The Blind Assassin

In The Blind Assassin, the woman arrives at a café, where the man is already waiting for her. He chastises the woman for wearing such a fancy coat and thereby drawing attention to herself, to which she replies that it’s just “an ordinary raincoat.” They have an argument about kindness, which the man denounces as reprehensible—he says that he’d rather the woman be selfish than kind.

The man indicates that he’s still in hiding, on the run from an unspecified authority. He explains that the café is run by a friend of a friend and that he’s watching the door in case he needs to escape through the back. The woman asks the man if he “did it,” and he indicates that he didn’t but that he “could have” because he was present. He says he’s being targeted as a scapegoat by people who don’t like him and his “bad ideas.” The woman says she’s worried about him, and he replies with vulgar comments about her body.

An article in the Port Ticonderoga Herald and Banner from March 16, 1933 details Captain Norval Chase’s support of the relief effort for those impoverished by the Depression. Norval is quoted as arguing that the country must come together to alleviate the crisis in the same way it did during the war. Meanwhile, the knitwear manufacturer Richard E. Griffen has publicly criticized Norval for “depriving the working man of wages” by giving his products away for free. The article also notes that Chase Industries has suffered as a result of the Depression and is struggling to keep its factories open without resorting to layoffs. Meanwhile, strikebreaking in other parts of the country has resulted in union riots and “Communist-inspired bloodshed.”

In The Blind Assassin, the man takes the woman to the dingy house belonging to a friend where he’s currently staying. They kiss, and the man leads the woman upstairs to his room on the third floor. It is obvious that he’s made an effort to make the bed look nice, smoothing out the chenille spread that lies on top of it, which gives the woman a painful feeling of sympathy for him. The man offers her from scotch, and she accepts. She playfully points out that he has been extra cruel to her that day, and he replies that it’s in “self-defence.” After they have sex, the woman thinks about how easy it would be for someone to kick down the door. They smoke, and the man asks if the woman wants to hear a “bedtime story.” 

A December 5, 1934 article in The Mail and Empire describes Richard Griffen’s praise for Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, who recently violently suppressed a gathering of communists in Toronto. Many of those arrested were imprisoned or deported. Griffen also expresses his disapproval of the “soft socialism” being implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the U.S. 

In The Blind Assassin, the man returns to the story of Zycron: he describes a dark night, after all three of the planet’s suns have set. A girl, who is about to be sacrificed, is lying on a bed in the Temple. The bed she is lying on is officially called “the Bed of One Night,” but the girls call it “the Bed of Voiceless Tears.” According to myth, each girl is visited by the Lord of the Underworld the night before she is sacrificed so that she won’t die a virgin, a feared category on Zycron. Women who die virgins are said to become spirits who prey on men and turn them into “obedient zombies.”

The girls know that the Lord of the Underworld isn’t real—he’s really just a courtier who disguises himself and pays for the privilege of raping them the night before they are killed. At this moment, a group of “barbarians” are preparing to attack Sakiel-Norn and burn it down. They do not have technology, wealth, literacy, or a king on their side—only a leader called the Servant of Rejoicing. Other people call this tribe the People of Desolation, but they call themselves the People of Joy. The Servant of Rejoicing believes that he received a message from the gods instructing him to destroy Sakiel-Norn. The People of Joy believe that all the inhabitants of Sakiel-Norn are “tainted” by luxury, ritual sacrifice, and the “worship of false gods.”

The inhabitants of Sakiel-Norn are unaware of the approach of the People of Joy. Inside the city, a group of courtiers are planning to overthrow the King with the help of the best blind assassin. His mission is to kill the girl about to be sacrificed in the Temple, dress in her clothes, and await the Lord of the Underworld, who is the courtier leading the revolt. However, the timing has been messed up—currently, the blind assassin will get to the girl before the courtier. The woman interrupts the man to say the story is getting too gruesome, but he reminds her that he is a professional writer and that she should be “grateful” to get one of his stories for free.

The man continues in his description of the plot, explaining that the blind assassin believes he will be rewarded with a generous fee and that he plans to escape in the aftermath of the murder, when the plotters will be ruthlessly suppressed and order will be restored. However, in reality, the loyalists who hired the blind assassin intend to kill him as soon as he has performed the task for which they hired him. Arriving at the temple, the blind assassin kills the female sentry guarding the door and he lets himself inside.

The man and woman hear a sound, and the man asks the woman to put on a slip so that she can look out the window and see what’s going on. The woman objects but eventually does so, and she assures the man that there’s “nothing out of the ordinary” outside. The man asks her to come back to bed, but she says she has to go.  

A 1934 article in The Mail and Empire describes a strike and lockout taking place at Chase and Sons Industries Ltd. After police were outnumbered by the striking workers, the army was called in to subdue them. Before they accomplished this, the strikers rioted, looted, and started a fire that killed a night watchman. The editor of the Port Ticonderoga newspaper claims that the riot only turned violent after “outside agitators” gave the strikers liquor. Norval Chase declined to comment.

In The Blind Assassin, this week the man is staying in a different house owned by a wealthier friend. The woman worries about this friend knowing that she’s there—and, even worse, knowing her identity. The man stares at the woman, and when she asks why, he replies that he is memorizing what she looks like so that he can recall it later, after he’s “gone.” They lie in bed together, talking and teasing each other flirtatiously. The man continues with his story. The People of Joy have set up camp one day’s march away from Sakiel-Norn. Enslaved women pour the men stew and alcohol while the “official wives” sit separately. The men nervously await the following day. They are afraid of losing, and although they might not admit it, they do not approach killing with relish.

A 1935 article from the magazine Mayfair entitled “Toronto High Noon Gossip” describes a reception hosted by Mrs. Winifred Griffen Prior in honor of Iris’s engagement to Richard Griffen, Winifred’s brother and “one of the most eligible bachelors in the province.” According to the article, it was a lavish affair, with many esteemed guests in attendance.

In the man’s story in The Blind Assassin, the bronze bell in Sakiel-Norn tolls at midnight, signifying a myth about the Broken God that no one believes anymore. Alone in his tower, the King takes off his platinum face mask and smiles, thinking about an affair he’s been conducting with “the plump wife of a minor civil servant.” The woman has become irritating, so he resolves to destroy her husband’s finances, which will force him to sell her into slavery. The King hears the bell toll in the distance but doesn’t think much about it, as he has lost his faith like everyone else. He wonders if the rumors of the latest plot to kill him are true. He sees a flash of light in the distance and thinks it must be lightning. 

The woman expresses pity for the King, and the man suggests they get another drink. He says that all kings deserve to die, and the woman complains that the whisky he buys is cheap and awful. The man gets up and, still naked, he attempts to pee out the window, which horrifies the woman. He tells her to put on his friend’s dressing gown to disguise herself while she goes out to the toilet. When they are done, the man resumes the story. He describes the blind assassin’s state of mind in the leadup to the assassination: he feels nervous about his own safety but untroubled by the murder he is about to commit.