Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookpossum
[...] I think I read the book as a story and didn’t bother so much about the boundaries between fact and fiction. I was prepared to accept that the story about Mary was true, that she existed in Grace’s world I mean, as opposed to being part of Atwood’s fiction. Her fate was sadly such a common one back then, that it was all too possible. [...]
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I, too, was content to accept Mary as a real person in Grace's life (but not necessarily, later, as a real personality in Grace's mind), for pretty much the same reason ... although I wonder how much our impression of this being a common fate is the result of the fiction we read?
(
By its very nature, fiction tells the more interesting, often tragic, tale, and not the one where people live happily according to the standards of their times. And even non-fiction tends to emphasise how bad things could be, not necessarily how bad they always were. Actual stats might be interesting, just to see how prevalent such tragedy really was.)
There is also the possibility that what we might call "Mary's tale" had become a parable of the times, a lesson to all incoming servant girls about what might happen to them if they do not behave. It might be difficult to distinguish between the real occurrences and the stories passed around as "I knew", "my friend knew" and so on.
I can't find stats going back to the 1840s, but
U.S. stats for the 1880s show Mary was by far the most common name. Perhaps in choosing this name Atwood is highlighting the nature of the tale.