Main characters in the novel NW, Leah, Annie, Shar and Natalie have a similar sense of what life is worth. Leah believes that attempting to move up in a flawed society is pointless when everyone dies anyway. She yearns to live without really doing anything as she was jealous of Shar, living in an abandoned building number 37. Natalie climbed all the way up the ladder to realize she wasn't her true self, and being rich was nearly pointless. She never felt like she was anyone and looked for pleasure in affairs. Annie, coming from a rich family, could never actually go down in social class. She was an expressive drug addict who had no shame in manipulating others for her own benefit. All of these characters, besides Natalie until the end, are content where they are and could care less about the rest of the world. The way they see it, everyone lives and dies.