Behind the Mask

I found the book, Behind the Mask by Alcott, to be a very boring read. Within the first chapter I knew how the whole book was going to turn out. The story didn't leave much for the reader to try to figure out on their own. Due to this i had no real interest to find out what happened to Muir throughout the story. Within the story Jean Muir is portrayed as an actor that can get all she wants from the people around her. She is very observant and can find peoples weaknesses and twist them to her own little gain. There were only two parts of the book that i found interesting. The first being that she was of such an old age. I didn't see this coming. I thought she was just a young women of the lower class that was trying to get her way and work up the class system. When she reveals that she is an older women that is just hiding behind her makeup and fake hair i was a little surprised. Side note this reminded me of a horror movie The Orphan, in which an older women hides age and looks to get her way. The second interesting thing was how Muir was presented as such a strong woman. Muir is presented in a very feminist light. Where she can get what she wants from men and can do thing on her own. It's almost ironic that Muir is shown as such a strong woman, who is trying to change her class and show that class is not important, and that her ultimate goal and way to achieve this class change is to get married. By her getting married it almost defeats the purpose of showing her as a strong woman throughout the story. Overall it was a boring read and a predictable book, but had a few interesting points that appeared throughout the text.