred, and Iris in Toronto, where she has caused a great deal of trouble. Recently, Winifred has complained to Iris that Laura has been expressing outlandish ideas, such as saying that love is more important than marriage. When Iris confronts Laura about this in private, Laura replies with this quotation. From a contemporary perspective, it may seem obvious that Laura’s argument is at least partly correct. These days, many would argue that love is self-evidently more important than marriage. Furthermore, Laura’s argument about marriage being an “outworn institution” that is more an economic transaction than a sacred bond foreshadows the feminist claims that became popular later in the 20th century.

Significantly, Laura frames her critique of marriage not in a progressive feminist light, but rather in a Christian one. Following Jesus’s tradition of focusing on the principles behind rules rather than the rules themselves, Laura argues that love is what’s important, not marriage. One could argue that Laura’s need to draw on Christianity in order to justify this claim is evidence of the restrictions placed on women and their thought during this era. At the same time, it also obvious that Laura’s faith intensely informs the way she approaches the world—it isn’t just a cover for subversive views.

Related Characters: Laura Chase (speaker), Iris Chase Griffen, Richard Griffen, Captain Norval Chase, Winifred Griffen Prior
Page Number: 424
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

I was relieved: all might yet be well. Laura was still in town. She would talk to me later.

She has, too, though she tends to repeat herself, as the dead have a habit of doing. They say all the things they said to you in life; but they rarely say anything new.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Laura Chase, Alex Thomas, Richard Griffen, Winifred Griffen Prior
Page Number: 491
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

What did I want? Nothing much. Just a memorial of some kind. But what is a memorial, when you come right down to it, but a commemoration of wounds endured? Endured, and resented. Without memory, there can be no revenge.

Lest we forget. Remember me. To you from failing hands we throw. Cries of the thirsty ghosts.

Nothing is more difficult than to understand the dead, I’ve found; but nothing is more dangerous than to ignore them.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Laura Chase, Richard Griffen
Page Number: 508
Explanation and Analysis:

As for the book, Laura didn’t write a word of it. But you must have known for some time. I wrote it myself, during my long evenings alone, when I was waiting for Alex to come back, and then afterwards, once I knew he wouldn’t. I didn’t think of what I was doing as writing—just writing down. What I remembered, and also what I imagined, which is also the truth.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Laura Chase, Alex Thomas, Richard Griffen, Winifred Griffen Prior, Aimee Adelia Griffen
Related Symbols: The Blind Assassin
Page Number: 512
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Blind Assassin PDF

Richard Griffen Quotes in The Blind Assassin

The The Blind Assassin quotes below are all either spoken by Richard Griffen or refer to Richard Griffen. 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:
Storytelling, Narrative, and Truth Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

The carpets were woven by slaves who were invariably children, because only the fingers of children were small enough for such intricate work. But the incessant close labour demanded of these children caused them to go blind by the age of eight or nine, and their blindness was the measure by which the carpet-sellers valued and extolled their merchandise: This carpet blinded ten children, they would say. This blinded fifteen, this twenty.

Related Characters: Man (speaker), Iris Chase Griffen, Richard Griffen, Woman
Related Symbols: The Blind Assassin, Sakiel-Norn
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

What would that be like—to long, to yearn for one who is right there before your eyes, day in and day out? I’ll never know.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Alex Thomas, Richard Griffen, Captain Norval Chase, Liliana Chase
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

Although I was beginning to like him better, I’m ashamed to admit that I was more than a little skeptical about this story. There was too much melodrama in it—too much luck, both bad and good. I was still too young to be a believer in coincidence. And if he’d been trying to make an impression on Laura—was he trying?—he couldn’t have chosen a better way.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Alex Thomas, Richard Griffen, Captain Norval Chase, Winifred Griffen Prior, Callista (Callie) Fitzsimmons
Related Symbols: Avilion
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

I look back over what I’ve written and I know it’s wrong, 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.

You want the truth, of course. You want me to put two and two together. But two and two doesn’t’ necessarily get you the truth.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Laura Chase, Richard Griffen, Winifred Griffen Prior, Mr. Erskine
Related Symbols: Avilion
Page Number: 395
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Following the death of Norval, Laura has (reluctantly) been living with Richard, Winifred, and Iris in Toronto, where she has caused a great deal of trouble. Recently, Winifred has complained to Iris that Laura has been expressing outlandish ideas, such as saying that love is more important than marriage. When Iris confronts Laura about this in private, Laura replies with this quotation. From a contemporary perspective, it may seem obvious that Laura’s argument is at least partly correct. These days, many would argue that love is self-evidently more important than marriage. Furthermore, Laura’s argument about marriage being an “outworn institution” that is more an economic transaction than a sacred bond foreshadows the feminist claims that became popular later in the 20th century.

Significantly, Laura frames her critique of marriage not in a progressive feminist light, but rather in a Christian one. Following Jesus’s tradition of focusing on the principles behind rules rather than the rules themselves, Laura argues that love is what’s important, not marriage. One could argue that Laura’s need to draw on Christianity in order to justify this claim is evidence of the restrictions placed on women and their thought during this era. At the same time, it also obvious that Laura’s faith intensely informs the way she approaches the world—it isn’t just a cover for subversive views.

Related Characters: Laura Chase (speaker), Iris Chase Griffen, Richard Griffen, Captain Norval Chase, Winifred Griffen Prior
Page Number: 424
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

I was relieved: all might yet be well. Laura was still in town. She would talk to me later.

She has, too, though she tends to repeat herself, as the dead have a habit of doing. They say all the things they said to you in life; but they rarely say anything new.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Laura Chase, Alex Thomas, Richard Griffen, Winifred Griffen Prior
Page Number: 491
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

What did I want? Nothing much. Just a memorial of some kind. But what is a memorial, when you come right down to it, but a commemoration of wounds endured? Endured, and resented. Without memory, there can be no revenge.

Lest we forget. Remember me. To you from failing hands we throw. Cries of the thirsty ghosts.

Nothing is more difficult than to understand the dead, I’ve found; but nothing is more dangerous than to ignore them.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Laura Chase, Richard Griffen
Page Number: 508
Explanation and Analysis:

As for the book, Laura didn’t write a word of it. But you must have known for some time. I wrote it myself, during my long evenings alone, when I was waiting for Alex to come back, and then afterwards, once I knew he wouldn’t. I didn’t think of what I was doing as writing—just writing down. What I remembered, and also what I imagined, which is also the truth.

Related Characters: Iris Chase Griffen (speaker), Laura Chase, Alex Thomas, Richard Griffen, Winifred Griffen Prior, Aimee Adelia Griffen
Related Symbols: The Blind Assassin
Page Number: 512
Explanation and Analysis: