English Language and Literature Commons^™

Killing Them Softly: Building The Blind Assassin, Lina Carro, Nancy A. Knowles

Lina Carro

Margaret Atwood’s Blind Assassin is an enthralling novel whose sensationalist mysteries could leave some readers feeling manipulated. This paper examines the use of narrative structure as a device to strengthen protagonist characterization and proposes that Atwood self-consciously employs a deftly woven, multi-tiered plot structure to challenge conventional reader responses to sensationalist fiction.