Lots of talk about this earlier in the forum, including my own thoughts that Marie behaves like everyone around her is a character in her life. In a bad way.

Now, ”Marie kept crying when she thought of Sadie and the exile she’d caused. Perhaps her love was poisonous. Perhaps every time Marie tried to express her love, it would end up harming the object of her affection. She had gone through so much effort to get Sadie back to Montreal. She would have preferred Sadie were still in Europe than be here but lost to her.”

This passage does a lot for me to solidify Marie as self absorbed and reeking with privilege. Instead of being able to acknowledge that her own life is one that protects her every move and excuses her every action, or perhaps acknowledging her behavior toward other people, clearly viewing servants as less than, Marie tells herself that she is simply a poisonous person. She talks about Sadie like her entire life must revolve around her relationships with Marie. Her misery must be caused by her love for Marie. For no other reason would Sadie return to Montreal, for no other reason would Sadie act differently.

I’m very interested to continue listening to this unfold. I would be interested to see Marie’s perception of the Squalid Mile in real time. I relate very much to Sadie’s feelings of belonging as an artist among a “dirty” city (in many meanings). I wonder what Marie thinks of public over indulgence, particularly thinking about her walking around skyclad because she views her servants as less human than herself.