History Literature / TheBlindAssassin

* DownerEnding: Well, let's see: Laura commits suicide [[spoiler: after Richard raped her and she discovered that what she told herself to deal with it was probably a lie]], Iris has lost both her daughter and granddaughter to her terrible sister-in-law and [[spoiler: her heart gives out]], and [[spoiler: Iris and Alex were never able to be together like they planned.]]

* HappilyEverAfter: The woman says that the two lovers go into the mountains and discover the stories about hungry ghosts and wolves are just rumors spread to hide a peaceful society of escaped slaves, and they settle down. The man suggests [[KillEmAll the opposite]].

* AuthorExistenceFailure: In-universe, [[spoiler: the man is never able to finish either his pulp serial or the stories he was telling the woman because he's killed in action.]]

* TheJailBaitWait: [[spoiler: Richard didn't wait. Not for Laura, at least.]]

-->''"The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one."''

[[quoteright:317:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/novel_the_blind_assassin_cover.jpg]]

* BatmanGambit: When creepy tutor Mr. Erskine starts molesting Laura, she goes to Iris and Reenie, who are both pretty sure he'll be albe to convince the girls' father that Laura made it all up. So Reenie contrives to "find" some dirty pictures under his bed (Iris notes that sure, they ''might'' genuinely have been there, but Reenie has a cousin who smuggles pornography who'd help her out), and then righteously presents the evidence to Mr. Chase in front of a huge crowd of factory workers, ensuring that he ''has'' to fire Erskine.

* DownerEnding

* ScarpiaUltimatum: Richard threatens to get Alex Thomas [[spoiler:arrested if Laura doesn't have sex with him]]. It's possible that his threat was an empty one, but it worked.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Averted. Iris appears to be the practical sister and Laura the beautiful, strange one. There's friction between both of them, but:
-->I didn't like it when other people criticized Laura--her vagueness, her simplicity, her fecklessness. [[HypocriticalHeartwarming Criticism of Laura was reserved for me.]]
* TheJailBaitWait: [[spoiler: Richard didn't wait. Not for Laura, at least.]]

* CloudCuckoolander: Laura often baffles those around her.
** As Winifred remarks, "You have to admit, she's a little odd."

* DoomMagnet: While Iris's life hasn't exactly been happy, the tendency of people around her to suffer at least as badly as she does and, ultimately, die young as well, does not go unnoticed, by herself or other people.
** Specifically, a lot of people in her life seem to have committed suicide, though for various different reasons: Laura, [[spoiler:her father]], [[spoiler:her husband Richard]] and [[spoiler:her daughter Aimee]] are all at least believed to have taken their own lives.

* RebelliousPrincess: Laura has shades of this. She would rather scrape by than live under Richard's thumb.

* [[spoiler: Scarpia Ultimatum: Richard threatens to get Alex Thomas arrested if Laura doesn't have sex with him. It's possible that his threat was an empty one, but it worked.]]

* Ephebophile: [[spoiler: Richard, who rapes his teenage sister-in-law. Iris married him at eighteen and later realizes that she was nearly too old for him, at the time.]]

* May-DecemberRomance: Iris marries mid-thirties Richard when she's only eighteen. Despite Iris's suspicions, ultimately averted by [[spoiler: Alex Thomas, who did not pursue a teenage Laura.]]

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Averted. Iris appears to be the practical sister and Laura the beautiful, strange one. There's friction between both of them, but:
-->I didn't like it when other people criticized Laura--her vagueness, her simplicity, her fecklessness. [[HypocriticalHeartwarming Criticism of Laura was reserved for me.]]

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: The characters in The Blind Assassin has been read as a metaphor for the characters in the framing story. Which one corresponds to whom is unclear, though the blind assassin is generally assumed to be [[spoiler:Iris. Both of them were essentially sold into sexual slavery at a young age and fall in genuine love later. Laura colors Iris blue and mentions she is 'sleeping'. Iris herself makes several references to vision, including her own name--'iris' being a part of the eye.]]

!!!Tropes Applying to ''The Blind Assassin''

* TheOphelia: Laura is intensely spiritual and seen as a little bit crazy by the conservative, wealthy social circle. However, when Laura gets a job with normal people to prove she can survive in the real world, she does perfectly fine.
* NestedStory: The book's title refers to Laura's novel, published posthumously by Iris. ''The Blind Assassin'' tells the story of an unnamed woman's affair with a pulp sci-fi writer who would invent stories for her during their liaisons, making this a case of stories within a story within a story.
* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Iris takes refuge in this as she ages, having been a trophy wife constrained to politeness in her prime.

* ChivalrousPervert: Alex Thomas makes absolutely no sexual advances on Laura when they first meet, because she is too young for him (at the time) and too spiritually innocent.

* OpenSecret: Despite its characters not being named, ''The Blind Assassin'' causes a scandal as it is clearly autobiographical.

* NamelessNarrative: ''The Blind Assassin'' does not name the woman or the pulp fiction writer, preferring to use pronouns.

* NamelessNarrative: ''The Blind Assassin'' does not name the woman and the pulp fiction writer, preferring to use pronouns.

* NamelessNarrative: ''The Blind Assassin'' does not name its main characters.

* ForegoneConclusion: one of the first scenes is a newspaper article about Laura's death. Much of the rest of the novel is taken up by how the characters got to that point.
* NestedStory: The book's title itself refers to Laura's novel, published posthumously by Iris. ''The Blind Assassin'' itself tells the story of her affair with a pulp sci-fi writer through her retelling of the stories he would invent for her during their liaisons, making this a case of stories within a story within a story!

MargaretAtwood's 2000 novel is told from the point of view of Iris Chase Griffen, an octogenarian who chooses to record her life story after discovering that she's suffering from a potentially fatal heart disease. In particular, Iris details her relationship with her younger sister, Laura - who committed suicide in 1945, aged twenty-five, by driving a car off a bridge - and the publicity surrounding Laura's posthumously published novel, ''The Blind Assassin''.

* NestedStory: The book's title itself refers to Laura's novel, published posthumously by Iris. ''The Blind Assassin'' itself tells the story of her affair with a pulp sci-fi writer through her retelling of the stories he would invent for her during their liaisons, making this a case of stories within a story within a story!

** Specifically, a lot of people in her life seem to have committed suicide, though for various different reasons: Laura, [[spoiler:her father]], [[spoiler:her husband Richard]] and [[spoiler:her daughter Aimee]] are all at least believed to have taken their own lives.

!!''The Blind Assassin'' contains examples of:

MargaretAtwood's 2000 novel is told from the point of view of Iris Chase Griffen, an octogenarian who chooses to record her life story after discovering that she's suffering from a potentially fatal heart disease. In particular, Iris details her relationship with her younger sister, Laura - who committed suicide in 1945, aged twenty-five, by driving a car off a bridge - and the publicity surrounding Laura's posthumous novel, ''The Blind Assassin''.