Rouge: A Novel

Who or what would you describe as the most significant antagonistic force that affects Mirabelle in the novel? What textual evidence supports this?

How is envy portrayed in the novel? How does it relate to the novel’s theme of The Insidious Nature of the Beauty Industry?

The novel includes several references to religion, including Grand-Maman’s Catholicism, descriptions of exfoliation in which skin goes an “unholy red” (27), and parapraxis of “sin” instead of “skin.” What is the significance of religious allusions in the text? How does it relate to the novel’s themes?