“Just how does an intelligent, adult woman become someone whose whole sterile kingdom has been reduced to alphabetized lingerie drawers and imported French dairy substitutes? Where is the child in this home? Where is the woman in this mother? And how, exactly, am I to fit in?-Nanny Diaries
My ‘area of interest’ in chick lit is in the genre’s portrayal of successful and independent women. The ladies of Nanny Diaries were an interesting departure from this. I wanted to like Mrs. X, or at least admire her-before she married Mr. X, she was a self-made woman. McLaughlin and Krauss described her as coming from a working class Connecticut family, and working her way up (the art world?) before sniping Mr. X from another woman and becoming a raging, entitled bitch.
I felt like her stiff formality (communicating via LETTERS?!) and the way she treated the people beneath her was a reflection of her insecurity. In marrying Mr. X, she became part of an elite world very different than the one that she was raised in, and I think she felt as though she had to compensate for that. I think this may be the reason that she didn’t have any friends that we know of- because she couldn’t really relate to them and probably felt inferior.
It seems like Nanny came from a somewhat similar background, and I think this is why Mrs. X was occasionally able to let her guard down around her. For example, when she was getting ready for her Valentine’s date, she seemed really eager to have Nanny’s opinion, and even offered her champagne. But as soon as her husband bailed, she was embarrassed, and turned right back into an ice queen.
I think what bothered me most about Nanny Diaries (and Mrs. X) was that she did ‘make it’ against the odds, but as soon as she found an appropriate man, she gave up her career. Which isn’t so bad, except she gave it up for nothing. She certainly wasn’t raising her child or doing anything useful with her time (besides shopping), and she is impossible to like. And the worst part about the whole thing is that the story ends happily for her-she may be insecure, but she’ll always get her way.
3 Comments
March 11, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Monday,
Unfortunately, the author does not let the reader into the head of Mrs. X at all, and so we have the limited scope of Nan for our reference. It does seem that the only thing that drives Mrs. X is her husband’s approval. Of course, this is not the most healthy way of living one’s life – dependent upon someone else’s happiness. It seems (and perhaps we are talking to seriously about her character undeservedly) that Mrs. X never developed her own sense of self-worth and cannot be happy without a man’s approval.
Perhaps she, like so many other women, judges herself according to how men see and treat her. When Mr. X gets sick of her away because she is no longer young and hot, she goes into a shame spiral because nothing else in her life gives her as much pleasure as pleasing her husband and getting his approval. Could it be that Mrs. X and other trophy wives find the most satisfaction not in achieving success at their jobs, but in pleasing men? How are we to get anywhere when we constantly need men’s approval??
March 11, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Also, a particularly poignant moment in Nanny and Mrs. X’s relationship is when Mrs. X brings up Harvard Hottie’s ex-girlfriend. She gushes about how she was so beautiful and currently on a Fulbright scholarship in Europe. She intentionally highlights the high social class of Harvard Hottie’s ex in order to put Nanny in her place. She reminds Nanny that in reality she is just someone who works in H.H.’s building.
Mrs. X’s need to bring Nanny down definitely stems from her own deep-rooted insecurities.
March 13, 2008 at 1:24 am
Bravo Monday’s Mistress. I hope that Nanny’s and insecure rich bitches worldwide can appreciate your seeds of wisdom.