Chapter 51: The Steamer Trunk – Summary and Analysis
⚠️ 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
Iris receives a new edition of The Blind Assassin now in the public domain. She refuses to write an introduction. She calls her lawyer, Mr. Sykes, to discuss her will and other matters. After the call, she opens the steamer trunk from her trousseau, which contains Laura’s notebooks, typescript, proofs, hate mail, and first-edition copies. Iris recalls that one copy was found beside Richard’s body on his boat, sent back by Winifred with a recriminating note. She considers what to do with the trunk: donate to a university, leave to her granddaughter Sabrina, or let Myra destroy it. She reflects on the decades of letters from scholars and fans, which she answered with venomous replies. Now she ignores them. The chapter ends with Iris imagining Sabrina—now an adult on some altruistic mission—and notes her resemblance to Laura in absolutism and beauty.
Key Events
- A fresh copy of The Blind Assassin arrives from Artemesia Press; Iris declines to write an introduction.
- Iris phones her lawyer, Mr. Sykes, to discuss her will—a pretext to prompt a return call.
- She opens the locked steamer trunk, retrieving its contents: notebooks, typescript, letters, proofs, hate mail, and five first editions.
- Iris recalls that a sixth copy was found beside Richard’s body on the boat; Winifred sent it back.
- She reviews her old, caustic replies to scholars and decides she no longer cares to respond.
- Iris ponders the trunk’s fate: university, Sabrina, or destruction by Myra.
- She imagines Sabrina’s life and character, noting her likeness to Laura.
Character Development
Iris Griffen – Now elderly, Iris grapples with her role as gatekeeper of Laura’s legacy. Her past sharpness toward academics has softened into weary indifference. She is preoccupied with unresolved family ties, especially with Sabrina, and with the burden of the trunk as a secret archive.
Laura Chase (mentioned) – Remains a central absence. Iris reflects on Laura’s religious fervor, her refusal to compromise, and her beauty that made her absolutism tolerable.
Sabrina (imagined) – Iris’s granddaughter is constructed through speculation: a young woman with Laura’s blue eyes and dark hair, engaged in humanitarian work, yet estranged from Iris. Her silence haunts Iris.
Mr. Sykes – The lawyer, a younger man born the year Laura died, treats Iris with polite distance.
Winifred (mentioned) – Past antagonist; her note (“Now look what you’ve done!”) still stings.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
The steamer trunk – Represents Iris’s hidden history, a physical repository of trauma and creativity. Its contents (notebooks, typescript, proofs) symbolize the unfinished business of Laura’s life and Iris’s ongoing control over her sister’s story.
Writing as truth-telling – Iris muses that the only way to write the truth is to assume it will never be read. The chapter opens with this paradox: the impossibility of absolute honesty when one anticipates an audience.
Public domain and loss of control – The new edition reminds Iris that once a work enters the public domain, the author loses all say. This mirrors her own diminishing control over the narrative of Laura’s life and death.
Academic scavenging – Iris venomously compares scholars to hyenas, jackals, and corpse flies. Her dismissal of their inquiries underscores the tension between scholarly curiosity and a family’s right to privacy.
Legacy and inheritance – The trunk is both a material inheritance for Sabrina and a symbolic one. Iris debates whether to entrust it to blood or to institutions.
Why This Chapter Matters
“The Steamer Trunk” is the penultimate chapter of The Blind Assassin, preparing the ground for the resolution. It provides a retrospective summary of Iris’s custodianship of Laura’s work. The chapter clarifies that Iris’s fierce protectiveness has mellowed into ambivalence, but also reveals her unresolved grief over Sabrina’s estrangement. The steamer trunk—a physical object appearing only now—gathers the novel’s central concerns: memory, secrecy, authorship, and the ethics of exposing family pain. Iris’s refusal to write an introduction, her imagined portrait of Sabrina, and her final consideration of the trunk’s disposition all point toward the novel’s closing revelations.
Study Questions and Answers
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Why does Iris keep the steamer trunk locked and hide the key in a bran-cereal jar?
By concealing the key in an ordinary kitchen container, Iris maintains a private ritual of secrecy. The hiding place is intentionally unglamorous, reflecting her desire to keep Laura’s materials hidden from prying eyes, including Myra’s. The jar’s mundane appearance contrasts with the explosive contents. -
What does Iris’s imaginary portrait of Sabrina reveal about her own regrets?
Iris imagines Sabrina as a selfless humanitarian, beautiful and absolutist like Laura. The guesswork suggests Iris feels guilty for her granddaughter’s estrangement and hopes Sabrina will eventually claim the trunk. The phrase “her persistent neglect of me” reveals Iris’s hurt and her own failure to reach out. -
How does the public-domain status of The Blind Assassin relate to Iris’s loss of control over Laura’s story?
The new edition, which Iris cannot prevent, symbolizes the broader uncontrollability of a writer’s legacy after death. Iris has spent decades trying to control how Laura is remembered, but the public domain renders her gatekeeping obsolete. This chapter marks her reluctant surrender.