Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

One of the novel’s three protagonists, Sadie Green is a beautiful, brilliant game designer and a guest lecturer at MIT by the end of the narrative. Sadie is introduced in the novel as a bright 11-year-old who loves her sick sister Alice, words, and video games like The Oregon Trail. Sadie’s patience with Alice—whom chemotherapy made irritable—immediately establishes her as an empathetic, self-aware person. Her subsequent contact with Sam and the fondness with which she notes his “cartoonishly round head” (15) underline her great capacity for love. Yet, Sadie is hardly cloying or oversentimental since she has a keen sense of humor and even keener intelligence. As Sadie grows up and chooses to study tech, she encounters the pressures of trying to break through in a male-dominated profession. This makes her develop a defensive exterior and the habit of keeping to herself. She also gets into a destructive relationship with her professor, Dov, which leads her into depression. As a result, Sadie does not confide her deepest feelings to anyone, even her closest friend, Sam.

Sadie’s lack of self-esteem at the beginning of the text is symptomatic of being a bright, creative woman in a sexist environment. Sadie feels the sting of sexism very acutely but is forced to pretend she is cool with it and play along. For instance, she conceptualizes Ichigo as a genderless character but is forced to make them a boy because of pressure from investors. Because Sadie is pressured by society to accommodate the demands of others, she internalizes society’s hatred of women and becomes bitter towards Sam, whom she sometimes sees as a rival and a usurper. However, as Sadie grows out of her twenties, breaks free from her abusive relationship with Dov, and moves to California, she begins to assert herself more confidently. She openly expresses her wish to design games that are conceptually more complex and adventurous despite market demands to the contrary. She begins a healthy, romantic relationship with Marx and stands up for her beliefs, such as her view of marriage as a problematic institution.

Another pivotal moment for Sadie’s character arrives through loss. After she loses Marx, her life partner and the father of their daughter, Sadie again plunges into depression, shutting out Sam and everybody else in her life. However, her work, her love for Sam, and her creative instinct keep her from letting go entirely. Sadie makes peace with Sam and comes into her own as a female game designer and mentor. She realizes that being the quieter, public half of the Sadie-Sam partnership is something she has chosen since she has always been more focused on creating games. She no longer has a point to prove to Sam or anyone else and sheds her anger and bitterness toward her best friend. Thus, Sadie has a dynamic character arc in the novel.