Chapter 1……..I am starting again. This time I want to take in more than just the basic plot and fall in love with Christian Grey. I want to know what it is about the story that is so appealing and to understand how each character ticks.

When we first meet Anastasia, we see that she already has quite critical of herself, she is panicking that her hair doesn’t quite go right and that she has been thrown into this interview by her best friend Katherine Kavanagh. We are also given the impression that Ana is a regular down to earth person, just like you or me, trying to remind herself not to sleep with her hair wet, how many times have we all done this?

We should also notice at this point Ana describes Christian as “some mega-industrialist tycoon I’ve never heard of” , and says “I know nothing about him” . This has the effect of emphasising just how gorgeous and intimidating Christian must have been to have the effect he does on Ana when they first meet, if she had been aware of his traits then their meeting would have been far less intense.

Ana also makes the effort to tell us how attractive her room-mate Katherine Kavanagh is, this I think is to push home the fact that it was her and not Ana who should have interviewed Christian. What a different story we would have had. Katherine already knew Christian was handsome, rich and mega succesful, so was impressed without even meeting him. Further into the book we realise that Christian does not find Katherine Kavanagh in least bit attractive and this makes the fact he wants Ana, the underdog, a regular girl, a lot more appealing. If it could happen to her then why not any of us. It is the Pretty Woman formula working at its best.

Ana’s introduction of Kate is quite heartwarming, it shows that they are close friends and that Ana would do anything for Kate to make her happy, in return it would seem that Ana has had a more comfortable life in University, regarding living arrangements, courtesy of Kate’s family. In fact I think it shows Ana’s vulnerability, Kate is pushy and she is aware that Ana has a soft spot for her. It is a side of Ana we see many times in the books.

So there we have it, Ana is setting off for her first meeting with the fabulous Mr Grey, unaware of the impact he will have on her life.  Ana slightly  vulnerable, pushy Kate and Christian yet to be introduced.

“She’s articulate, strong, persuasive, argumentative, beautiful-and she’s my dearest, dearest friend”  – Anastasia Steele

Laters Baby