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Gray
Sophie is a childhood friend of Larry, Isabel, and Gray from Chicago. Not long after she gets married, her husband and baby are killed by a drunk driver. Sophie falls into despair and becomes addicted to drugs and alcohol, which leads her in-laws to kick her out of their house because they believe she is tarnishing their reputation. Larry, Isabel, and Gray run into her many years later in Paris, and Sophie and Larry later become engaged. Because Isabel is still in love with Larry, she sabotages that engagement by tempting Sophie out of sobriety. The novel presents Sophie as a sort of counterpart to Larry, the flip side of the same coin. While both Larry and Sophie experience profound trauma, Larry’s trauma leads him to pursue spiritual insight while Sophie’s leads her to self-destruction. \
Sophie Macdonald Quotes in The Razor’s Edge
The The Razor’s Edge quotes below are all either spoken by Sophie Macdonald or refer to Sophie Macdonald. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 5, Chapter 2
Quotes
“I suppose it was the end of the world for her when her husband and her baby were killed. I suppose she didn’t care what became of her and flung herself into the horrible degradation of drink and promiscuous copulation to get even with life that had treated her so cruelly. She’d lived in heaven and when she lost it she couldn’t put up with the common earth of common men, but in despair plunged headlong into hell. I can imagine that if she couldn’t drink the nectar of the gods any more she thought she might as well drink bathroom gin.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“Sophie wallows in the gutter because she likes it. Other women have lost their husbands and children. It wasn’t that that made her evil. Evil doesn’t spring from good. The evil was there always. When that motor accident broke her defenses it set her free to be herself. Don’t waste your pity on her; she’s now at heart what she always has been.”
Part 7, Chapter 3
Quotes
“The idea came to me when Uncle Elliott made all that fuss about this damned Polish liqueur. I thought it beastly, but I pretended it was the most wonderful stuff I’d ever tasted. I was certain that if [Sophie] got a chance she’d never have the strength to resist. That’s why I took her to the dress show. That’s why I offered to make her a present of her wedding dress. That day, when she was going to have the last fitting, I told Antoine I’d have the zubrovka [the Polish liqueur] after lunch and then I told him I was expecting a lady and to ask her to wait and offer her some coffee and to leave the liqueur in case she fancied a glass.”
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Sophie Macdonald Quotes in The Razor’s Edge
The The Razor’s Edge quotes below are all either spoken by Sophie Macdonald or refer to Sophie Macdonald. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 5, Chapter 2
Quotes
“I suppose it was the end of the world for her when her husband and her baby were killed. I suppose she didn’t care what became of her and flung herself into the horrible degradation of drink and promiscuous copulation to get even with life that had treated her so cruelly. She’d lived in heaven and when she lost it she couldn’t put up with the common earth of common men, but in despair plunged headlong into hell. I can imagine that if she couldn’t drink the nectar of the gods any more she thought she might as well drink bathroom gin.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“Sophie wallows in the gutter because she likes it. Other women have lost their husbands and children. It wasn’t that that made her evil. Evil doesn’t spring from good. The evil was there always. When that motor accident broke her defenses it set her free to be herself. Don’t waste your pity on her; she’s now at heart what she always has been.”
Part 7, Chapter 3
Quotes
“The idea came to me when Uncle Elliott made all that fuss about this damned Polish liqueur. I thought it beastly, but I pretended it was the most wonderful stuff I’d ever tasted. I was certain that if [Sophie] got a chance she’d never have the strength to resist. That’s why I took her to the dress show. That’s why I offered to make her a present of her wedding dress. That day, when she was going to have the last fitting, I told Antoine I’d have the zubrovka [the Polish liqueur] after lunch and then I told him I was expecting a lady and to ask her to wait and offer her some coffee and to leave the liqueur in case she fancied a glass.”
