The Devil Wears Prada

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-19

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 6-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 6 Summary

Andy returns to Connecticut to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her parents; her sister, Jill; and Jill’s husband, Kyle. She tries to explain to the family what she does at the magazine, but they have only a dim understanding, except for Andy’s sister:

Jill rolled her eyes and shot me a look as if to say, Cut the bullshit, Andy. We all know you’re probably working for a psycho bitch surrounded by anorexic fashionistas and are trying to paint this really rosy picture because you’re worried you’re in over your head (78).

In mid-December, one of Miranda’s many faux crises embroils Andy. The editor demands a copy of the new Harry Potter book for her twin daughters two days before its release. Andy must call the publisher and scramble to send the books to Miranda in Paris via a private plane. Over the weekend, Andy receives an icy phone call claiming that the books didn’t arrive.

Another weekend is ruined as Andy frantically traces the shipment. As it turns out, only one book was sent, but it did arrive on time. Miranda’s message was deliberately misleading. Andy thinks, “She’d called to drive me a little crazier, push me a little bit harder. She’d called to dare me to defy her. She’d called to make me hate her that much more” (101).

Chapter 7 Summary

After spending New Year’s Eve with her flamboyant best friend, Lily, Andy is glad to be back at work. By now, Emily has told her all of Miranda’s likes and dislikes. Andy says, “I felt there was nothing I did not know about Miranda Priestly. Except, of course, what exactly made her so important that I’d filled a legal pad with likes and dislikes. Why, exactly, was I supposed to care?” (105).

Even though she isn’t due back in the office until the following week, Miranda decides to come in unexpectedly. The staff receives an alert that they have 10 minutes to prepare before she arrives. Everyone is in a panic to make sure all Miranda’s quirks about her office setup have been met down to the last detail. When the editor arrives, she stays for only a few minutes before leaving for the day. Andy says:

That was that. She left. And the visit that had inspired office-wide panic, frenzied preparations, even makeup and wardrobe adjustments, had lasted just under four minutes, and had taken place—as far as my inexperienced eyes could see—for absolutely no reason whatsoever (114).

Chapter 8 Summary

A gay man in the office named James befriends Andy and invites her to attend a star-studded party with him. She decides to go after Alex is forced to cancel their date. Emily reminds Andy that she can’t leave for the party until the Book is delivered to Miranda’s townhouse. The Book is a mock-up of the current edition of Runway. It takes the staff an entire day to prepare it so that Miranda can review it each night.

Delivering the Book has strict rules. One is that it must silently be placed on a foyer table. The family is at dinner when Andy arrives, and she makes the mistake of drawing their attention. Miranda frostily tells her that she won’t tolerate interruptions and deliberately addresses Andy as Emily. The assistant thinks, “That bitch! The first time she called me Emily could’ve been a mistake, but the second was undoubtedly deliberate. What better way to belittle and marginalize someone than to insist on calling them the wrong name” (121).

Later, at the party, Andy shakes off her anger and is thrilled to meet several celebrities, including a rising literary star named Christian Collinsworth. He flirts with her, and Andy finds herself drawn to him despite her relationship with Alex.

Chapters 6-8 Analysis

In these chapters, the reader gets a clear sense of Miranda’s character and its rage-inducing consequences for Andy. The telephone as an implement of torture features prominently because Miranda is on vacation during the entire sequence—but that doesn’t prevent her from calling her assistants to create one crisis after another.

Perfectly illustrating Miranda’s narcissism is her demand that Andy find a way to get exclusive access to a yet-unpublished Harry Potter book. Miranda never considers waiting for the book to arrive in bookstores. Her sense of entitlement is so extreme that she requires a chartered plane specially to fly the books to her in Paris.

Of greater significance than Miranda’s demanding behavior is the fact that she uses her demands to belittle her staff. She deliberately blames Andy when the delivery includes only one book instead of two. Likewise, Miranda shows up in the office a week ahead of schedule and—although she stays only four minutes—throws the staff into a panic. Apparently, the point of the exercise is to terrorize her employees into remembering who the boss is.

While this sequence focuses mostly on the theme of Miranda’s narcissism, its portrayal is in counterpoint to the theme of a devil’s bargain. The reader sees Andy’s bedazzlement at the designer clothing, extravagant lifestyles, and access to celebrities that the fashion world enables her to experience. When she goes to an A-list party with a co-worker, she rubs elbows with movie stars and is even more impressed when she meets Christian, a rising literary star—who may be as narcissistic as Miranda and seems to offer Andy a different kind of devil’s bargain. At this point in the story, she seems tempted to accept.