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‘It’s a pleasure,’ said Anna. ‘But do you know something? I discovered while you were away that for a lot of people you and I are practically interchangeable.’
‘You’ve only just understood that?’ said Molly, triumphant as always when Anna came up with — as far as she was concerned — facts that were self-evident.
In this relationship a balance had been struck early on: Molly was altogether more worldly-wise than Anna who, for her part, had a superiority of talent.
Anna held her own private views. Now she smiled, admitting that she had been very slow.
‘When we’re so different in every way,’ said Molly, ‘it’s odd. I suppose because we both live the same kind of life — not getting married and so on. That’s all they see.’
‘Free women,’ said Anna, wryly. She added, with an anger new to Molly, so that she earned another quick scrutinizing glance from her friend: ‘They still define us in terms of relationships with men, even the best of them.’
‘Well, we do, don’t we?’ said Molly, rather tart. ‘Well, it’s awfully hard not to,’ she amended, hastily, because of the look of surprise Anna now gave her. There was a short pause, during which the women did not look at each other but reflected that a year apart was a long time, even for an old friendship.
Molly said at last, sighing: ‘Free. Do you know, when I was away, I was thinking about us, and I’ve decided that we’re a completely new type of woman. We must be, surely?’
‘There’s nothing new under the sun,’ said Anna, in an attempt at a German accent. Molly, irritated — she spoke half a dozen languages well — said: ‘There’s nothing new under the sun,’ in a perfect reproduction of a shrewd old woman’s voice, German accented.
Anna grimaced, acknowledging failure. She could not learn languages, and was too self-conscious ever to become somebody else: for a moment Molly had even looked like Mother Sugar, otherwise Mrs Marks, to whom both had gone for psycho-analysis. The reservations both had felt about the solemn and painful ritual were expressed by the pet name, ‘Mother Sugar’; which, as time passed, became a name for much more than a person, and indicated a whole way of looking at life — traditional, rooted, conservative, in spite of its scandalous familiarity with everything amoral. In spite of — that was how Anna and Molly, discussing the ritual, had felt it; recently Anna had been feeling more and more it was because of; and this was one of the things she was looking forward to discussing with her friend.
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About
The Golden Notebook is a collaboration between if:book London and Apt.
Principal funding by Arts Council England.
HarperCollins, the publisher of The Golden Notebook, digitized the book for us and generously gave permission to reproduce it here in its entirety at no cost.
Additional support from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and New York University
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Naomi Alderman November 6th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
The fact that these two women went to the same therapist astonished me! I’d hate to go to the same therapist as any of my friends. Writing this makes me wonder why, though.
I suppose it seems very intimate; sharing a therapist seems to arrange matters so that even therapy can’t quite be a personal space. Never having read the book before, I wonder how this is going to play out across the novel.
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Lenelle Moïse November 7th, 2008 at 12:22 am
I must admit, I also find it disturbing that these two share a therapist and, worse, joke about her together! It seems counterproductive, as far as therapy goes, to mock your analyst/ potential healer…Both women strike me as rather rebellious in this section. They share an impulse to question and perhaps undermine authority. Calling the “shrewd” Mrs. Marks “Mother Sugar,” softens her conservative persona.
I also think it’s interesting that while Anna asserts the position that people find she and Molly “interchangeable,” Molly insists that they are “so different in every way.” Are they, really? Even when they’re drawn to the same therapist?!
I can’t wait to find out.
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Helen Oyeyemi November 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I think having established them as, er, clients of the same therapist is an interesting way of setting them up as sisters, recipients of psychological nurture and instruction from the same mother figure. it makes their monitoring of each other’s speech and behaviour even more understandable - molly as worldly older sister, anna as angular and defensive ‘baby’ sister
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Nona Willis Aronowitz November 9th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
The dynamic that Helen points out–”wordly older sister” and “defensive baby sister”–is spot-on, and the presence of this dynamic rings a little too true for comfort. how many best friends have you had that struggle with this (im)balance of power? jealousy and at least slight competitiveness seems to tinge the vast majority of womens’ best friendships, regardless of how “feminist” and modern they are, and regardless of how they are perceived as “interchangeable” by the outside world. this scene shows a kind of continuity of how an intimate female friendship plays out, despite major societal changes since the publication of this book.
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