Sarah Pocock Timeline and Summary

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• Sarah shows up in Paris halfway through The Ambassadors. She's been sent by her mother to find out what's been delaying Strether so much.
• When she gets there, she realizes that Strether has fallen in love with the Paris lifestyle and from how it looks she has no choice but to despise him for it.
• Sarah agrees to go around Paris with Chad and meet all of his friends. She has one particular meeting with Madame de Vionnet that is not her favorite moment. She has a lot of confidence in her conversational skills, but Madame just chitchats in circles around her.
• Sorry, Sarah. But there's a whole big world outside of Woollett, Massachusetts.
• During her time in Paris, Sarah also forms a close friendship with Waymarsh, probably because they're both really grumpy.
• They go out to dinner together and make a secret plan to go see the circus. Everyone thinks this is weird, but unfortunately we never hear too much about it.
• Frustrated, Sarah explodes on Strether while they're alone and says that Chad's transformation has been hideous. She also thinks Madame de Vionnet is a terrible woman.
• At this point, Strether knows there's no hope for Sarah. She's in total denial and will never admit to how narrow and prejudiced her worldview is.
• Sarah decides to leave Paris and gives Strether an ultimatum: come home now or you're through with the Newsomes. Strether asks for more time, and Sarah is so insulted that it looks like she's going to spontaneously combust. Or at least, that things are over between Strether and her mother.
• Sarah leaves for Switzerland with her husband and his sister-in-law, and Waymarsh and Bilham tag along too. We're not sure what Waymarsh is doing with them, but there's a little hint that an adulterous romance might be forming between them.
• Which, of course, would make Sarah and Waymarsh the biggest hypocrites in the world. If you just silently went "ha!", you may not be alone.