How Fiction Depicts Reality: Examining the Lived Experiences of Women in the 1950s Through Novels
by Melany Fuentes (2024)
Introduction
Prior to the women’s rights movement in the United States in the 1960s and ‘70s, white middle-class women were primarily confined to roles as wives and mothers [1],[2]. This paper will examine R.V. Cassill’s Dormitory Women and Rona Jaffe’s The Best of Everything to compare two novels in the 1950s that center on the relationships between women, social expectations women face, and the stigma surrounding mental illness. In this essay I argue that while both novels have similar ideas regarding social expectations placed on women, Cassill’s novel fails to describe the complexities of how women faced violence and how they handled mental illness.
Brief Background on the Novels
Dormitory Women primarily follows the story of Millie, a 17-year-old girl with deep trauma stemming from sexual abuse in her childhood – abuse that she has blocked out of her memory. Her expedition into college and the proximity of her male classmates initiating panty- raids on the girls’ dorm, expressing interest in her, and another sexual assault trigger her break from reality and the deranged actions taken by her other alleged personalities.
The Best of Everything follows three working women in New York as they start their jobs as typewriters, each with her own ambitions for her future, varying from job promotions to marriage. Throughout the three years depicted in the story, the women experience sexual harassment and assault, failed relationships, and some experience abortion.
Historical Context
In the post-WWII era, the United States was just starting to generate new understandings of mental illness through health research and the introduction of psychotropic drugs[3]. Public sentiment regarding mental illness was negative and primarily based on fear, despite growing understanding in the field of psychiatry[4]. Despite limited understandings of mental illness causes and treatments, the lobotomy was turned to as a treatment for many mental health conditions as medical professionals became disillusioned with the standard electroshock therapy of the time[5]. Just as public opinions on the lobotomy were beginning to sour, the Nobel Prize was awarded to the developer of the technique in 1949; in the media, the lobotomy was often portrayed positively and contributed to the limited pushback present against the procedure[6]. Lobotomies were often used indiscriminately to address issues outside of psychiatric disorders, such as chronic pain and terminal illness[7]. In particular, women were reported to be five times more likely to receive the procedure; often, consent from the patient was never acquired due to stigmatization of what is now understood to be mental illness[8]. In 1941, Rosemary Kennedy, the sister of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy, underwent a forced lobotomy at the age of 23 after her father arranged it; this procedure left her with severe brain trauma and made her unable to walk and speak[9],[10].
The public’s understanding of mental illness stemming from sexual trauma was similarly limited. Often, women who experienced sexual trauma were labeled as either hysterical or hypersexual, the latter feeding the public perception of victims as sexual deviants [11],[12]. At this time, multiple personality disorder was still being researched, but it was understood that there was a link between childhood sexual abuse and the development of the condition[13].
Novel Background and Similarities
Though both books are works of fiction, Jaffe’s inspiration for her novel originated from a work published by a man centered on working girls in New York City[14]; she reported feeling as if this depiction of women’s experiences written by a man were inaccurate and that she could produce a better depiction of working women in the 1950’s due to her position as a woman and her own lived experiences. Jaffe interviewed over 50 women for her novel and received praise for the accurate depiction of women’s experiences during the time period; her work is said to have inspired further depictions of working women and influenced works such as Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar, Sex and the City, and to have served as a basis for the MeToo movement decades later14.
On the other hand, Dormitory Women is authored by a man and is labeled as a “Lesbian Pulp Novel.” This is a point of contention regarding who has the right to author the books depicting marginalized groups of people. Despite the categorization of the novel as lesbian pulp, there is no explicit mention of same-sex relationships in the novel. Instead, this categorization appears to derive from the focus on relationships between women and because Millie is depicted as uncomfortable with the romantic and sexual interactions she has with men.
Despite the obvious differences in the novel contents, both depict similar societal expectations placed on the characters as they were both writing in the same period and would thus have a similar understanding of these expectations. In Dormitory Women, Millie acquires a job as a typist working with her professor to complete his manuscript[15]. Similarly, the women depicted in The Best of Everything all meet while working as typists in New York. During the mid-1900s, the gendered divisions of labor were pronounced in the post- WWII labor market and served to disadvantage women and enforce low wages[16].
