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Mr. Kenneth MacKenzie
Dr. Simon Jordan’s landlady and lover during his stay in Kingston. The reader only meets Rachel through Dr. Jordan’s eyes; he describes her as simpering and clingy. According to Dr. Jordan, though Rachel pretends to be reserved and proper she is actually incredibly sexual. Dr. Jordan insists that Rachel initiated their affair, while Dora offers the conflicting perspective that any time Dr. Jordan looks at Rachel it is “with fearsome blazing eyes like a tiger’s, as if ready to spring on her and sink his teeth into her.” After Simon abandons her, Rachel writes him several letters; though the reader never sees these letters, Mrs. Jordan’s acerbic responses to them make it clear that Rachel believed Simon had promised to marry her.
Mrs. Rachel Humphrey Quotes in Alias Grace
The Alias Grace quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Rachel Humphrey or refer to Mrs. Rachel Humphrey. 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 32 Quotes
Underneath her stiff dress there must be breasts, not starched and corset-shaped, but made of soft flesh, with nipples; he finds himself idly guessing what colour these nipples would be, in sunlight or else in lamplight, and how large. Nipples pink and small like the snouts of animals, of rabbits or mice perhaps; or the almost-red of ripening currants; or the scaly brown of acorn caps. His imagination runs, he notes, to wildwood details, and to things hard or alert.
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Simon has these thoughts while breakfasting with his landlady, Rachel Humphrey. This quotation appears before Simon has begun an affair with Rachel. Simon’s sexual fantasy about Mrs. Humphrey reveals his tendency to reduce women to less than human status: he considers Rachel’s body parts as if they belonged to animals, or were inanimate food items like currants. The fact that Simon is mentally undressing Mrs. Humphrey while she is merely trying to eat her breakfast shows that Simon’s fundamental metric for women’s worth is how useful or attractive they would be to him sexually. Finally, this quotation is significant in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantiu
Chapter 44 Quotes
During the day, Rachel is a burden, an encumbrance, and he wishes to be rid of her; but at night she’s an altogether different person, and so is he. He too says no when he means yes. He means more, he means further, he means deeper. He would like to make an incision in her—just a small one—so he can taste her blood, which in the shadowy darkness of the bedroom seems to him like a normal wish to have.
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Simon is reflecting on his affair with his landlady. The unsettling violence of this quotation is important on two distinct levels. Firstly, Simon’s desire to cut Rachel open suggests, yet again, his unshakeable desire to be physically dominant over women. Secondly, and perhaps even more significantly, Simon’s desire to taste Rachel’s blood implies that there is something about this blood that might enhance Simon’s feeling of power. Partially, this seems due to the fact that not only cutting Rachel but then also imbibing her blood would be a way for Simon to further his power over her. However, there also Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dign
Chapter 49 Quotes
He’ll begin to tiptoe up the stairs, intending to avoid her. Then he’ll turn around, make his way to her room, shake her roughly awake. Tonight he’ll hit her, as she’s begged him to; he’s never done that before, it’s something new. He wants to punish her for his own addiction to her. He wants to make her cry; though not too loudly, or Dora will hear them, and trumpet scandal.
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Simon is returning to the Humphrey household following Grace’s hypnosis session, and he is channeling his frustration at Grace—he cannot decide whether or not he believes that she was actually possessed by Mary Whitney’s spirit—onto Rachel, whom he imagines having sex with and physically beating. It is difficult to know whether Simon’s claim that Rachel has “begged him” to hit her is true, or whether he is making this up as an excuse to express his own feelings of violence. Regardless, the fact that Simon wants to be physically violent toward Rachel at the same time that he has sex Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas.
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Mrs. Rachel Humphrey Character Timeline in Alias Grace
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Rachel Humphrey appears in Alias Grace. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 10
...where he is lodging, Simon tries his best to avoid conversation with his landlady, Mrs. Rachel Humphrey. She delivers him a letter from his mother and Simon quickly leaves. He finds...
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Chapter 17
...on the table. When he hears a crash, he turns around to find his landlady, Mrs. Humphrey , collapsed on the floor, covered in remnants of his breakfast. Simon carries Mrs. Humphrey...
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When Mrs. Humphrey regains consciousness, she tells Simon that she had to let Dora go, because she could...
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Simon returns with food and he and Mrs. Humphrey eat together. He asks Mrs. Humphrey whether there is something she can do to earn...
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Chapter 21
Simon spots Mrs. Humphrey and “wonders why she insists on dressing quite so much like a widow.” He wanders...
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Chapter 32
...Europe, is “dazed” by the sudden change in the weather. He is eating breakfast with Mrs. Humphrey ; she has cooked because Dora is no longer at the house, but she does...
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Simon listens to Mrs. Humphrey discuss how grateful she is to him. He finds himself daydreaming about what Mrs. Humphrey...
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Simon suddenly awakens, shirtless in bed; there is a light in his doorway. He hears Mrs. Humphrey say she was alarmed by a noise “as if of someone attempting to break in...
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Chapter 34
...determination to get a man’s trousers off him, it was there in the eyes of Mrs. Humphrey .” Grace is put off by Dora’s taste for gossip, so she says no more.
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Chapter 37
Simon arrives home, and Dora greets him coldly at the door. Mrs. Humphrey invites Simon to dine with her, but he declines, as he has “half accepted” an...
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Chapter 42
...dreaming; or not dreaming the woman”—he realizes that the woman lying next to him is Mrs. Humphrey , whose first name he doesn’t even know. He thinks back to the sex they’ve...
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Chapter 44
Simon is traveling by train to Toronto to meet with Mr. MacKenzie. He thinks about Rachel Humphrey, who has become his mistress, and feels relieved to be far away from her....
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...into the Toronto train station, and as he disembarks, Simon resolves to leave thoughts of Rachel behind him. He finds himself wishing he were in London or Paris, where he would...
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Chapter 49
...will hardly let him off the hook so easily.” Frustrated, he turns his thoughts to Rachel—“something he can grapple with, take hold of.” He looks forward to having violent sex with...
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When he enters the house, he finds Rachel waiting for him, crying. She tells Simon she’s had a letter from her husband, Major...
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...Simon lies in bed and thinks about what would happen if he were to follow Rachel’s plan. He imagines them escaping to the United States, where he will “never be free...
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Chapter 50
This chapter consists of several letters. The first is Simon’s farewell letter to Rachel. It is signed: “You know how much I admire your courage in the face of...
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The next letter is from Simon’s mother, Mrs. Jordan, to Rachel Humphrey. Mrs. Jordan writes that she is returning seven letters that Rachel has sent to...
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The sixth letter is dated 1862, and is from Mrs. Jordan to Rachel Humphrey. She writes, “To threaten to do yourself an injury […] might carry weight with...
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