# data[].attributes.body
Two aspects stood out to me the most in this chapter: the unusual use of parentheses to distinguish a character’s narration style and the subtle but noticeable questioning of identity.

All throughout the chapter, most of Midge’s thoughts were written in between parenthesis to the point that enclosed information became more common than the rest of the freely expressed ideas. It gave her voice a feeling of self-doubt and hesitance as not only did the parentheses denote her necessity to clarify everything she said to the reader, but also interrupted the narration to reassure her own mind. Everything she said in between parentheses felt like a desperate attempt at convincing herself that she was doing great, no matter the terrible position she believed her sister was in. It was a self-centered discourse.

Her unfiltered, blunt and at times disgusting thoughts on Anthea was the most confident part of her exposition, but only because it’s a speech that she thought was socially acceptable. Midge’s mind felt fragile and prejudiced, and her chapter was, frankly, a pain to read.

Second, there was a moment at the beginning where Midge briefly questioned her own sexuality.

“(It is our mother’s fault for splitting up with our father)

(But then if that’s true then I might also be a gay)

(Well obviously that’s not true then, that’s not true at all)

(I am definitely, definitely not a gay)

(I definitely like men)

(But so does she. So did she. She had that boyfriend, Dave…”

Notice that the entire excerpt was written in between parenthesis. This literary choice could reflect her uncertainty on the matter and the desire to hide her feelings in between brackets because it hinders exposure. Her answers to whether she is also gay are doubts disguised as statements, self-reassurance masked as beliefs. Not only is the real meaning profusely ambiguous regarding the word choice and tone alone, but also in the way these thoughts are (framed).

# data[].attributes.body
"Oh my God my sister is a '', it is a very strong quote as it is treated several times in the chapter, and it is referred to midge's sister. midge is characterisize as a homophobic person. which annoys the reader very much, at least i was. she says that thinking that being gay is a sin, is a crime is soething unforgivable, and something that culd change. also midge always uses

'a' referring to the person as a thing, not as a person with emotions, feelings and personality. (miss i had to take a break while reading the chapter as i was so annoyed).

# data[].attributes.body
In this chapter, the reader faces Midge’s conflicted thoughts and opinions as she grasps the reality of her sister’s sexuality. It is evident that she is not able to fully understand what sexualities other than heterosexual consist of, seemingly blaming her sister’s sexuality on different factors from when she was growing up, from her personality. A clear example would be when, in her parenthetical thoughts, she begins blaming the Spice Girls, blames it on her sister’s feminist stance, amongst other things that seem nonsensical to the reader (such as claiming that she should have known all along because she liked songs that used ‘I’ and ‘you’, instead of ‘he’ and ‘I’, which of course has nothing to do with sexuality). As she battles with accepting her sister, the reader can see how she struggles with thinking of Anthea as ‘right’ and ‘okay’, sometimes thinking of her as ‘wrong’ and ‘unnatural’, although it can be appreciated that she is genuinely trying to accept her.

This chapter, besides bringing about Midge’s conflicted thoughts about Anthea’s sexuality, shows Midge’s current character much more clearly, making the reader form a solid opinion on her character. In her internal monologue, the reader can see that Midge is a hardworking and ambitious woman, albeit too focused on her pay as a way to check on her success. However, the second that she is with her male coworkers, it feels as though Midge begins to hide, showing a very weak personality, a façade. She complies with their demands, not putting up a fight when they pressure her into drinking despite the fact she very clearly does not want to. She lets them mock her and ridicule her, get her drunk, and does not even defend her little sister when they badmouth her, even if it is indirectly. Not even in her internal monologue does she defend her. Instead, she begins to agree with them, and thinking horrible things about Anthea. Even while drunk, Midge undermines Robin, treating her as a dumb and less than human, and mistreats her, either for her sexuality or their relationship in the past, or maybe even both. In short, Midge is a character who, at this point of the story, lacks any substantial depth and cares more about herself and her money than her dignity, health or sister.

Amidst Midge’s conflicted thoughts and problematic behaviour, I found a quote that I, personally, really liked: “The proper for me, Robin Goodman says, is me.” In this quote, Robin shows the reader that they are not defined by any label or standard that society imposes upon them. A person’s identity and self come before their sexual orientation or gender or ethnicity. A lot of times, society tries to impose these labels onto people with the purpose of dehumanising them (such as calling people gay as an insult, or thinking and judging them based only on their sexuality instead of on their character).

# data[].attributes.body
"(They were laughing with outrageous happiness.)

(Neighbours must have seen. It was broad daylight.)

(I might have to move house.)”