Furthermore, both novels present the protagonists as desirous of relationships with the opposite sex. Millie expressed interest in her classmate Mitch, and they had various romantic interactions and even a discussion on sexual interactions. Though there was no explicit mention of marriage, Millie expressed a desire for the future through her statement: “This was why I’d never quit when life hurt too much or was too scary – so I could come home to his protection some pretty day on our own island[17].” The lack of a distinct mention of marriage but emphasis on dating provides a contrast to Jaffe’s discussions on the expectations of marriage placed on her characters at various points in the novel.
Both novels express the expectations of women’s sexuality at the time. Cassill’s Millie experiences severe slut shaming from her sorority sister Jan who claims the only reason Millie was accepting into the sorority was because she was sexually promiscuous and would attract men to their events[18]. Furthermore, Jan stated that Millie inherited this trait from her mother and that her father may not have been her biological father[19]. Similarly, in The Best of Everything, two of the protagonists – April and Caroline – discuss how the topic of sex was approached differently in each household but that a common thread in each was that sex for women was taboo[20]. Jaffe also broaches the topics of cheating and abortions, both of which portray the woman as primarily to blame in the eyes of those around her.
Another major similarity in the novels is the desire the protagonists display for a relationship. In Cassill’s fiction, Millie becomes obsessed with her classmate Mitch and begins to fantasize about him as her protector. When she loses him, she tells him she is willing to do anything to have him back. In Jaffe’s depiction of New York working women, her characters continuously pine for love and desire marriage from their partners. In the case of Caroline, one of the main protagonists, she desires marriage to her ex-fiancé and is sexually involved with him when he visits the city, despite him being married. Though he offers her the opportunity to be his mistress and have him one or two nights a week, Caroline declines as she finally sees he is unwilling to divorce his current wife.
Both depictions of women’s desires for relationships and marriage align with the expectations of middle-class white women of the 1950s. Betty Friedan, a white feminist author, coined the term “Feminine Mystique” to describe the idea that a truly feminine woman would find fulfillment from being relegated to manager of the household and motherhood; this was in conjunction with the lack of desire for education or jobs that would be unnecessary in her household realm[21]. While both Cassill and Jaffe’s protagonists had jobs, they all desired love at whatever cost.
Novel Differences
Although both novels had similar depictions on the social expectations placed on women, Cassill’s novel failed to depict the complex nature of violence faced by women as well as issues of mental illness. Millie is shown to have experienced a traumatic event that is repressed and which she continually tries to not remember. At one point, her repressed memories unsurfaced after she was almost raped by a classmate; these were memories of her being raped by her grandfather when she was thirteen. Despite this deep trauma, she is described as reverent of her grandfather and continually brings him up in conversation. This representation of memory repression is unfounded in cognitive science and is steeped in inaccuracies regarding both how memory works and the lived experiences of sexual abuse survivors. Generally, complete amnesia surrounding an event arises from a physical injury to the brain, and support for memory repression like that of Millie is unfounded[22] . Millie’s splits from reality, along with her multiple personalities, would be associated with what is now known as dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder. However, this diagnosis did not exist in the DMS until 1980, prior to this the condition was not recognized by all providers[23].
Despite Millie heeding her roommate’s advice and talking to a psychologist, she fails to discuss the death she had recently witnessed when her attempted rapist’s car blew up and instead just discusses guilt from missing her dorm curfew[24]. The second interaction with this psychologist is when Millie experiences another break from reality, hits the psychologist, goes into hiding in her closet[25]. After the psychologist recovers, she is seen having a conversation with a man, to whom she describes Millie as one of the most deeply disturbed individuals she has come across. Furthermore, the psychologist describes Millie as a “trigger” for the underlying violence present at the university, essentially placing blame on Millie for a car accident she saw from a distance and the murder suicide of a family; this is because Millie is described as knowing how to trigger others susceptible to psychosis as well as “hysterical”[26]. This aligns with the stigma surrounding mental illness that contact with someone who suffers from a mental disorder will result in contagion[27]; there is no evidence to support this claim of contagion and this sentiment appeared to arise from public fear of mental illness present at the time[28]. Cassill’s writings align with research that shows that the general public thought of mental illness as restricted to psychosis and was not informed by the psychological developments of the time period, despite public education efforts undertaken[29].
