BA#4 Alice Munro's The Jack Randal Hotel

1. One secret that is being kept is that Gail is really Ms. Thornebe and is writing to Will. This is kept throughout most of the story and is what causes Will to go to the hotel that Gail is staying at to see her. The secret is told to the reader and is only kept from other characters, mainly Will, in the novel. We realize that a secret is being held on page 171 when we see that the letter Will had written says "Return to Sender, Died Sept. 13th". We see that she has died and learn that Gail is going to take her identity so she can write to Will.
2. This secret reminds me of the the short story Carried Away where Louisa was writing letters to her secret lover. It is the same basic idea that both women have lovers who don't know, or can't know their true identity. Louisa has never really met the man she writes to and Gail can't let Will know that it is her writing. Both women are struggling to form relationships from letters.
3. This secret is very important to understanding the story because it is Gail's reason for leaving and returning home. She leaves home to find Will and ends up writing him letters. When he finds out it's her she returns home so she doesn't have to face him. If the reader did not understand this secret, they would not understand the novel.