The Blind Assassin Character Analysis

Iris Chase Griffen

Iris is the main character and narrator of the book. Born in 1916 to Norval and Liliana Chase, Iris is Laura’s elder sister. Her childhood in Port Ticonderoga is mostly happy, although blighted… read analysis of Iris Chase Griffen

Laura Chase

Laura is Iris’s younger sister and Norval and Liliana’s second daughter. Laura is presented as the author of The Blind Assassin for much of the story, though it’s ultimately revealed that Iris wrote… read analysis of Laura Chase

Alex Thomas

Alex is a union organizer and science-fiction writer whom Laura befriends at the Labour Day picnic put on by her father, Norval’s, button factory. She later hides Alex in the Avilion attic after he is… read analysis of Alex Thomas

Richard Griffen

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… read analysis of Richard Griffen

Reenie

Reenie is Iris and Laura’s nursemaid and the housekeeper at Avilion. Overall, she serves as a kind of mother figure to Iris and Laura, particularly after the death of their biological mother, Liliana… read analysis of Reenie

Captain Norval Chase

Norval is Iris and Laura’s father and Liliana’s husband. He inherits the family button factory from his father Benjamin after Norval’s two older brothers, Edgar and Percival, are killed in World War… read analysis of Captain Norval Chase

Man

The man is a main character, along with the woman, in Iris’s book The Blind Assassin. He’s based on Alex Thomas, with whom Iris has an affair while she’s married to… read analysis of Man

Woman

The woman is a main character, along with the man, in Iris’s book The Blind Assassin. At the beginning the novel, the reader is led to assume she is based on Iris’s… read analysis of Woman

Winifred Griffen Prior

Winifred is Richard’s younger sister and a full-time socialite. Like her brother, Winifred is a cruel, power-obsessed person who helps systematically destroys the lives of Iris and Laura Chase. Her last name and… read analysis of Winifred Griffen Prior

Sabrina Griffen

Sabrina is Iris’s estranged granddaughter. Sabrina is only four years old when her mother, Aimee, dies in an incident that may or may not have been suicide. Before that, she was neglected due… read analysis of Sabrina Griffen

Aimee Adelia Griffen

Aimee is Iris’s daughter. Everyone believes that she is Richard’s child, but in fact her father is Alex. Richard and Aimee’s aunt Laura both commit suicide while Aimee is a child, events… read analysis of Aimee Adelia Griffen

Liliana Chase

Liliana is Norval’s wife and Iris and Laura’s mother. A very religious person, she dedicates her life to helping the less fortunate. She almost dies giving birth to Laura, and so she’s advised… read analysis of Liliana Chase

Adelia Montfort Chase

Adelia is Iris and Laura’s paternal grandmother; Benjamin’s wife; and Norval, Percival, and Edgar’s mother. Born into a genteel French-English Montreal family, Adelia marries Benjamin in order to save her… read analysis of Adelia Montfort Chase

Benjamin Chase

Benjamin is Iris and Laura’s paternal grandfather; Adelia’s husband; and Norval, Percival, and Edgar’s father. The descendant of Puritan immigrants to Pennsylvania, Benjamin opens a button factory in the 1870s… read analysis of Benjamin Chase

Callista (Callie) Fitzsimmons

Callie is a 28-year-old professional sculptor and bohemian whom Norval dates after Liliana’s death. Callie is independent and bohemian, representing a more progressive vision of womanhood than Iris has ever seen before. For this… read analysis of Callista (Callie) Fitzsimmons

Girl

In the man’s science-fiction story, the girl is raised to be sacrificed in a religious ritual in Sakiel-Norn. As is customary of human sacrifices in the city, she is mute after having her… read analysis of Girl

Blind Assassin

In the man’s science-fiction story, the blind assassin is a formerly-enslaved Ygnirod boy who goes blind from making luxury carpets. He is then sold into a brothel but manages to escape, becoming known as… read analysis of Blind Assassin

Miss Violence

Miss Violence is Iris and Laura’s tutor (“Miss Violence” is a nickname the girls give her; her real name is Violet Goreham). Because she is fairly old and unmarried, Reenie calls her an “old… read analysis of Miss Violence

Minor Characters

Myra Sturgess

Myra is Reenie and Ron’s daughter and the elderly Iris’s only friend. Myra is a caring person but something of a busybody, and Iris finds Myra irritating despite how much she does for Iris. When Iris dies, Myra writes a loving obituary for her in the local paper.

Walter Sturgess

Walter is Myra’s husband, a working-class handyman who lives in Port Ticonderoga. He takes care of Iris in her old age, and Iris sometimes fantasizes about being with him romantically.

Mr. Erskine

Mr. Erskine is Iris and Laura’s second, much stricter tutor after Miss Violence. He uses corporal punishment and he even sexually molests Laura. After Laura tells Reenie this, Reenie gets him fired by pretending to find pornography in his room.

Elwood Murray

Elwood is the editor of the local newspaper in Port Ticonderoga when Iris and Laura are growing up. He is disliked by the townspeople for being nosy, but also for being gay (or at least being perceived to be gay). He is killed in World War II.

Mr. Sykes

Mr. Sykes is the elderly Iris’s lawyer.

Ron Hincks

Ron is Reenie’s husband and Myra’s father.

Edgar Chase

Edgar is Norval and Percival’s brother who, like Percival, is killed in World War I.

Percival Chase

Percival is Norval’s and Edgar’s brother who, like Edgar, is also killed in World War I.

Lord of the Underworld

In the man’s science-fiction story, a courtesan in Sakiel-Norn pays to dress up as the Lord of the Underworld and rape the girl before she is sacrificed. This plan ends up being thwarted by the blind assassin.

Servant of Rejoicing

In the man’s science-fiction story, the Servant of Rejoicing is the leader of the People of Joy, a tribe of “barbarians” who attack and destroy Sakiel-Norn.

King of Sakiel-Norn

The King is the despotic leader of Sakiel-Norn who dies when the city is attacked by the People of Joy.

Mrs. Hillcoate

Mrs. Hillcoate is the laundrywoman at Avilion.

Mr. Murgatroyd

Mr. Murgatroyd is a servant employed by Richard in Toronto.

Mrs. Murgatroyd

Mrs. Murgatroyd is a servant employed by Richard in Toronto.

Headmistress

The headmistress oversees Laura’s first school in Toronto, St. Cecilia’s.

Dr. Witherspoon

Dr. Witherspoon is the director of the BellaVista clinic, where Laura is confined against her will and forced to undergo an abortion.

Will

Will is a character in the man’s story about the utopian planet Aa’A.

Boyd

Boyd is a character in the man’s story about the utopian planet Aa’A.