In contrast, Jaffe made efforts to describe various mental health conditions and the stigma associated with each. One of the characters that has the most severe symptoms is Gregg Adams, an aspiring actress who becomes obsessed with a charming director and they become lovers at one point. Gregg becomes obsessive and unable to be away from her lover; however, he does not love her to the same degree and she contemplates suicide[30]. Eventually, when their relationship is broken off, Gregg stalks him and his new girlfriend but eventually dies after she falls from the stairs in an attempt to not be caught in the act[31]. Although Gregg’s friend and roommate Caroline was aware of her issues, she had to deal with her own depression and was unable to provide the support Gregg required, despite knowing she needed it.
Another major difference is in the depiction of the violence the women faced. While Millie was almost raped by her classmate, the event was glossed over in the rest of the novel [32]. In contrast, Jaffe discusses the experiences of violence women faced as continuous events. Sexual violence was so normalized that instances of catcalling were discussed in passing as regular occurrences, so much so that even groups of teenage boys were depicted as whistling at passing women [33]. Extreme sexual violence was also depicted in the workplace when Barbara is sexually harassed by her superior who states: “”I only wanted to kiss you,” Mr. Shalimar went on, his voice rising. “What did you think I wanted to do, rape you?” The room was as silent as a snowbound night[34].” These depictions of sexual violence and the characters reactions to the incidents show how normalized these events were.
Conclusion
While R.V. Cassill’s Dormitory Women and Rona Jaffe’s The Best of Everything depicted stories centering on women and their relationships set in the 1950s, Jaffe provided a more realistic depiction of the violence women faced and the portrayal of mental illness in the time period. Cassill’s depictions of mental illness reflected the public’s perception of mental illness as limited to psychosis. Overall, these two novels contain similar information on the societal expectations placed on women in the 1950s and have different depictions on the way women faced hardships of rape, sexual harassment, and mental illness. Jaffe shows a more accurate depiction on what being a woman in the 1950s was and how women in the time period would deal with issues.
Footnotes
[1] Neuhaus, Jessamyn. 1999. “The way to a man’s heart: Gender roles, domestic ideology, and cookbooks in the 1950s.” Journal of Social History: 529-555. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3789341.
[2] Meyerowitz, Joanne. 1993. “Beyond the feminine mystique: A reassessment of postwar mass culture, 1946-1958.” The Journal of American History 79 (4): 1455-1482. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2080212.
[3] Weissman, Myrna M, and Gerald L Klerman. 1978. “Epidemiology of mental disorders: Emerging trends in the United States.” Archives of General Psychiatry 35 (6): 705-712. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/491935. 707-708
[4] Phelan, Jo C, Bruce G Link, Ann Stueve, and Bernice A Pescosolido. 2000. “Public conceptions of mental illness in 1950 and 1996: What is mental illness and is it to be feared?” Journal of Health and Social behavior: 188-207. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2676305.
[5] Friedman, Lawrence Jacob. 1999. “Last Resort: Psychosurgery and the Limits of Medicine.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 73 (2): 351-354. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/4276/summary.
[6] Diefenbach, Gretchen J, Donald Diefenbach, Alan Baumeister, and Mark West. 1999. “Portrayal of lobotomy in the popular press: 1935-1960.” Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 8 (1): 60-69. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1076/jhin.8.1.60.1766.
[7] Raz, Mical. 2009. “The painless brain: lobotomy, psychiatry, and the treatment of chronic pain and terminal illness.” Perspectives in biology and medicine 52 (4): 555-565. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/362916.
[8] Braslow, Joel. 1999. “Therapeutic effectiveness and social context: the case of lobotomy in a California state hospital, 1947-1954.” Western journal of medicine 170 (5): 293. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1305592/.
[9] Caruso, James P, and Jason P Sheehan. 2017. “Psychosurgery, ethics, and media: a history of Walter Freeman and the lobotomy.” Neurosurgical focus 43 (3): E6. https://thejns.org/focus/view/journals/neurosurg-focus/43/3/article-pE6.xml.
