Poor Things Summary

“Reality isn’t something waiting to be discovered; it’s something we build ourselves.” Poor Things invites readers to question the truths and stories we accept as fact.

1. A Postmodern Take on Victorian Melodrama

Poor Things is set in Victorian Glasgow, yet it opens with a modern twist. The story begins with historian Michael Donnelly discovering a peculiar manuscript from Archibald McCandless and a contradicting letter from his wife, Victoria. Readers are left to decide what version of the tale to believe.

Donnelly suggests the manuscript is a piece of fiction while Alasdair Gray claims it as history, showcasing how different narrators frame the truth. This combination of competing narratives sets the stage for the postmodern nature of the book, where facts are questioned, and reality is blurred.

The opening reflects how fragmented historical accounts often are, and plays with the idea that we interpret the past through a subjective lens. By presenting multiple perspectives that challenge each other, Gray encourages readers to weigh truth and interpretation while unraveling the story.

Examples

• Michael Donnelly rescues McCandless's manuscript and Victoria's letter amid legal office clearance.
• Donnelly refers to the story as darkly humorous fiction, yet Gray defends it as entirely real.
• Readers must decide between McCandless’s detailed account and Victoria’s refutation of it.

2. The Birth of Bella Baxter

McCandless’s manuscript recounts Bella’s eerie origins, describing her as the result of Dr. Godwin Baxter’s bizarre experiments. Allegedly, she is a composite created when Baxter transplanted an infant’s brain into the body of a deceased pregnant woman.

Bella’s creation represents a literal “constructed woman,” reflecting Victorian ideas about female agency. While McCandless criticizes Baxter’s choice to create a childlike mind within an adult form, the story presents an exaggerated metaphor for how women were often defined and controlled by the men around them.

Gray weaves this shocking storyline into broader questions about power and gender. Bella's existence as an amalgamation of life, death, and invention serves as a lens through which readers explore societal assumptions and limitations placed on women.

Examples

• Godwin Baxter claims to have suspended the original woman's life before transplanting the infant’s brain.
• In McCandless’s eyes, Bella’s immaturity and dependence highlight Baxter’s overreach and god-complex.
• Baxter’s justification mirrors Victorian social constructs that infantilized women.

3. Questioning Male Fantasies of Women

Gray uses his male characters to critique fantasies of femininity. McCandless sees Bella as an ideal innocent woman needing protection, while Baxter views her as a companion to fill his “woman-shaped hole.” Both perceptions deny Bella her own agency.

McCandless accuses Baxter of creating the perfect male fantasy—a woman with an adult body and a child’s mind. Yet his own desire to shield her from corruptive influences exposes another control dynamic, reducing her independence.

Through this, Gray confronts male-dominated narratives in literature, making readers question how cultural constructs shape women’s identity. Bella’s rebellion against these limiting roles highlights her evolution into self-defined individuality.

Examples

• McCandless’s critique of Baxter reflects societal discomfort with nonconformity.
• Baxter’s pride in Bella’s growth as his success subtly underpins his controlling tendencies.
• Bella rejects both men’s projections and asserts her independence throughout the story.

4. A Journey of Self-Discovery

Bella’s travels across Europe after eloping with a lawyer named Wedderburn parallel the Bildungsroman literary tradition. Initially inexperienced and naïve, her educational journey transforms her into a wiser, more self-assured person.

Through encounters with domineering personalities like Astley and Dr. Hooker, Bella sharpens her ability to discern individual motivations and dismiss prejudiced ideologies. Her progressive letters reveal her intellectual growth and rejection of Victorian clichés of purity.

Bella’s travels emancipate her from Victorian standards—allowing her to experience true adult agency and confront the complexities of human nature. Her transformation shows the significance of stepping into the world to find oneself.

Examples

• Letters chart Bella’s writing evolution from childlike scribbles to mature reflections.
• She observes gender and racial injustices while traveling through cities like Alexandria.
• Bella describes Astley and Hooker as flawed, summing up her rejection of their notions.

