Someone Else's Shoes

Samantha Kemp is the other protagonist, and like Nisha, she is a mother and wife in her forties who deals with significant hardships throughout the novel. Yet in most other ways, Sam is a complete foil to Nisha. Sam is the breadwinner of her family and works hard without recognition as a salesperson at Uberprint, where she is often belittled by her misogynistic boss. She is struggling with her finances, her career, and her dissolving marriage when she accidentally takes Nisha’s custom Louboutins at the gym, which help her gain the confidence she lacks. In a sharp contrast with Nisha’s core qualities, Sam is primarily characterized by her selflessness and her passivity. Due to her chronic failure to set appropriate boundaries with people, she is chronically exhausted by all the work she must do at home, at her job, and for her family and friends. The implied onset of menopause, given her age, also causes her to dislike her body and, by extension, herself. With all of these issues, the social status afforded her by wearing Nisha’s high-class shoes inspires her to behave more erratically as the novel progresses, until she finally finds the balance she seeks at the story’s conclusion.

This internal transformation from discord to balance is worth noting in detail, for the varied changes that the author imposes upon Sam are ultimately designed to lead her to recognize her own shortcomings, especially once she meets Nisha. References to Sam’s passivity come more frequently as the novel progresses, suggesting that her awareness of her own shortcomings is growing, thus enabling her to improve those aspects about herself that she does not like. Such a drastic transformation takes time, however, and like Nisha, Sam does not truly demonstrate the benefits of multiple internal changes until the story’s climax forces both protagonists to apply their recent lessons in an attempt to solve their mutual problems together. For Sam, seeing Liz put the stray cat in the trash bin serves as a defining philosophical moment, for upon witnessing such undeserved cruelty, she cannot help but see the cat as a symbol for herself, and her sudden realization of how poorly she has allowed herself to be treated causes her to snap, releasing her anger in a long tirade. After this pivotal moment, Sam begins to stand up for herself much more frequently, telling her parents to stop relying on her so much and pursuing a job that she actually wants instead of one she simply endures. Thus, she learns from Nisha and her friends that to take care of others, she must first take care of herself, and she begins to balance her selflessness with a greater sense of self-possession.

Jasmine, a housekeeper at Carl’s hotel, is a kind and generous woman who takes Nisha in when no one else will help her. Although she has little of her own, being a single mother with multiple jobs and a small apartment, she consistently shows compassion for Nisha, even when she barely knows her. Despite her troubles, Jasmine has one of the brightest outlooks of all the novel’s characters. Given the poor dynamics of her marriage and of her distant past, Nisha is particularly surprised by Jasmine’s warm, welcoming behavior for everyone around her, even going so far as to show forgiveness and acceptance to Nisha during her most selfish and unthinking moments. Thus, Jasmine demonstrates a steady sense of quiet wisdom, sympathizing with Nisha after learning what Carl has done and treating her new friend’s struggles as seriously as she would her own.

In many ways, Jasmine is often used as a foil to highlight Nisha’s more harmful traits, for she is trusting, kind, and sympathetic even though her life is much more complicated than Nisha’s has been since her marriage. Yet, unlike Sam, Jasmine’s generosity does not come at as much of a cost to her self-worth. Jasmine is tough and is not afraid to stand up to Nisha or others who do her wrong. She is much less impulsive than Nisha, always looking several steps ahead and playing the long game rather than acting solely based on her emotions without considering the consequences. Not only does she teach Nisha to trust others and let them help her, but she also shows her the importance of taking others into consideration and putting people first, rather than things.

Phil is Sam’s husband of several years, with whom she has one daughter, Cat. Prior to the beginning of the story, Phil had lost his job and his father within six months of one another. Phil’s depression weighs on him greatly throughout the novel, although he initially refuses to do anything about it. Most days, Phil lies on the couch watching TV, unable to leave the house or apply for work due to his depression. It is primarily due to Phil’s depression that Sam must take on all the work in their house, and his lack of interest in her is partly to blame for her decision to seek the attentions of another man. Similar to his wife, Phil is also characterized by his passivity toward his own daily life, though unlike Sam, it is clear that his failure to take charge of his own life stems not from insecurity but from the ongoing impact of his recent personal losses.

Phil eventually begins to see a therapist, and it is in the chapters that touch on his therapy sections that readers begin to learn how he actually feels about his life and his marriage. After a few sessions, he tells his therapist about how his father asked Phil to end his life because he was in too much pain and did not want to appear weak in front of his wife. Because Phil’s father dies while essentially begging his son to assist in his suicide, the nature of Phil’s resulting grief and trauma is shown to be particularly complex, further explaining his actions to date. With this particular revelation, the author intensifies Phil’s emotional issues beyond the realm of depression and raises sympathy for the character’s difficulties, for Phil is struggling to process emotions far more nuanced than grief alone. Phil’s therapy sessions also reveal his true feelings about Sam and his fears that her possible infidelity may be somewhat justified by his recent behavior. Yet, despite this inner realization, Phil nonetheless chooses hostile silence when faced with proof of Sam’s infidelity, hiding the all-important Louboutins that he knows she wore when meeting with another man. By the end of the novel, however, Phil begins to understand how his recent actions have impacted his family. After leaving Sam for a few days, he returns home and promises to treat her better, revealing that he has also been working on himself in therapy and by taking his antidepressants.