[10] O’Brien, Gerald. 2004. “Rosemary Kennedy: the importance of a historical footnote.” Journal of family history 29 (3): 225-236. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0363199004266849.
[11] Lunbeck, Elizabeth. 2012. “Hysteria: The Revolt of the “Good Girl”.” American Sexual Histories 1: 212. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=AED2WGgFwNEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA212&dq=Hysteria:+The+Revolt+of+the+%E2%80%9CGood+Girl%E2%80%9D.&ots=noPfV5mR8Z&sig=tP5Qt0eil0LBX4zJWHOgEtrtJPk#v=onepage&q=Hysteria%3A%20The%20Revolt%20of%20the%20%E2%80%9CGood%20Girl%E2%80%9D.&f=false.
[12] Larson, Stephanie R. 2018. “Survivors, liars, and unfit minds: Rhetorical impossibility and rape trauma disclosure.” Hypatia 33 (4): 681-699. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/hypatia/article/survivors-liars-and-unfit-minds-rhetorical-impossibility-and-rape-trauma-disclosure/F315CF9945D8CCAD7860F63E7E962CA4.
[13] Ross, Colin A, Scott D Miller, Lynda Bjornson, Pamela Reagor, George A Fraser, and Geri Anderson. 1991. “Abuse histories in 102 cases of multiple personality disorder.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 36 (2): 97-101. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/070674379103600204.
[14] Birne, Eleanor. “The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe – Review.” The Guardian, May 27, 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/28/best-everything-rona-jaffe-review.
[15] Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959: 47-49.
[16] Hatton, Erin. 2014. “Mechanisms of gendering: Gender typing and the ideal worker norm in the temporary help industry, 1946–1979.” Journal of Gender Studies 23 (4): 440-456. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2013.846850.
[17] Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959: 79.
[18] Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959: 54.
[19] Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959: 52.
[20] Jaffe, Rona. The best of everything. Penguin, 2023: 64.
[21] Friedan, Betty. 2010. The feminine mystique. WW Norton & Company.
[22] Loftus, Elizabeth F, and Danielle C Polage. 1999. “Repressed memories: when are they real? How are they false?” Psychiatric Clinics of North America 22 (1): 61-70. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193953X05700599.
[23] Pietkiewicz, Igor Jacob, Anna Bańbura-Nowak, Radosław Tomalski, and Suzette Boon. 2021. “Revisiting false-positive and imitated dissociative identity disorder.” Frontiers in Psychology 12: 637929. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.637929.
[24] Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959: 33-35.
[25] Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959: 141-145.
[26] Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959: 149.
[27] Overton, Stacy L, and Sondra L Medina. 2008. “The stigma of mental illness.” Journal of Counseling & Development 86 (2): 143-151. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2008.tb00491.x.
[28] Middleton, John. 1953. “Prejudices and opinions of mental hospital employees regarding mental illness.” American journal of psychiatry 110 (2): 133-138. https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.110.2.133.
[29] Phelan, Jo C, Bruce G Link, Ann Stueve, and Bernice A Pescosolido. 2000. “Public conceptions of mental illness in 1950 and 1996: What is mental illness and is it to be feared?” Journal of Health and Social behavior: 188-207. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2676305.
[30] Jaffe, Rona. The best of everything. Penguin, 2023: 265-266.
[31] Jaffe, Rona. The best of everything. Penguin, 2023: 519-521.
[32] Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959: 21-27.
[33] Jaffe, Rona. The best of everything. Penguin, 2023: 296.
[34] Jaffe, Rona. The best of everything. Penguin, 2023: 206.
Bibliography
Birne, Eleanor. “The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe – Review.” The Guardian, May 27, 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/28/best-everything-rona-jaffe-review.
Braslow, Joel. 1999. “Therapeutic effectiveness and social context: the case of lobotomy in a California state hospital, 1947-1954.” Western journal of medicine 170 (5): 293. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1305592/.
