African Mean Girls Character Analysis of Paulina Sarpong

Paulina Sarpong

Paulina is actually a very funny character—one part authoritative, one part completely ignorant, and all-driven. She has priorities—and although they may not be in the best order (the overall goal is to be popular, as she puts it in the opening scene when she is telling Nana to choose between being “fat-fat” or “fit and popular” (7)—there is a logic and consistency to her character, and a kind of innocent charm. The opening scene provides a great way to analyze her character.

It starts off at the Girls School, with Paulina reading Nana the riot act about what she is eating. She gets Nana to buy in to Paulina’s vision of which values are the correct ones. But she relies on her Frick/Frack companions to assist in helping her make the point. Mercy and Gifty are like Paulina’s echo chambers, and they quickly apologize to Nana once Paulina walks away to get an apple (and “burn some calories” as she hilariously puts it). Mercy and Gifty openly admit that they were only helping Paulina to bully Nana because they don’t want Paulina turning her attention to them. Nana holds no grudge against them, and all three state that the upcoming pageant is driving Paulina crazy.

Paulina is self-absorbed and prideful, but very ignorant about true class, character, and what real values should be. She thinks she is high-class because her aunt shops for her in “posh” Chinatown in NYC and that she knows the trendiest places to shop—like Wal-Mart (another hilarious demonstration of her innocence). Nana mouths, “I am so jealous of your life, Paulina.” Paulina responds: “I know. I’m so blessed,” with total lack of self-awareness. She sees herself as protector of the girls—not as Ama sees her, which is as a kind of insecure bully who needs girls she can pick on to feel better about herself. Her spat with Ama reveals a lot about the depth of her character and her motivations. The spat ends with Paulina asking Ama if she is still upset about that thing, and Ama affirms that it is in the past.