What keeps her down also props her up: Mrs. Bridge

"Mrs. Bridge" continues to be an interesting and intelligent read. In the second half of the book, Mr and Mrs Bridge travel to Europe, stopping to visit elder daughter, Ruth, now in Greenwich Village, en route. This was a different world of travel, closer to the 19th-century grand tour than to travel today: 6 weeks, the major capitals/tourist sites, etc. The usually American provincialism expressed. But what makes it interesting is the yearnings and curiosity that Mrs. Bridge feels, and her sense, hardly expressed even to herself, of being stifled, today we'd even say oppressed, by her husband and his conventionality. Of course they're both conventional, and she benefits to some degree, to a great degree, from the system. She may yearn in some inchoate way for freedom, but she is of the upper crust, wealthy and comfortable. The same system that limits her world also makes that world very comfortable and stable. It's not truly a precursor to feminist fiction (Connell wrote it in 1959, after all, even though most of it is set in the 30s in KC), but it's a sister book to Dalloway as noted in previous post but also to the Awakening. There is one amazing scene/short chapter that totally captures the mood and theme of the book: Tornado at the Country Club (I think that's the title). As the Bridges dine at the club a tornado approaches. One at a time, the couples take refuge in the basement, except for the Bridges. Mr. insists in sitting at the table and finishing his steak. Mrs. will never go against the wishes of her husband. She's convinced that's her role. Apparently, she is willing to die in defense of this point.