The Question of Gender: The Rock and The Party Dress

The Question of Gender: The Rock and The Party Dress

In Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts, heteronormative gender roles are confused. Men and women alike are portrayed as committing violence, they are both illustrated as the sexual aggressors at different times, and the way in which each are described take on characteristics of the other gender, such is seen when Miss Lonelyhearts compares Mrs. Doyal to a police detective (27) or Miss Lonelyhearts being referred to as a Miss throughout the novel. Near the end, there is one instance when gender roles are portrayed as heteronormative: Miss Lonelyhearts and Betty are labeled as "the rock" and "the party dress" (55-56). Miss Lonelyhearts willingly takes the place as "the rock," which represents masculine characteristics and he assigns Betty as "the party dress," which is attached to feminine characteristics. By having such roles assigned by a man, Miss Lonelyhearts, questions gender roles within the book, which leads the reader to further investigate roles that are supposedly innately feminine and masculine.

Miss Lonelyhearts constructs the concept of "the rock" as a comparison to himself, attributing masculine qualities to it. The first image the reader sees of the rock is when Miss Lonelyhearts is speaking to Shrike. It begins, "Shrike dashed against him, but fell back, as a wave that dashes against an ancient rock, smooth with experience, falls back" (51). Already the rock has masculine qualities. It is steady, nothing can make it falter. Miss Lonelyhearts has also associated himself with the rock, steady and unmoving. At this point, Miss Lonelyhearts has begun to take on masculine qualities. The image of "the rock" and its association to Miss Lonelyhearts becomes clearer in the line, "The rock remained calm and solid. Although Miss Lonelyhearts did not doubt that it could withstand any test, he was willing to have it tried" (52). The use of the pronoun "it" instead of him disassociates Miss Lonelyhearts from "the rock," so rather than the rock being a natural part of Miss Lonelyhearts, it is instead a role he assigns to himself. The line also further assigns masculine qualities to the rock with the words calm and solid. Ultimately, the rock becomes a stand-in for Miss Lonelyhearts. "The rock was a solidification of his feeling, his conscience, his sense of reality, his self-knowledge (56)". The line suggests that Miss Lonelyhearts believes "the rock" is something that has been innately a part of him, but previously he was unaware of such qualities, which proposes that he thinks the masculine side was a part of him that was never fully awarded presence.

Yet, the concept of "the rock" is complicated by the idea of "the party dress." When Betty admits that she is pregnant to Miss Lonelyhearts, he proposes marriage. She replies, "'No . . . I am going to have an abortion'" (56). At this point, one could argue that Betty is not gendered. Yes, she is in a predicament, but has come to the conclusion that she cannot raise a baby, and despite Miss Lonelyhearts appeals to marry her, she refuses, deciding instead to get an abortion. Choosing to have a man's help would have the stigma of needing a man's help, putting her in the place of a helpless woman, which is a gendered role. So, when Miss Lonelyhearts appeals to the party dress, it is as if he is appealing to the gendered role of woman. "The party dress" is introduced with the line, "He begged the party dress to marry him" (56). At this point, he is no longer asking Betty; he is asking the party dress. The party dress becomes further personified in the line, "He was just what the party dress wanted him to be: simple and sweet, whimsical and poetic, a trifle collegiate yet very masculine" (56). The quote argues that the description is what a feminine woman would want out of a masculine man. And so "the party dress" says yes to "the rock," agreeing to marry, forcing the gender roles of helpless woman and heroic man onto the characters.

What become problematic about the roles Miss Lonelyhearts and Betty take on as "the rock" and "the party dress" is that they are roles, rather than who they are. Throughout the earlier text when Miss Lonelyhearts is constructing the concept of the rock, he is constructing it as something he is personifying, and it is not until after Betty becomes "the party dress" that he decides it is a "solidification of his feelings" (56). It almost seems that for "the rock" to exist and to reach its full potential, it needs "the party dress." The same can be said for Betty. She is not "the party dress," rather "the party dress" is a role forced upon her. It's interesting because the masculine qualities seem to suit Miss Lonelyhearts. He finds comfort in them, where as the feminine qualities are a realization placed upon Betty by a man. She does not describe herself as "the party dress," it is Miss Lonelyhearts who puts feminine characteristics upon her, disallowing her from making her original decision. Roles that have been questioned throughout the entire book, are looked upon at this point, in such a way that they further question the assigning of gender.

When the book questions the roles, particularly in this passage, it makes a reader question the seemingly natural roles of feminine and masculine. Though to one reader it may seem like Miss Lonelyhearts did the right thing in saving Betty from an abortion or raising a child without a father, another might perceive the passage as Betty being trapped into a marriage and a motherhood she may not want. Having two such opposite readings, gives way to the ability to question not only generic gender roles, but specific ones, such as wife and mother.