Sophie and Natasha’s Feelings
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It is described that the settings used in the novel are London and other small cities around England in the modern era where a person will be more respected if he
or she is included in upper – middle social class. So those who are popular because of rich and get a great job will live wealthily and have higher lifestyle since living in
London costs much money. And it is common for having drinks or hanging out after work with friends in a restaurant or café and even in a pub. It is described from the
quotations as follow: Finding somewhere that was actually in Greater London and cost less then a
hundred pounds a week was a bit like looking for a morris-dancing Greenlander. Places that fell into the category tended to be accompanied by
ominous warnings like ‘Christians preferred’ or ‘Strict vegans only’. 194- 195
“Well, we did have four glasses of champagne,” Sophie reasoned. “And” – she leaned over to see the evidence – “you had two lagers before I got here.
And this is London.” ….
Sounded OK to her, after all it was practically impossible to dine out in London without spending at least thirty pounds a head. 225
Unlike Natasha who is used to getting along with many famous and important people in her work, Sophie is used to hanging out with her friends who are only her
partners in her office. She rarely gets along with people from the upper class such as from the governance or well known university who are Olly’s friends. And being a
friend of them makes Sophie feel proud of herself. Sophie realized she was having a really nice time. Alice and Sean weren’t the
kind of people she’d normally hang out with: both way too square with all their talk about choir practice and book groups, but they were very nice and
they obviously adored Olly. Maybe if Sophie had gone to university she could have had a gang of friends like this, she thought wistfully. 279
Different from Eastern culture in which women seldom and shouldn’t smoke,
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in Western culture women get the same right to smoke as men have. It can be seen in the novel that Sophie is described as a smoking woman. Another example is having a
baby without getting married is common for people who live in London. The society in Western culture does not take a deep problem in it and even in abortion. It is
proved by what Sophie says to Natasha in the quotation below: “Would you really have an abortion just to keep him happy? Why can’t you
keep the baby? We’re living in London in the twenty-first century. It’d work out fine.” 343
From have been quoted above, it can be analyzed that environment, including the society, can influence one’s self-identity. In the novel, it implicitly tells that Sophie
and Natasha always try to adapt themselves in order that they can live within the society. Both of them follow the upper – middle life style class such as wearing well-
known designed dress, hanging out after work, having drinks with friends, and going to famous restaurant and pub.