Good Morning, Midnight Themes

Good Morning, Midnight examines the unpredictable and powerful nature of sadness. By closely following Sasha’s emotional fluctuations as she spends a lonely period in Paris, the novel highlights two things: that sadness often has an illogical way of cropping up in even the most unexpected circumstances, and that it can be nearly impossible to withstand these strong surges of sorrow. For instance, Sasha often finds herself in perfectly pleasant, enjoyable situations in which she’s…

In Good Morning, Midnight, Sasha struggles to be the kind of person she wants to be. She constantly analyzes the way she presents herself to others, usually assuming they think the worst of her. These worries are often tied to her ideas surrounding nationality, as she often feels judged because she’s an English woman living in Paris, worrying that French people see Britons as uptight and uncultured. To be fair, she has good reason…

Good Morning, Midnight illustrates how money can be both powerful and utterly meaningless in a person’s life. In some ways, money transforms Sasha’s life, since there are periods in which she desperately needs cash to support herself. As a result, it’s a big deal whenever she’s able to track down some money to borrow, since doing so allows her to stop constantly worrying about how she’ll get by. In another sense, though, the money…