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Sakiel-Norn
Avilion, the large, austere house in which Iris and Laura Chase are raised, symbolizes the rigid social expectations placed on them as children of a wealthy manufacturer. It also represents the estrangement and trauma of their family, which is itself a kind of doomed love. The house was designed by Iris and Laura’s grandmother Adelia, a high-society woman from Montreal who prided herself on her good taste. Although Adelia dies before Iris and Laura are born, thanks to growing up in Avilion they feel as if they are raised by her. As Iris writes, “And so Laura and I were brought up by her. We grew up inside her house; that is to say, inside her conception of herself. And inside her conception of who we ought to be, but weren’t.” In this way, the house represents both Adelia herself—and, more specifically, Adelia’s class position, expectations, and tastes. She seems to spiritually inhabit or haunt the house even after her death, influencing Iris and Laura despite the fact that they never met her. They feel the pressure to emulate her in a way that shows how identity can be passed between people (even those who have no direct contact).
Yet Avilion’s ultimate fate also indicates the limits of such emulation and influence. Following the fall in fortune of the Chase family, the house is sold and becomes a nursing home called Valhalla (in Norse mythology, Valhalla is the resting place of those who die in war). The home is particularly bleak and thus comes to represent the fall from grace of the Chase family—particularly Iris, who is in the only member of her family present to witness Avilion in its new state following Laura and Aimee’s deaths and Sabrina’s estrangement.
Avilion Quotes in The Blind Assassin
The The Blind Assassin quotes below all refer to the symbol of Avilion. 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:
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Chapter 3
Quotes
She wasn’t married, she was married off, said Reenie, rolling out the gingersnaps. The family arranged it. That’s what was done in such families, and who’s to say it was any worse or better than choosing for yourself? In any case, Adelia Montfort did her duty, and lucky to have the chance, as she was getting long in the tooth—she must have been twenty-three, which was counted as over the hill in those days.
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When I was the age for it—thirteen, fourteen—I used to romanticize Adelia. I would gaze out of my window at night, over the lawns and the moon-silvered beds of ornamentals, and see her trailing wistfully through the grounds in a white lace tea gown. I gave her a languorous, world-weary, faintly mocking smile. Soon I added a lover. She would meet this lover outside the conservatory, which by that time was neglected—my father had no interested in steam-heated orange trees—but I restored it in my mind, and it supplied it with hothouse flowers […]
In reality the chances of Adelia having had a lover were nil. The town was too small, its morals too provincial, she had too far to fall. She wasn’t a fool. Also she had no money of her own.
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And so Laura and I were brought up by her. We grew up inside her house; that is to say, inside her conception of herself. And inside her conception of who we ought to be, but weren’t. As she was dead by then, we couldn’t argue.
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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.
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Chapter 9
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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.
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Get the entire The Blind Assassin LitChart as a printable PDF.
Avilion Symbol Timeline in The Blind Assassin
The timeline below shows where the symbol Avilion appears in The Blind Assassin. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...days before his body was found in his sailboat near his house, which is named Avilion, in Port Ticonderoga. At the time of his death, Griffen was running as the Progressive...
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Chapter 3
...before, Myra drove Iris to buy an electric fan, and on the way they passed Avilion, which is now an old people’s home with the strange name of Valhalla. It is...
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Iris’s grandmother Adelia, who died before Iris was born, oversaw the design and construction of Avilion. Adelia was from an “established” Montreal French-English family whose fortune dwindled. This led her to...
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Benjamin is 40 when he marries Adelia; he hopes to benefit from her refined taste. Avilion is finished in 1889 and is named after the island where King Arthur went to...
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...Adelia’s life, Reenie (who is 13 at the time) and her mother start working at Avilion. Despite being in great pain, Adelia insists on getting up every day and leaving the...
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...Reenie about the circumstances of their marriage. Reenie was 16 when she started working at Avilion full-time. She’d been Iris’s nursemaid, but she stayed on after as a permanent housekeeper. She...
