Chapter 6: Letters of Inquiry, Asylum Details, and Family Concerns

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Dr. Joseph Workman, superintendent of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum in Toronto, replies to Simon Jordan’s introductory letter. Workman welcomes him, thanks Dr. Binswanger for the introduction, and stresses that proper sanitation and drainage are essential for mental-health treatment. He describes finding a massive, undrained cesspool under the asylum cellars and a contaminated water supply from the lake. Workman notes that religious fanaticism and intemperance are common causes of insanity, but he believes a predisposing weakness always exists. He regrets that Grace Marks was returned to the Kingston Penitentiary in August 1853 before he could study her thoroughly. He refers Jordan to Dr. Samuel Bannerling. Workman states that Grace appeared sufficiently sane to be removed from the asylum, exhibited good conduct, worked industriously as a servant in the governor’s family, and suffered occasional nervous excitement and heart palpitations. He also warns about prison authorities sending “criminal lunatics” and impostors to the asylum, mixing them with innocent patients.

Simon’s mother, Mrs. William P. Jordan, writes from Loomisville. She expresses joy at hearing from him but worries about his constant travel. She encloses a letter from the Toronto asylum and questions the wisdom of visiting yet another such institution. She urges him to consider a manufacturing business—specifically a home sewing machine—which she believes would relieve as much suffering as a hundred asylums. She chides his idealism at age thirty and frets about the financial risks and dangers of consorting with madmen. She describes her own ill health, visits from Mrs. Henry Cartwright and her now-charming daughter Faith, and her wish to see Simon settled.

Simon writes to his friend Dr. Edward Murchie in Dorchester. He reports a smooth journey to Kingston, a town rebuilt without charm after a fire decades ago. He has rooms in the house of a dipsomaniac Major Humphrey, arranged with the Major’s wife. Meals at a nearby inn are deplorable. The governor, at Reverend Verringer’s urging, has arranged for Grace Marks to be at Simon’s disposal several hours each afternoon. Simon calls Grace a “hard nut to crack” and hopes to gain her trust, though he knows she has had little reason to trust anyone in fifteen years. He describes the Penitentiary as a Greek temple and anticipates that his American, Yankee-democrat demeanor will arouse suspicion among local Tories.

Key Events

• Dr. Joseph Workman replies to Simon Jordan, detailing unsanitary conditions at the Toronto Asylum and referring him to Dr. Bannerling for information about Grace Marks.
• Workman reveals that Grace Marks was returned to the Kingston Penitentiary in August 1853 after fifteen months, that she was deemed sane enough to remove, and that she works as a servant in the governor’s house.
• Workman cautions against mixing criminal and innocent insane patients and expresses suspicion that many inmates are feigning madness.
• Simon’s mother writes from Massachusetts, urging him to abandon his asylum project and instead invest in a sewing machine business, which she feels would be more practical and profitable.
• Simon arrives in Kingston, secures rooms with a drunken Major Humphrey, and begins eating at a squalid inn.
• The governor grants Simon daily access to Grace Marks in the afternoons.
• Simon describes the Penitentiary’s Greek-temple architecture and anticipates social friction with the local Tory population.

Character Development

• Dr. Simon Jordan emerges as a determined but self-aware investigator. He admits he hasn’t yet learned “the secret of casting out devils.” His letters show humor (calling his landlord a future inmate) and impatience with clergymen like Verringer. He is confident he can eventually gain Grace’s trust, despite anticipating difficulty.
• Mrs. William P. Jordan (Simon’s mother) is portrayed as loving, anxious, and meddling. She believes insanity is a divine judgment not to be reversed and views her son’s idealism as naïve. Her suggestion of a sewing machine reveals both her practical bent and her conventional Victorian worldview.
• Dr. Joseph Workman is a conscientious administrator who prioritizes hygiene and separates criminal from innocent patients. He is professional but realistic about political interference and funding constraints.
• Grace Marks remains off-stage, but she is described by Workman as industrious, kind to patients, and occasionally troubled by nervous excitement and heart pain. Both Workman and Jordan note her likely distrust of authority.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

• Sanitation and hidden rot: Workman’s graphic description of the cesspool and contaminated water symbolizes institutional decay that undermines healing.
• Causes of insanity: Workman’s remarks on religious fanaticism, intemperance, and predisposition reflect nineteenth-century debates about mental illness.
• Family duty versus personal calling: Mrs. Jordan’s letter contrasts Simon’s visionary asylum plan with a practical sewing-machine venture, embodying the tension between filial obedience and individual ambition.
• Trust and the difficulty of truth: Jordan’s observation that Grace has had scant reason to trust anyone underscores the challenge of extracting reliable information from a traumatized subject.
• Mixing populations: Workman’s warning against commingling criminal and innocent insane patients raises concerns about contamination and justice.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter establishes the physical and social setting for Jordan’s investigation. It provides vital background on Grace Marks’s post-trial history—her time in the asylum, her return to the Penitentiary, and her current domestic role. The letters also deepen the novel’s critique of nineteenth-century institutions: asylums plagued by corruption, inadequate funding, and moral confusion. Mrs. Jordan’s opposition highlights the personal cost of Jordan’s professional ambitions and foreshadows conflicts he will face. The chapter sets up the central dynamic: a doctor hoping to unlock a prisoner’s mind, while she guards her secrets.

Study Questions and Answers

1. What does Dr. Workman’s letter reveal about the physical conditions of the Toronto Asylum?
Workman discovered a large, undrained cesspool under the cellars and a water supply drawn from a stagnant bay next to the sewer outflow. These conditions caused cholera, dysentery, and typhoid among inmates. He insists that sanitation and good drainage are prerequisites for any effective mental-health treatment.

2. How does Simon’s mother try to persuade him to change his career plans?
She argues that a private asylum cannot be profitable because relatives neglect to pay bills. She suggests investing in a household sewing machine, which she believes would relieve more suffering at lower risk. She also implies that consorting with the insane endangers his future wife and children.

3. What obstacles does Simon Jordan anticipate in his interviews with Grace Marks?
He notes that Grace has been hardened by fifteen years of institutional life and likely has no reason to trust anyone. He believes gaining her trust will be essential but difficult, and he is aware that his American identity and casual manner may be viewed with suspicion by the local conservative community.