Normal People: analyse af Sally Rooneys roman

Feeling left out or indifferent is considered normal in our modern society, most people on this earth worry about what other people think of them and their actions, some people might even care about what others think of their relationships, which is also the case in Normal People by Sally Rooney, a novel that came out in 2018 about a popular boy, Connell, feeling his popularity being threatened by Marianne, the outcast.

The story for the most part taking place in Ireland, Tubbercurry to be exact, where Marianne and Connell grew up together, though throughout the story Marianne moves around in Europe, studying abroad in Sweden while Connell only takes trips around Europe. The two of them go through a deep development together, figuring each other and themselves out slowly throughout the whole story.

One of the main characters in the story is Connell, he is afraid of losing his social title in school, if people saw that he was meeting up with the social outcast, Marianne, he believes his life would be over. ‘’He opens the door. Before he left her in, he looks over her shoulder, to make sure that no one has seen her arrive’’ (p. 19, l 8-10). He invited Marianne over even though he knows it is a bad idea -- considering how badly he wants to withhold his popularity.