Previous
Self-Deception and Honesty
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Sexy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
A key aspect of Miranda’s character and situation in “Sexy” is her social isolation. Even her two major relationships, with her friend Laxmi and lover Dev, appear to have started without any great initiative on Miranda’s part. Even though she occasionally spends time with Laxmi (whom she apparently befriended because they work in neighboring cubicles), she spends the majority of her time outside of work alone, shopping, going to movies, and visiting bookstores. Even after she begins an affair with Dev (mainly because he lingered by the cosmetics counter while she made purchases), an affair that dominates her life for a time, the affair is insulated from any real contact with the outside world. They spend much of their time at Miranda’s house and, on the few occasions when they do go out in public together, are preoccupied with each other.
There is, at the same time, no sense that Miranda feels lonely or is willing to go out of her way to change her life. She tells Dev on one occasion that she moved to Boston in order to be in a place where she knows no one, and there is no indication that she any real interest in meeting anyone. She never speaks up to tell Laxmi the truth about her affair and generally goes along with what her friend wants (like when she agrees to babysit Rohin). And when Miranda changes her mind about dating Dev, she initially resolves to tell him the truth, but ultimately lets the relationship fizzle out, returning to her isolated existence. Nevertheless, the story ends on an ambiguous note, with Miranda sitting outside the Mapparium alone; while it’s implied that she is grieving her failed relationship with Dev, the ending could also be read as hinting that Miranda is cautiously opening up to a wider world. This hint largely confirms just how passive and isolated Miranda has been, however, and how likely she is to remain isolated without a concerted effort to lead a more connected and meaningful life.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme…
Social Isolation, Passivity, and Loneliness ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Social Isolation, Passivity, and Loneliness appears in each chapter of Sexy. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
chapter length:
Chapter
Sexy
Get the entire Sexy LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Social Isolation, Passivity, and Loneliness Quotes in Sexy
Below you will find the important quotes in Sexy related to the theme of Social Isolation, Passivity, and Loneliness.
Sexy Quotes
He said he admired her for moving to Boston, where she knew no one, instead of remaining in Michigan, where she’d grown up and gone to college. When Miranda told him it was nothing to admire, that she’d moved to Boston precisely for that reason, he shook his head. “I know what it’s like to be lonely,” he said, suddenly serious, and at that moment Miranda felt that he understood her—
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“You’re the first,” he told her, admiring her from the bed. “The first woman I’ve known with legs this long.”
Dev was the first to tell her that. Unlike the boys she dated in college, who were simply taller, heavier versions of the ones she dated in high school, Dev was the first always to pay for things, and hold doors open, and reach across a table in a restaurant to kiss her hand. He was the first to bring her a bouquet of flowers so immense she’d had to split it up into all six of her drinking glasses, and the first to whisper her name again and again when they made love.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She kept the lingerie at the back of a drawer, behind her socks and everyday underwear. The silver cocktail dress hung in her closet, the tag dangling from the seam. Often, in the morning, the dress would be in a heap on the floor; the chain straps always slipped off the metal hanger.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Rohin looked at her, his eyes like slits. He struggled to kick the mattress again, but Miranda pressed against him. He fell back on the bed, his back straight as a board. He cupped his hands around his mouth, and then he whispered, “It means loving someone you don’t know.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The third Sunday she got up early and went out for a walk. It was cold but sunny, and so she walked all the way down Commonwealth Avenue, past the restaurants where Dev had kissed her, and then she walked all the way to the Christian Science center. The Mapparium was closed, but she bought a cup of coffee nearby and sat on one of the benches in the plaza outside the church, gazing at its giant pillars and its massive dome, and at the clear-blue sky spread over the city.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
