'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).

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).

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.

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.