I think this quote is important in this chapter as it shows who Midge is as a person. In simplest terms, it shows that Midge sees her sister laughing, happy, and all she can think is herself and what people will think of her because of it. Throughout the chapter we get to see her constant stream of thought, a lot of which to me seems close minded and ignorant. I think this quote somehow sums up the whole chapter. It shows how she can’t be happy for her sister, even for a moment, because all she can think about is how it will affect her. It shows that her main concern is other people’s opinions, which is clear throughout the chapter. For example, when she goes out with Brian and Dominic, two particularly stereotypical, disgusting men, she goes along with their jokes and drinks an entire bottle of wine even though she didn’t want to, all because she is concerned about what they'll think of her and whether they’ll like her. The last sentence of this quote shows just how far she is willing to go to maintain the approval of practically anyone she sees/knows/knows of. We may not know how serious she is when she says she “might have to move house”, but to even think something like that is already troubling in this context. I think the use of the word “have” is important in this sentence as it shows she does not see it as an option, it would be her only choice. It shows how the thought of her neighbours, people she probably doesn’t really have a relationship with, thinking anything even slightly negative about her would leave her with no choice but to move. This thought process is ridiculous. Personally I find Midge’s character to be a little sad, I almost feel bad for her. She is constantly seeking the approval of others, puts herself in situations she is uncomfortable in because she thinks it’ll make people like her. If she weren’t so ignorant, I might feel bad for her, but after reading the first chapter we know that she grew up surrounded by open-minded people who tried to pass on their values and experiences to shape both Midge and Anthea into accepting and open minded individuals. The fact that Anthea managed to learn these things and Midge didn’t makes me feel practically no compassion for her. It is one thing to be ignorant because you know no better, it is not acceptable, but at least it means you can still learn otherwise. It is another to know otherwise and choose to be ignorant.

# data[].attributes.body
In this chapter, I believe that Smith is able to not only characterize Midge or Imogen and her more squared way of thinking, but also through the introduction of her mind and thought process, show how there is a constant need for labeling and classifying things and people in society, even if it is at an unconscious level. Imogen, although raised with barrier-breaking grandparents, who challenge stereotypes, has never felt comfortable with this idea that there is an in between regarding gender, that it is not a straight line, rather a circle. This can be clearly seen in the chapter, the first sentence she ever says to the reader being "Oh my God my sister is A GAY". Notice how the use of a pronoun can transmit Imogen's view on Anthea, her sister has passed from being, in her view, a regular person to something else, as if it were a monster or an object. She is also immediately putting Anthea in a specific group, as if she isn't her own person.

Throughout the chapter, she is mentally wrestling with her sister’s supposed transformation from being ‘straight’ to ‘lesbian’, and has been struggling to ‘name’ her sister, to find a category into which she can she can place her. Therefore, she goes to Robin. In her mind, the fact that Robin has an androgynous name means that he can tell her how everyone would like to e called. Imogen asks Robin to tell her what the ‘correct’ word for her is ("I need to know it. I need to know the proper word."), to which Robin replies, "The proper word for me… is me." Through Imogen, Smith is exploring the desire to classify; she is not trying to impose heterosexuality here, but is looking for a definition, and in doing so shows the reader the inadequacies of language to do this. --> there is also this idea of political correctness and taking it to another extreme, when the only thing Robin and Anthea want is to be recognized and loved no matter what.

# data[].attributes.body
"(I am sitting in the same room as a)" I find this quote very important since we notice that she is actually aware of the fact that she is in a room with someone who is gay. It's like it's not something natural for her, she's probably been in thousands of rooms with someone gay, but now that she is aware that the person with her is one, she can't stop thinking about it. She finds it weird and strange, and I find it interesting how in some parts her thought just ends with 'a' instead of 'a gay', as if she didn't dare to think about the word.

# data[].attributes.body
Towards the end of Chapter "YOU", Midge goes back home after having been out drinking with some co-workers. When she gets back, she finds that Robin is on the couch reading a book. Midge is "too drunk and dizzy to make out the cover of the book". Robin greets her, and all Midge can think about is the fact that she and her sister are "gays". Midge is so disgusted by "gay" people she can't even think the word. The word is skipped in her thoughts. While standing across from Robin, all Midge can think is "my sister is a ", and that she is "sitting in the same room as ". Midge thinks of gay people as if they were a completely different species. Midge wants to be ok with the fact that her sister is dating a girl, but she can't help her prejudice against "gays". Throughout the chapter, Midge keeps repeating to herself "I'm not upset. I'm not upset.", although she clearly is. Midge is both ignorant and curious about the lbgtq+ community. She considers anyone that is not "a normal person" to be "a gay". At the same time though, at the end of the chapter, Midge drunkenly asks Robin "what's the correct word for it, I mean for you? I need to know it. I need to know the proper word". This question reinforces the fact that Midge considers Robin to be a different species and shows Midge's desperation at knowing what exactly Robin "is".  In this chapter we can see that although Midge is clearly extremely ignorant and prejudice against the lbgtq+ community, she is curious, and may have some, although slight, interest in changing her mindset in the future.

