(Un)Happy Endings

Reading the end of The Man in the Flannel Jacket completely changed my understanding of the novel and my loyalties to its characters. The novel attempts to resolve issues surrounding capitalism, masculine identity and labor relations, but ends without giving any genuine solutions. Tom does seem to integrate his life during war and his current existence by supporting his son, but this simply uses the post-war prosperity and relies on his well-paid labor rather than human connection. To me, the end of the novel read like a masturbatory male fantasy, where Tom got everything he wanted: a well paying position at a meaningful job, time to spend with his family, approval to use his grandmother's estate, integration with the war and even his wife's quick acceptance of his affair during the war. Although Tom sort of stands up to his boss and owns up to the past, he does it in a safe environment where there is no real fear of failure, and no real bravery in his actions. Tom is a long way from Karkow.

Another thing that did not sit well with me about the ending of the novel was the continued division of home and work life within the novel. Even when Betsy stands to speak at the town meeting regarding the new school, she is addressed as “Mrs. Rath” and joking uses her position as a woman to have the last word in the debate. Although Tom's job may move closer to his home, it never integrates with his home life, continuing the Victorian concept of separate spheres for men and women: Betsy dominates the children and the home, while Tom goes off and does whatever he does at his job. While he does have a genuine home life, unlike his boss, Tom continues to unquestioningly go to work to support his leisure time (and cocktail time) at home, while his wife does the majority of the domestic labor. Far from rebelling against the oppressive system of labor that Tom sees around him, he finds that the real solution is complaining about it to Betsy and honestly opening up about his feelings. While this is a step, it is far from the solution that I was hoping for.