How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
There were too many people rushing past, laughing and shouting, far too much noise and jostling. Sophie felt as if the past months of sitting and sewing had turned her into an old woman or a semi-invalid. She gathered her shawl around her and crept along close to the houses, trying to avoid being trodden on by people's best shoes or being jabbed by elbows in trailing silk sleeves. (1.42)
Sophie's views of old women before she actually becomes one are pretty prejudiced: she feels like she has turned into an old woman on the inside because she spends all of her time working inside and she has grown shy and unused to crowds. Her expectation seems to be that this is what old women do: stay inside and pay no attention to the outside world. Of course, she's got a lesson coming to her…
Quote #2
Sophie got herself to the mirror, and found that she had to hobble. The face in the mirror was quite calm, because it was what she expected to see. It was the face of a gaunt old woman, withered and brownish, surrounded by wispy white hair. Her own eyes, yellow and watery, stared out at her, looking rather tragic.
"Don't worry, old thing," Sophie said to the face. "You look quite healthy. Besides, this is much more like you really are." (2.56-57)
Sophie seems to feel this odd sense of inevitability about her transformation, like of course she is an old woman on the outside now. She seems to think that her outer face now matches her insides a lot better than her young face did. Oddly enough though, it's when Sophie looks old on the outside that she stops caring so much about what's proper and starts doing what she really wants. Do you think that there is a real, natural difference in the ways that old and young people tend to behave?
Quote #3
As a girl, Sophie was scared of all dogs. Even as an old woman, she was quite alarmed by the two rows of white fangs in the creature's open jaws. But she said to herself, "The way I am now, it's scarcely worth worrying about," and felt in her sewing pocket for her scissors. She reached into the hedge with the scissors and sawed away at the rope round the dog's neck. (2.66)
Sophie becomes a startlingly brave old woman, and she uses her old age as a chance to lose some of her hang-ups and inhibitions. Do you think that Sophie is specifically and unusually affected by old age, or do you think there are ways in which older people can be braver or less socially anxious than younger people? Why do you think Jones chose this particular form of transformation, instead of, say, turning Sophie into a guy or a ferret or a cat or whatever else she might have used?