Doing the Right Thing in the Post-WWII Era
"To decide, to be at the level of choice, is to take responsibility for
your life and to be in control of your life."
— Abbie M. Dale
Now, I could start by telling you the obvious: That this is one of the
best novels written about the post-WW II lifestyle and how families
were coping with the traumas induced on the men who saw combat
overseas. I could tell you that this book came out in the mid-'50s,
that it was made into an award-winning film starring Gregory Peck not
long after its initial release, and that it was an international
bestseller, translated into 26 languages and banned in Russia
(apparently for espousing capitalist values.) It has recently been re-released
by Four Walls Eight Windows.
I could point out that this novel is a precursor of sorts to such
diverse latter-day reads as The Accidental Tourist and Bright
Lights, Big City as well as the acclaimed film The Deer
Hunter.
I could give you a short, essay-style synopsis such as:
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit was written by a man named
Sloan Wilson in 1955. It is about a man named Tom Rath, a hapless
office-drone, with a wife and kids to take care of, a car that's in its
death throes, and a job with no chance of advancement. He decides to
take a gamble and apply for a position at a bigger company, even though
he has no real experience or even true desire for the job. He hears
himself saying things like ". . . it certainly sounds interesting," when
inside he wants to tell his new employers how ridiculous and
implausible they all seem. He sacrifices time with his family for
nightly meetings at the boss' apartment that get nowhere. He flies on
the company card to set up press conferences and out of town meetings
for his boss, one of the richest and most influential men in the
country. He tries his hardest to like his job, but never quite gets
comfortable with it. He feels a sham, a liar to everyone around him.
But he keeps his thoughts to himself because he's finally able to make
enough money to take care of his family without worrying about next
month's bills.
But then many unexpected events occur: his mother dies, leaving him a
crumbling mansion and the worries that come bundled with it; he
discovers that he had a child with the woman whom he had an affair with
while fighting overseas and that she's in dire financial straits; he
realizes that his community needs his influence to grow and become a
part of the fast-changing 20th century. And in the end, it's
Rath's decisions about his difficult life that matter, that show us how
he's developed, changed -- become responsible -- because it's the right
thing to do. With a little influence from his wife, the true unsung
hero of the book.
But, I feel it is my responsibility to tell you that, like many out
there in today's world, the only thing I could recall hearing about the
book before it crossed my desk was the title, which has become a sort
of put-down for corporate clones and business executives. The book was
(apparently) about a man in the business ranks of America struggling to
climb the corporate ladder, doing whatever it takes to be a success. I
imagined the yuppies of the '50s, fighting each other for dominance
like rats in a cage.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit is really about that nearly missing ingredient in
today's world -- responsibility and its re-release is timely and
significant.
Now, responsibility when checked online at www.yourdictionary.com reads
as follows: 1. The state, quality, or fact of being responsible;
2. Something for which one is responsible; a duty, obligation, or
burden.
But when checked in my copy of Thorndike and Barnhart's Handy Pocket
Dictionary (copyright 1951, not long before The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit was written, which may have sat on Sloan Wilson's desk
for all we know), it reads a little differently: 1. Being responsible.
2. Thing for which one is responsible: A debt is a responsibility.
It's that last part that really matters so you better read it again:
A debt is a responsibility. And The Man in the Gray Flannel
Suit is really -- before anything else -- about being responsible and
paying one's debts. To society, family, the past. Wilson's
character of Tom Rath (whom Wilson based mostly on himself, not just a
generic "everyman" like many critics and readers originally supposed)
learns to become responsible to his wife, family, neighborhood, the
things he did in the past. He accepts his past faults, decides that if
he's ever going to make it in the world he has to improve his
relationship with his wife and family first and foremost.
He becomes a better person by deciding to face the truth and live
responsibly. To gain respect from his family and peers instead of
working towards a life with no substance at all might be harder work
than anything he'd ever attempted before but, by God, he was going to
try.
Tom Rath, responsibly, decides he would rather have a soul.
Something everyone -- not just those in the business world -- needs to
remember.
— 12 March 2003