5. The Complexity of Victorian Womanhood

Victoria McCandless later provides her own account, rejecting McCandless’s fantastical version by presenting her struggle in a male-dominated society. Her realistic narrative, grounded in Glasgow’s realities, offers a sharp contrast to the gothic melodrama portrayed earlier.

Unlike the fictional Bella Baxter, Victoria’s path reflects the actual plight of ambitious women trying to navigate Victorian expectations. Her embrace of education, reform, and suffrage mirrors the challenges faced by professional women of the era.

Gray uses Victoria’s voice to highlight the cultural tension that defined the late Victorian period: the rigid gender roles that constrained women versus their growing demand for agency.

Examples

• Victoria describes learning medicine under Godwin Baxter, defying societal norms.
• Both her passion for public health and advocacy for contraception reflect real reformist causes.
• Her pragmatic marriage to McCandless shows how societal compromise shaped women’s choices.

6. Fiction as a Medium for Reality

Poor Things constantly blurs the line between fiction and reality. McCandless’s exaggerated narrative contrasts with Victoria’s straightforward version, leaving readers unsure whom to trust.

Gray uses this tension to examine how people create narratives to justify emotions or address failures. McCandless’s portrayal of himself as Bella’s savior and Baxter’s tormentor mirrors his envy and unrealized aspirations.

The novel becomes a study in storytelling itself, challenging how histories and facts intertwine with personal perceptions, attitudes, and desires.

Examples

• Victoria directly critiques her husband’s dramatization of her life in her rebuttal.
• McCandless’s distorted version seems influenced by jealousy, particularly regarding Baxter.
• Gray’s decision to frame the story as a found document adds authenticity to the ambiguity.

7. Gothic Themes Addressing Real-World Fears

Gray intertwines themes from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with Victorian fears of societal change. Just as Frankenstein’s creature threatened existing norms, Bella challenges male-centric ideas about women.

By “humanizing” and educating his creation, Baxter offers a counterpoint to Shelley’s careless scientist. Still, the Victorian backdrop heightens the tension between medical, ethical, and social experimentation.

Bella symbolizes emancipation from systemic control, ultimately making readers consider how humans learn and grow both within and against societal rules.

Examples

• Baxter’s deliberate effort to provide Bella with resources contrasts Victor Frankenstein’s neglect.
• Victoria’s rebuttal grounds the novel in tangible societal reform rather than uncanny science.
• Both characters reflect anxieties over altering human structures through unorthodox methods.

8. Satirical Take on Empire and Colonial Ideals

Bella’s travels include encounters with imperialist characters who justify colonialism with evolutionary or religious reasoning. Gray’s humorous yet biting depiction exposes Western moral contradictions.

Gray questions the ethical ramifications of European dominance, forcing Bella—and readers—into an uncomfortable realization of privilege and complicity in oppressive systems.

Bella’s newfound desire to help others stems not just from indignation at colonial injustices but from her broader understanding of societal systems and her role within them.

Examples

• Astley’s “bitter wisdom” philosophy aligns with survival of the fittest ideology.
• Dr. Hooker’s “civilizing mission” reflects authentic Victorian rationales for colonial exploitation.
• Bella confronts suffering directly, such as when trying to aid children in Alexandria.

9. Rebellion Against Conventions

Poor Things constantly undermines typical Victorian narrative styles, defying tropes of idealized womanhood, romantic heroism, and moral absolutism. Bella’s autonomy drives the rejection of male fantasies and societal rules.

Victoria’s multi-faceted accounts act as a testament to women’s resourcefulness and resilience, showcasing a real-world path to empowerment distinct from fictionalized melodrama.

This rebellion against convention challenges readers to rethink accepted norms while laughing at the absurdity of rigid patriarchal systems.

Examples

• Bella leaves McCandless with Wedderburn and thrives despite predatory men.
• Victoria educates herself and becomes a public health advocate despite Victorian restrictions.
• Gray’s inclusion of competing narratives forces readers to question any single truth.

Takeaways

1. Question dominant narratives, especially those that claim to tell the truth, as they often reflect subjective biases.
2. Recognize the importance of educating oneself to challenge societal stereotypes and create meaningful change.
3. Embrace growth and moral responsibility, even if it means abandoning cherished illusions about innocence or simplicity.