70 pages 2 hours read

Margaret Atwood

The Blind Assassin

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Book 4

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Book 4 Summary

Back in the novel-within-a-novel, the unnamed lovers continue to meet, first at a cheap café, and later at a series of rundown houses where the man is staying. He is on the run from the police, which partially explains the couple's fear of being seen. At one point, the man even complains that the woman's hair is "too blonde": "[i]t stands out. Blondes are like white mice, you only find them in cages. They wouldn't last long in nature" (106). The woman objects that this isn't "kind," echoing the broader dynamics of their relationship; the man enjoysneedling and shocking his sensitive, upper-classlover (though she herself often banters back at him).

At each meeting, the man continues the story about Sakiel-Norn, elaborating further on the norms surrounding human sacrifice: to prevent the sacrificed girls from dying "unsatisfied, and…join[ing] the band of beautiful nude dead woman," each girl is raped before her death—ostensibly by a god, but really by a courtier (115). The story begins with one of these Temple maidens lying in the "Bed of One Night," waiting for the courtier's arrival. Unbeknownst to her, however, an assassin is on his way to her chamber; his job is to kill her, take her place, and then kill the King of Sakiel-Norn during the sacrificial ceremony.

Related Titles

By Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

Alias Grace

Margaret Atwood

Alias Grace

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

Backdrop Addresses Cowboy

Margaret Atwood

Backdrop Addresses Cowboy

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

Cat's Eye

Margaret Atwood

Cat's Eye

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

Death By Landscape

Margaret Atwood

Death By Landscape

Margaret Atwood

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Hag-Seed

Margaret Atwood

Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

Happy Endings

Margaret Atwood

Happy Endings

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing

Margaret Atwood

Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing

Margaret Atwood

Plot Summary

logo

Lady Oracle

Margaret Atwood

Lady Oracle

Margaret Atwood

Plot Summary

logo

Life Before Man

Margaret Atwood

Life Before Man

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

MaddAddam

Margaret Atwood

MaddAddam

Margaret Atwood

Plot Summary

logo

Rape Fantasies

Margaret Atwood

Rape Fantasies

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

Stone Mattress

Margaret Atwood

Stone Mattress

Margaret Atwood

Plot Summary

logo

Surfacing

Margaret Atwood

Surfacing

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

The Circle Game

Margaret Atwood

The Circle Game

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

The Edible Woman

Margaret Atwood

The Edible Woman

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

The Heart Goes Last

Margaret Atwood

The Heart Goes Last

Margaret Atwood

Study Guide

logo

The Landlady

Margaret Atwood

The Landlady

Margaret Atwood