Character Analysis Of Pauline In NW By Zadie Smith

The major characters in NW by Zadie Smith are obviously in the spotlight; however, it’s the minor characters that help us to understand the main characters. One of the best examples of this is Leah’s mother, Pauline. Throughout the duration of the novel we get to see multiple interactions between Pauline and Leah that shed some light on Leah. With most of the action happening to the main characters it is rare to have another character that has the authority such as Pauline. Just when you feel that Leah is a grown-up and makes her own decisions, her mother comes into play and gives us a reality check. Pauline is very blunt in the way she says things and this had to have a negative effect on Leah over the years. Her character stays the same

Later in the novel Leah and Pauline go shopping and pass a familiar face on their way. On their walk they pass a man begging for money who is selling a train fare card. One of the first things brought to my attention was the fact that Pauline was negotiating with a man begging for money: “Ill give you two pound, no more” (49). The earlier account of Leah giving Shar is the exact opposite of this event. Leah ends up knowing the man and later finds out that he had a crush on her in high school. The contrast between Leah and Pauline is very interesting because they are complete opposites when it comes to dealing with helping others. Leah is very open and willing to help other and Pauline is much more reserved and hesitant to hand out money. This trend of Leah reaching out to help others continues throughout the novel. The most common time we see this is interactions between Shar and leah. In ch. 13 and 14 when Leah spots Shar with a black eye, Leah takes interest. Shar admits to stealing her money and tell Leah that she is a drug addict. Even after the confession Leah still offers to help her. There seems to be a weird connection between Leah and Shar and I feel like Leahs mother has something to do with that

This is a very interesting dynamic because there seems to be the same issue between Pauline and Leah. This mistrust all seems to stem from Pauline because she is probably very blunt with Michel as well. A poor relationship with a mother-in-law can really throw a wrench into a relationship. This could be another cause of resentment towards Pauline from Leah. There is no real reason for Pauline not to like Michel because he is good to Leah and he has never had any issues that would make her resent him. This is a great example of how Pauline sheds light other chracters. Without this interaction we would not know if Michel had done something that had caused this type of disparity towards