Truth is an important aspect of Margaret Atwood's novel The Blind Assassin. Atwood uses metafiction to bring out what readers believe to be the truth about Iris's character. The novel has many references to writing, and writing about writing, which is what Iris does a lot. The story-within-a-story is used to show the "true account" of Iris's life. It is used to sort of wash Iris clean of any wrongdoing she may have done. Throughout the novel, however, the reader is unsure as to how credible a source Iris is.
Iris sets down all this information on paper in the hopes that someone will read it and know the truth, but she has no guarantee that will even happen. "The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date" (283).
Iris also questions truth by writing explicitly about it. "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" (395). This reinforces the credibility of the source. She omits things from the truth, and she says she knows what she has set down is wrong because of that fact. So, how can we as readers trust her word?
Iris leaves everything until the very end of the book for the reader to discover. It is then that Iris reveals the truth to Laura, inevitably causing her death. Also, by keeping the truth from others, she hurts them. For example, Iris's daughter Aimee. Iris says, "Aimee's death was not my fault" (288). By withholding truth from her own daughter, Iris is responsible for her downfall.
Iris has an audience in mind as she's writing her version of the story throughout the novel. She writes this for Sabrina, her granddaughter's benefit, thinking she will read this after her death and the truth will be known to her. She also mentions Myra frequently in her narration.
Inevitably, this is Iris's version of the truth, written by her, for Sabrina. That does not mean it is the absolute truth. The theme truth throughout the novel is not something the reader can rely on. The newspaper clippings can attend to this fact. Progressing through the novel, we see the fabrication of them by none other than Richard and Iris when she makes up the story about how Laura's death was an accident. It can be argued that Iris knew Laura's death was her fault by the end of the novel. So she possibly would want the best version of herself to be known, so she keeps the horrible truth out of her writing. These stories, made up by Iris, make it into newspapers, proving the fact that her story and her version of truth is not reliable.
Iris has an audience in mind as she's writing her version of the story throughout the novel. She writes this for Sabrina, her granddaughter's benefit, thinking she will read this after her death and the truth will be known to her. She also mentions Myra frequently in her narration.
Inevitably, this is Iris's version of the truth, written by her, for Sabrina. That does not mean it is the absolute truth. The theme truth throughout the novel is not something the reader can rely on. The newspaper clippings can attend to this fact. Progressing through the novel, we see the fabrication of them by none other than Richard and Iris when she makes up the story about how Laura's death was an accident. It can be argued that Iris knew Laura's death was her fault by the end of the novel. So she possibly would want the best version of herself to be known, so she keeps the horrible truth out of her writing. These stories, made up by Iris, make it into newspapers, proving the fact that her story and her version of truth is not reliable.
Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret. The Blind Assassin. New York: Anchor Books, 2000. Print.
