Book Review: Glass People
Gail Godwin’s Novel of a Stifled Housewife Trying to Break Free
Nov 3, 2009
Godwin’s 1972 novel places itself firmly in the tradition of Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton, Virginia Wolfe, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman—that is, the tradition of American literary novels dealing with trapped, searching women, and focusing on a struggling female protagonist.
Setting the Stage in Godwin’s Glass People
The novel starts off with Francesca and Cameron Bolt having a conversation at home. Cameron is District Attorney, and is hoping to become Attorney General of the State of California. Francesca is his beautiful wife, whom he worships like an idol. Francesca has been in a slump for months, rarely leaving the house, napping often, feeling generally drained. Cameron needs his wife to be at his side during the upcoming election race.
The Opening Offer
In the opening scene, Cameron asks Francesca to go away to energize herself. “You are not your old dazzling self, Francesca,” he said, “I want you to go somewhere and revive. I want you splendid again.” Francesca, feeling nothing, listens to her husband’s advice and agrees to go away and visit her mother.
Backstory in Glass People
The book quickly moves into backstory, and the omniscient third person narrator describes the events leading up to this moment: Francesca’s close relationship with her mother following the death of her father, mother and daughter traveling the world spending their inheritance frivolously, Francesca’s attending the local college by her mother’s house and taking easy, fun classes like art appreciation, until one day Cameron appeared in her life at a cocktail party and offered her a direction, where she had none.
An Easy Way Out
Francesca had not wanted to “be” anything in particular, and had decided to marry Cameron to take a figurative step forward in life, to “do” something. Cameron was an intriguing person to Francesca—he was successful and smart and feared by his legal opponents—she felt for sure that her life with him would at least be interesting.
The Missing Piece
Soon after her marriage to Cameron, Francesca had begun to lose energy. Her husband was a model citizen and a model husband. He worked hard, cleaned the house, cooked meals, never said an unkind word to his wife, and expected nothing from Francesca beyond her being herself. Francesca was not expected to perform any duty except to look perfect all the time. The book begins when Francesca’s lack of direction has reached a point of no return—her husband is no longer able to tolerate having a lifeless slug of a wife, and Francesca has reduced her activities to plucking her hair and getting dressed for dinner. Something must be done.
False Starts For Godwin’s Character
Like the protagonists in The Awakening and The House of Mirth, Francesca initially tries to re-start her life by having an affair. As in her predecessor’s stories, this approach fails, bringing nothing but more emptiness, combined now with guilt and anxiety. Francesca then tries to get a job and a room at a boarding house, but finds that she is ill equipped to work, having no experience or skills.
A Twist at the End
Glass People does not end in suicide. Rather, Godwin’s tale reverses the traditional finish and concludes on a pregnancy. Francesca is tracked down at her boarding house in New York by Cameron, and is brought home to California. There, she discovers she is pregnant with the child of the man she strayed with.
Looking Forward
Cameron vows to raise the child as his own and treat both mother and baby as miracles; he sets up a bedroom for himself down the hall from the master bedroom, and it is understood that Francesca and Cameron’s love life, always strained, is now over.
Analysis of Glass People
Glass People is a quick read at just over 200 pages, and the fluidity of the prose makes gliding through the narrative a painless exercise. The central problem with the book is that Francesca is set up in the beginning to be a helpless, lazy person, so we expect her to fail at any endeavor other than the one she was brought up to do (be an ornamental wife). This drains the story of narrative drive and tension, because there is no real possibility of change allowed for in the premise.
A Disappointing Protagonist
Also, Francesca is a somewhat annoying character, never thinking clearly or showing any interest in anything—she is a hard sell as protagonist, and although her situation and character are well-drawn by Godwin, her lack of animation as a person makes her a rather disappointing central figure for a novel.
Godwin, Gail. Glass People. New York: Penguin, 1972.
 |
