Baglady Free Response

In “Baglady” by A.S. Byatt, is about a woman who goes shopping at a prodigious mall in the Far East because of her husband’s business trip. Daphne Gulver-Robinson is the wife of Rollo, who is her husband and one of the directors. She doesn’t know if she belongs with the other ladies and if she should company her husband on this trip.
“Most of the wives are elegant, with silk suits and silky legs and exquisitely cut hair,” that the other ladies going on the trip are beautiful and younger than Daphne. So, she is feeling left out because she thinks she can’t relate to them and they have high standards of living. “She has tried to make herself attractive for this jaunt and has lost ten pounds,” she has even lost weight so she can look attractive for her husband and could fit the mold of the other ladies. She still knows it is not enough to fit in with the other ladies after she sees them.
“She buys a jade egg… and some lacquered chopsticks, and a mask,” she is just buying useless junk to fill the time of two hours, before it is time to go. There is no purpose in buying a jade egg because it is useless back home, it is only a tourist items to have memories of the visit. The mall is guarded by soldiers who keep the poor people from getting inside the mall and make sure no one gets robbed. “The figures about AIDS began to be drawn to his attention,” meaning the men will get only on their business trip and go for cheap prostitutes, since they are away from their wives. So the boss asks all the men to bring their wives on the trip so they can keep their men in check.
In the end of the story Daphne is all by herself since she did not relate to the other wives. She went shopping all by herself as the other women went in a group. While Daphne is shopping for herself, she misplaces her purse and credit cards. Without her identification, she is just like a poor person outside the mall and she has missed lunch and it is the time for the airport car to come pick the wives up. This supports that time goes by unexpectedly in the mall. None of the other ladies will remember her, and she thinks about them forgetting about her. Since she did not fit in with them and will be stuck there until her husband comes to her resume and getting out of the Good Fortune Mall.