The Devil Wears Prada

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The Devil Wears Prada

In the novel The Devil Wears Prada, Andrea is the main character hired as a personal assistant to a renowned and powerful fashion magazine female editor by the name Miranda (Weisberger 5). The job is not smooth- sailing as she expected since she struggles to live up to her boss’s demeaning requests and grueling schedule. Andrea has her best friend Lily, boyfriend Alex and her family who are in constant care of her welfare. A Yale graduate by the name Chris complicates her relationship with her boyfriend Chris. She manages to overcome all odds and tumultuous time when in the end of the novel gets a job at Elias- Clark building in the company’s other magazines. In The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda’s character helps us better understand Andrea’s nature and character.

Miranda is authoritative and assertive. In the novel, there is an instance where she hurls instructions at Andrea about the whereabouts of her car. She quickly ordered Andrea to pick her daughter by the name Madeleine. Through this characterization, we learn that Andrea respects authority even to some extent fears her senior. When she was called, she had to organize herself, throw away the cigarette that she was smoking and duly respond to the instructions being given over the phone. She did not want to go contrary to her senior’s authority. This is carried throughout the novel in regards to the authoritative nature of Miranda towards her juniors including Andrea.

Miranda was a perfectionist and keen to detail in her approach about everything. This trait rubbed off through Andrea and made her a thorough information gatherer. Several times Miranda did not give full information on the tasks she wanted done and executed properly as per her instructions. This had an impact to Andrea as she set on her way to find all possible information concerning the kind of task she had been given. She became creative in sourcing for the same. For example, when she did not know the whereabouts of Miranda’s car, house and daughter, she had to forge a signature to obtain the car by herself.

Miranda’s character in the novel is brought out as being persistent, hot-tempered and at times annoying. It is said it was either her way or no way in the operations of the fashion magazine towards all the workers under her. She often traded insults; she was demanding and apprehensive without patience. This brought out the tolerance in Andrea’s character and nature. She knew she had to get Miranda’s approval and consequent approval for her to secure a job. This made her tolerant and patient with her boss to ensure she achieved her prime goal of getting the recommendation. She did falter once but it had little effect on her abilities.

Finally, through Miranda’s controllable nature, we learn that Andrea too had a breaking point. During one of Miranda’s outrageous requests, Andrea refused to comply with it. Miranda publicly scolds her and this makes Andrea curse her in return with a full-mouthed word. She is fired on the spot and heads back home to reconnect with family and friends. She is human after all and had had too much of it. Andrea had to realize that she was becoming more like her boss Miranda. In conclusion, the analysis of Miranda’s character gives a proper insight into the nature of Andrea.

Work Cited:

Weisberger, Lauren. The Devil Wears Prada. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print.