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...Ferdinand and Miranda in a production of The Tempest that Adelia put on in the Avilion garden. Norval could have married a richer or more genteel woman, but like Liliana, he...
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...about the fate of his sons and eager for them to return. Liliana moves into Avilion and stays there even after Norval leaves; before he’s deployed to France in 1915, Liliana...
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...sends Liliana letters from France, parts of which are erased by censors. Meanwhile, back at Avilion, Liliana sets to work helping the war effort, recruiting other local women to join her...
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...have been around him, even the nurses that tended to him in hospital. Back in Avilion, she busies herself caring for her husband, who—to her horror—has become an atheist. He rejects...
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Chapter 5
Returning to Avilion, Iris describes Liliana’s sealskin coat that she and Laura would play with after their mother’s...
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...dressed in the morning, and the girls spend a lot of time alone together exploring Avilion. Winter comes and the Louveteau freezes; the sound of children playing in the snow can...
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...sighs when moved by what they read, and Iris feels that the woman belongs in Avilion with its outdated, fading grandeur and its sense of wistfulness and regret. Miss Violence likes...
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...Depression has a negative (although not devastating) impact on Chase Industries, and austerity arrives at Avilion. Iris turns 16 and her formal schooling ends. Reenie reads Mayfair magazine, dreaming of Avilion’s...
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...the picnic. Reenie is horrified to hear that Norval has invited Richard to dinner at Avilion on very short notice, giving her little time to prepare for what will have to...
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...some materials from Elwood’s studio and hand-tinting the photographs of Chase family members hanging in Avilion. When Iris catches Laura doing this, she chastises her, particularly for her choice to paint...
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...traveling the country trying to find work. Laura begs Reenie for leftover bones from the Avilion kitchen, which Reenie reluctantly gives her. Reenie comments on the striking similarity between Laura and...
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...about Alex, who she knows is “mixed up in it somehow.” Meanwhile, Richard comes to Avilion and meets with Norval in his study. The next day, a riot begins at a...
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...military arrives to subdue the rioters, followed by the Mounted Police. The police come to Avilion and ask to speak with Iris and Laura about Alex. They ask Laura if she...
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Chapter 7
Back in 1935, when Iris goes to Avilion after hearing of Norval’s death, Laura stands outside waiting for her, looking “very fragile and...
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...for Laura. Being only 15, there is no question that Laura will have to leave Avilion and come to live with Iris and Richard. Laura suggests that Reenie come to Toronto...
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Richard arranges that Reenie and Ron will act as “custodian[s]” of Avilion, fixing up the house and taking care of it so that he, Iris, and Laura...
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...about the Xanadu ball— except rather than being surrounded by partygoers, she is alone in Avilion. Back in 1935, Richard and Winifred ensure that no one finds out about Laura’s escape...
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Chapter 9
...Laura doesn’t want to. They then go to Toronto for a few weeks, followed by Avilion. Lately, Iris has been noticing that Richard seems intrigued by Laura and that he wants...
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Laura is not particularly excited about the prospect of going to Avilion, but she does look forward to seeing Reenie—until Richard informs her that Reenie has been...
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...Iris recalls that she and Laura went to see Reenie on their second day at Avilion. She was now working three days a week at Betty’s Luncheonette in town. Iris and...
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...half-sister of Iris and Laura. Back in the past, the rest of Iris’s stay at Avilion is hot and uncomfortable. She passes the time leafing through scrapbooks or old magazines. Laura,...
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...tells her to stay put so as not to “encourage” Laura. Shortly before they leave Avilion, Iris goes up to the attic and found Laura already there, surrounded by the Chase...
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...if anyone has caught him yet. The day before the family is due to leave Avilion, Winifred and Iris are sitting together when Winifred points out that Richard successfully managed to...
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Chapter 13
...orders coffee and Iris orders tea. Laura explains that after escaping BellaVista, she went to Avilion. Reenie secretly kept a spare key after Richard had it locked up. She waited until...
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Chapter 14
Iris finds that going to Avilion is painful. Having let herself in using Reenie’s key, she looks around at the now...
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