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Sabrina 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 that have a profound impact on her. Following Richard’s death, Aimee’s great-aunt Winifred wins custody of her, a turn of events that further traumatizes Aimee. As a result of all this pain, Aimee develops a drug and alcohol addiction. She has a child, Sabrina, whom she neglects, and she becomes estranged from the rest of her family. She falsely believes that Laura is her real mother and that her father is the man from The Blind Assassin (although she doesn’t know who this man is). She dies at the age of 38 in what may or may not be a suicide, after which Winifred wins custody of Sabrina.
Aimee Adelia Griffen Quotes in The Blind Assassin
The The Blind Assassin quotes below are all either spoken by Aimee Adelia Griffen or refer to Aimee Adelia 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:
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Chapter 7 Quotes
She takes after Laura in that respect: the same tendency towards absolutism, the same refusal to compromise, the same scorn for the grosser human failings. To get away with that, you have to be beautiful. Otherwise it seems mere peevishness.
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Chapter 14 Quotes
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.
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It was no great leap from that to naming Laura as the author. You might decide it was cowardice that inspired me, or a failure of nerve—I’ve never been fond of spotlights. Or simple prudence: my own name would have guaranteed the loss of Aimee, whom I lost in any case. But on second thought it was merely doing justice, because I can’t say Laura didn’t write a word. Technically that’s accurate, but in another sense—what Laura would have called the spiritual sense—you could say she was my collaborator. The real author was neither one of us: a fist is more than the sum of its fingers.
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Aimee Adelia Griffen Character Timeline in The Blind Assassin
The timeline below shows where the character Aimee Adelia Griffen appears in The Blind Assassin. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...published in May; he is survived by his sister Winifred, wife Iris, and 10-year-old daughter Aimee.
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A Toronto Star article from August 25, 1975, describes the death of Aimee Griffen, the 38-year-old niece of the well-known novelist Laura Chase. Aimee is survived by her...
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Chapter 3
...body was cremated. There is space reserved in the Chase memorial for Iris; Iris’s daughter Aimee is buried with Richard and Winifred at the Griffen memorial in Toronto. Winifred tried to...
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Chapter 7
...still refusing to speak to her, telling herself that she can hardly be blamed for Aimee’s death. Sabrina is probably engaged in the Sisyphean task of feeding the hungry in India;...
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Chapter 10
The May 1937 gossip column of Mayfair magazine announces the birth of Iris’s daughter, Aimee Adelia Chase Griffen. Winifred threw a luncheon in honor of Iris and the new baby...
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Chapter 11
...“insanely jealous” of Iris and wants to be her. A few months later, in April, Aimee is born. Iris was unconscious for the birth, which is conventional at the time. When...
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...get caught up in extremist ways of thinking over in India. Iris reflects on how Aimee must have been affected by Laura’s suicide, which happened when Aimee was eight, and Richard’s,...
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While Aimee is still alive, Iris never gives up hope that one day she and Aimee will...
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When Iris finds Aimee in her kitchen, she’s clearly drunk and high and is smoking a cigarette. Aimee doesn’t...
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...that she was a flawed parent, though she adds that there were extenuating circumstances that Aimee doesn’t understand. Aimee accuses Iris of killing Laura, and a full-blown fight ensues. Frightened, Iris...
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...garden. Yet Iris knows that this garden isn’t really hers in the same way that Aimee isn’t really hers. Iris considers sneaking off to go and visit Laura in secret, but...
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...message for Iris before she was taken to BellaVista. Iris shows Reenie a photo of Aimee, and Reenie comments on how dark she is. When they said goodbye, Reenie didn’t kiss...
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Chapter 13
Iris insists that she can’t divorce Richard because of Aimee and because she doesn’t have any money. Iris says that Richard told her Laura had...
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...for office not to gain more money or power, but to gain respect. Iris bathes Aimee and reads to her, holding her until she fell asleep. She wonders where Laura is.
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Chapter 14
...officially be asked to run for office. With Richard gone, Iris packs up her and Aimee’s belongings in her trunk. She leaves a letter for Richard saying that she knows what...
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Aimee is sad to be in Port Ticonderoga and she misses Richard. The town has changed...
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...married Iris. Winifred denies Iris’s charges against him and demands that Iris let Richard see Aimee, but Iris refuses on the grounds of Richard’s evident sexual interest in young girls. When...
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Iris manages to buy her small house, although Aimee continues to resent her for taking them away from their previous luxurious life. Separated from...
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...Winifred declares “open war” on Iris, which takes the form of a custody battle over Aimee. Iris switches to addressing Aimee directly, discussing the terrible things Winifred must have said about...
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