“I want Sadie back.”

I have a lot of feelings about so simple a sentiment and I am going to present them in an internet friendly numbered list:

1. This is yet another reflection of how shallow and stagnant Marie is. Like at the end of act 1 we see how Marie tours the continent to see new things and receive shallow entertainment. There’s no consideration of anyone else or their feelings in the spectacle that happens at the sugar factory any more than there ever was about the dead maid. She isn’t thinking about anyone but herself when she wants Sadie home either.

2. In its way, this is an act of possession; Marie doesn’t see servants and is content to walk around almost entirely undressed around them because they aren’t real people. Here, in a way, I don’t think she’s treating Sadie like one either; right before she decides Philip can court her if it returns Sadie to her, she talks about how she thought Sadie would be unattainable to her and surprised by her friendship she was. There’s something real between them in a way nothing else in Marie’s life has ever had, but the internal monologue is only about Marie. There’s no consideration of where Sadie has been or if she’s even the same Sadie anymore. She wants HER Sadie back. Which brings me to point 3.

3. Sadie isn’t Sadie anymore. Not the way Marie knew her to be. When they last saw each other, they were little girls living insular lives without ever understanding or feeling something like real friendship before. They’ve both had experiences since they last saw each other but only one of them has really changed; Sadie has had broadening—though maybe not bettering per se—learning moments and has connected with other girls in a world an ocean away. Bringing Sadie back isn’t actually bringing Sadie back, not the way Marie must imagine. Which brings me to point 4.

4. I don’t foresee this reunion ending well, but I am seated for the inevitable disaster regardless.

This is my novel I have a lot of feelings I wasn’t expecting from so simple a thought.