# data[].attributes.body
"I am definetely, definetly not a gay". This is what Midge said after finding out her sister was gay since she liked a boy who was a girl. This quote is important to show the reaction of Midge. She starts to question whos fault was it and if she was gay too. This shows her homophobic thoughts towards her own sister, and as we are reading from Midge's point of view we can now know what she is actually thinking. If she accepts her sexual preferences or keep having this conflicting thoughts is only up to her to change.

# data[].attributes.body
“No, I say. I mean, what's the correct word for it, I mean for you? “ This is a quote said by Midge at the end of the chapter where it can be clearly seen the homofobic attitude Midge has for Robin. I choose this quote because she is actually speaking with Robin, not about her, but face to face like confronting her. She seems to be challenging her and asking her what is the correct word for her, which suggests she’s been using the “wrong” word for ‘it’. When she says “for you”, it sounds like she is dividing them, Midge is on the normal people side and Robin is on the abnormal side. She is clearly drawing a line between them based on their likes and opinions,which is therefore discriminating against her. She treats Robin as something that is far away from her, something from another planet and unusual

# data[].attributes.headline
PazIn this chapter, we see the story unfold though Midge's perspective. The writing of this chapter shows to a higher extent that the text is more of a continuous line of thought. Midge seems to have trouble with the fact that her sister, Anthea, is not heterosexual. She is characterized as a very closed-minded person, this new side of her sister is something Midge does not want to accept, she mentions some of Anthea’s ex-boyfriends, “Dave”, “Stuart”, “Andrew”, “Miles”, “Sammy”, “Tony” and “Nicholas”. These name mentions kind of give off a sense of polarization, there is either homosexuality and heterosexuality, nothing in between like bisexuality or pansexuality or any other thing inside the wide spectrum of sexuality. This may make an allusion to the idea of good or bad, in Midge’s mind her sister being lesbian is wrong, she even says she may have to move because the neighbors have seen her sister kissing a girl. And and her idea of heterosexuality being good comes when she doubts her established sexuality and then convinces herself that she “definitely like(s) men” and is relieved by this. Then, Midge starts dissecting and analyzing every thing she can remember from Anthea's life that may have been telltale signs of her newly revealed sex preference. For example: "she was always weird...different...contrary", "it is the fault of the Spice Girls...Sporty Spice", "She was always a bit too feminist", like Midge starts thinking about a whole lot of things that have nothing to do with the reason behind Anthea's homosexuality, this shows that she doesn't really understand what is means for a person to like people from their same sex, so she jumps to conclusions based on an ignorant and foolish stereotype.

# data[].attributes.subject
PazIn this chapter, we see the story unfold though Midge's perspective. The writing of this chapter shows to a higher extent that the text is more of a continuous line of thought. Midge seems to have trouble with the fact that her sister, Anthea, is not heterosexual. She is characterized as a very closed-minded person, this new side of her sister is something Midge does not want to accept, she mentions some of Anthea’s ex-boyfriends, “Dave”, “Stuart”, “Andrew”, “Miles”, “Sammy”, “Tony” and “Nicholas”. These name mentions kind of give off a sense of polarization, there is either homosexuality and heterosexuality, nothing in between like bisexuality or pansexuality or any other thing inside the wide spectrum of sexuality. This may make an allusion to the idea of good or bad, in Midge’s mind her sister being lesbian is wrong, she even says she may have to move because the neighbors have seen her sister kissing a girl. And and her idea of heterosexuality being good comes when she doubts her established sexuality and then convinces herself that she “definitely like(s) men” and is relieved by this. Then, Midge starts dissecting and analyzing every thing she can remember from Anthea's life that may have been telltale signs of her newly revealed sex preference. For example: "she was always weird...different...contrary", "it is the fault of the Spice Girls...Sporty Spice", "She was always a bit too feminist", like Midge starts thinking about a whole lot of things that have nothing to do with the reason behind Anthea's homosexuality, this shows that she doesn't really understand what is means for a person to like people from their same sex, so she jumps to conclusions based on an ignorant and foolish stereotype.