Samantha+B

Samantha Brown Mr. Kreft Independent Reading 10/16/09   __ Bridget Jones’s Diary __ by Helen Fielding Plot Overview: In the novel, __Bridget Jones’s Diary,__ by Helen Fielding, there is a woman named Bridget who tells her life story in a diary for a year. Almost every day she would write in her diary about her daily drama and how much she “hates” herself. She’d constantly depict her weight and the way she looked, saying she was must be too ugly because she can’t get a man. Bridget Jones was really a beautiful girl (from what her friends described of her) and was very successful. Though she didn’t love her weight and her bad habits (smoking, drinking, and eating unhealthy) she was the only reason for her unhappy lifestyle. Throughout the novel Bridget becomes more understood by the ready and soon loved. She does have a few crushes that are revealed, but one really stands out from them all, Daniel Cleave. He was Bridget’s boss and a very attractive man, but he was a low-class jerk. Bridget gets her heart broken a few times by him and would binge like crazy until she felt happy, but heavy. Then she would start up her dieting again and the cycle would continue. This kept happening until Bridget took the “last straw” with Daniel, when he cheated on her. That moment of sadness changed Bridget’s life. It led her to a new job on TV with her crazy mother and a new man in her life, Mark Darcy. Character List: Bridget Jones- Bridget is a young, successful woman living on her own, seeking a man. She has a lot of insecurities especially with her weight. Throughout the novel she dates a few men, and one surprisingly turns out to be her mate. Mark Darcy- Mark is a very successful man who is a friend of Bridget’s family. Bridget’s mother is constantly trying to set Mark and Bridget up, but fate doesn’t bring them together until the end of the novel when he reveals to Bridget his love for her. Daniel Cleave- Daniel is Bridget’s boss who she also craves for. He is known as a “dog” and tricks Bridget into thinking they’re meant for each other when really he is unfaithful. Important Quotation Explained:  1. “Yes, why aren’t you married yet, Bridget?” sneered Woney… This quotation is very important because it is one of many questions that were asked towards Bridget. Everyone always hounded Bridget with the dating questions wondering when she would finally slow down with working and get a man. This question always depressed her, but this story wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t asked.  2. “Honey,” said the woman, in an American accent, looking over my head at him. “I thought you said she was thin.” The American speaking in this line is the woman who Daniel Cleave, Bridget’s boss and lover, was cheating with. Bridget suspected it many times while they were dating and one day finally had the courage to run up to his apartment and find out for herself. The night she found the woman on Daniel’s rooftop was the night he was supposed to go to Bridget’s family gathering but instead he was too “busy with work”. This was Bridget’s big turning point in the novel which led her to a better, more successful and happy life.  3. “Will you have dinner with me, Bridget?” he said abruptly, and rather crossly, as if he was going to sit me down at a table somewhere and tell me off. Bridget was very shocked when she heard this coming out of the mouth of family friend, Mark Darcy. For many years she thought he was weird and only ever talked about books with Bridget. She also didn’t quite like him because her family always tried to set the two up and he acted snobby, when really he was just too shy to talk to her. Mark Darcy’s secret to his behavior was because he knew Daniel Cleave and how rotten he was. Mark’s wife had an affair with Daniel Cleave, ruining Mark’s life. Once he heard Daniel and Bridget were dating he wanted her to get out of that relationship immediately because he had feelings for Bridget and knew that if she would stay with Daniel any longer then he would hurt her…and well, he did. Study Questions & Essay Topics:  1. Does Bridget get away from Daniel Cleave? If so, how? Bridget Jones does get away from Daniel Cleave even though it was hard for her. Since she has been working with him, he’s done nothing but play mind games with her, especially sexually. Bridget falls in love with him, but has sudden thoughts of him cheating on her. In the end her thoughts led her to the right hypothesis. In order to get away from him entirely, Bridget gets a job with her mother on TV.  2. Does Bridget ever reach her goal weight? Throughout the novel Bridget has been trying to lose weight because she thinks she’s fat and “flabby”. All of her friends tell her different even if they’re just trying to be nice. The heaviest she weighed was approx. 131 lbs. but she did get it down to a solid 119 lbs. At that point her friends told her she looked sick, and though she felt great she knew she wasn’t healthy. By the end of the novel Bridget realizes that as long as she’s happy, there’s no need to watch her weight, because it was only bringing her down.  3. Who does Bridget end up dating, and why is it so significant? In the beginning Bridget didn’t know what was wrong with her and her sex life, but she did fall in love with a man, her boss, Daniel Cleave. Until the day he was unfaithful to her she had since moved on to her family friend, Mark Darcy. This was significant because Bridget used to think that Mark Darcy was just some snobby, rich, dorky man who didn’t care about women. After so many “Turkey Curry Buffet’s” at her family’s house and random “get-togethers”, he later reveals to her that he’s always been in love with her but too shy to let her know because he was afraid that she wouldn’t be into him. Now both Bridget and Mark are living happily together.