Caruso, James P, and Jason P Sheehan. 2017. “Psychosurgery, ethics, and media: a history of Walter Freeman and the lobotomy.” Neurosurgical focus 43 (3): E6. https://thejns.org/focus/view/journals/neurosurg-focus/43/3/article-pE6.xml.
Cassill, R. V. Dormitory Women. New York: New American Library of World Literature, 1959.
Diefenbach, Gretchen J, Donald Diefenbach, Alan Baumeister, and Mark West. 1999. “Portrayal of lobotomy in the popular press: 1935-1960.” Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 8 (1): 60-69. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1076/jhin.8.1.60.1766.
Friedan, Betty. 2010. The feminine mystique. WW Norton & Company.
Friedman, Lawrence Jacob. 1999. “Last Resort: Psychosurgery and the Limits of Medicine.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 73 (2): 351-354. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/4276/summary.
Hatton, Erin. 2014. “Mechanisms of gendering: Gender typing and the ideal worker norm in the temporary help industry, 1946–1979.” Journal of Gender Studies 23 (4): 440-456. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2013.846850.
Larson, Stephanie R. 2018. “Survivors, liars, and unfit minds: Rhetorical impossibility and rape trauma disclosure.” Hypatia 33 (4): 681-699. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/hypatia/article/survivors-liars-and-unfit-minds-rhetorical-impossibility-and-rape-trauma-disclosure/F315CF9945D8CCAD7860F63E7E962CA4.
Loftus, Elizabeth F, and Danielle C Polage. 1999. “Repressed memories: when are they real? How are they false?” Psychiatric Clinics of North America 22 (1): 61-70. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193953X05700599.
Lunbeck, Elizabeth. 2012. “Hysteria: The Revolt of the “Good Girl”.” American Sexual Histories 1: 212. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=AED2WGgFwNEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA212&dq=Hysteria:+The+Revolt+of+the+%E2%80%9CGood+Girl%E2%80%9D.&ots=noPfV5mR8Z&sig=tP5Qt0eil0LBX4zJWHOgEtrtJPk#v=onepage&q=Hysteria%3A%20The%20Revolt%20of%20the%20%E2%80%9CGood%20Girl%E2%80%9D.&f=false.
Meyerowitz, Joanne. 1993. “Beyond the feminine mystique: A reassessment of postwar mass culture, 1946-1958.” The Journal of American History 79 (4): 1455-1482. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2080212.
Middleton, John. 1953. “Prejudices and opinions of mental hospital employees regarding mental illness.” American journal of psychiatry 110 (2): 133-138. https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.110.2.133.
Neuhaus, Jessamyn. 1999. “The way to a man’s heart: Gender roles, domestic ideology, and cookbooks in the 1950s.” Journal of Social History: 529-555. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3789341.
O’Brien, Gerald. 2004. “Rosemary Kennedy: the importance of a historical footnote.” Journal of family history 29 (3): 225-236. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0363199004266849.
Overton, Stacy L, and Sondra L Medina. 2008. “The stigma of mental illness.” Journal of Counseling & Development 86 (2): 143-151. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2008.tb00491.x.
Phelan, Jo C, Bruce G Link, Ann Stueve, and Bernice A Pescosolido. 2000. “Public conceptions of mental illness in 1950 and 1996: What is mental illness and is it to be feared?” Journal of Health and Social behavior: 188-207. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2676305.
Pietkiewicz, Igor Jacob, Anna Bańbura-Nowak, Radosław Tomalski, and Suzette Boon. 2021. “Revisiting false-positive and imitated dissociative identity disorder.” Frontiers in Psychology 12: 637929. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.637929.
Raz, Mical. 2009. “The painless brain: lobotomy, psychiatry, and the treatment of chronic pain and terminal illness.” Perspectives in biology and medicine 52 (4): 555-565. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/362916.
Ross, Colin A, Scott D Miller, Lynda Bjornson, Pamela Reagor, George A Fraser, and Geri Anderson. 1991. “Abuse histories in 102 cases of multiple personality disorder.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 36 (2): 97-101. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/070674379103600204.
Weissman, Myrna M, and Gerald L Klerman. 1978. “Epidemiology of mental disorders: Emerging trends in the United States.” Archives of General Psychiatry 35 (6): 705-712. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/491935.
