Characterization of Grace

Grace is the main character of the novel extract “Grace” by Philipp Meyer. Grace has arthritis, which she presumably inherited from her grandmother: “nearly any change in the weather hurt her hands; she could only manage five or six hours a day sewing before they fixed themselves shut into claws”. However, Grace might have developed a “repetitive stress injury”, according to the words of a union organizer who once visited Grace’s workplace. 

Grace has a son, Billy, who is the main suspect in a murder investigation. 

At the time of the narrative, Grace works as a seamstress for a man named Steiner, who has a shop set in Brownsville. Because of her condition, Grace works “strange hours”, but is content to have a job to go to even though she is underpaid. Grace and her co-workers are aware that Steiner pays “Brownsville wages” and...