In Her Shoes (4): Sophie from Clockwork Prince

In Her Shoes is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Vanya at YA Story Teller. To participate, simply put yourself in the shoes of a heroine you've recently read about, and then talk about what you would do in her place, or what you've learned from her.

Featuring this week:

  Sophie Collins from Clockwork Prince

 Sophie Collins is a character from the series The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. I originally read about her in Clockwork Angel, the 1st installment in The Infernal Devices and really found her character interesting from the start. Sophie is a maid in the London Institute for shadowhunters in Victorian London. She herself is not a shadowhunter and for those who have not read the series yet, Shadowhunters are humans who hunt demons and have angel blood in their veins.

Personality wise, Sophie is really dynamic as a character. She is kinda of shy but at the same time if she feels like she has to speak up because of an injustice and be direct, she will do so. She is also very considerate, hardworking, loyal, and in my opinion, a total fighter/survivor. As a heroine I think Sophie is at the top of my list as one of my all time favorites. When she was younger, she was chosen to be a parlor maid in a wealthy home, parlor maids being young women who posses a lot of physical beauty. Sadly the son of her boss tried to make advances on her, she denied him and he decided to take a knife to her face, to scar her and to make her less beautiful. 

What really is compelling about Sophie is that she is an incredibly strong character who has survived surmountable adversity, but doesn't always see herself that way because of her social status as a maid in Victorian society, the scar on her face, and the fact that she is human (while everyone around her is not). If I was in her place, I would not change a thing. I think that she is slowly coming to understand how amazing she is, that she is special, and has so much to offer those she comes into contact with. I love that she is learning how to fight and that in dangerous situations, she takes action. She may not be as trained as some of the other characters around her but it doesn't stop her from doing what she needs to do in order to help those in the institute.

My favorite quality about Sophie and what makes her unique for me as a character is that she is never an envious character. She has empathy and she never lets her self-consciousness cloud her judgement, which is not easy to find. Sometimes when people have been faced with a lot of turmoil or affected or scarred by an event, it's easy for them to harbor resentment towards those who are around them, who they perceive to be in a better situation than they are in. Sophie is smart and though at times she may feel like she has had bad luck, she still recognizes the struggles that others are going through, even if she dislikes them or thinks that they have it better than she does. And I really admire her for that. She is really smart and has sound judgement. Overall, she is definitely my favorite female character from Clockwork Prince and a great heroine.