So earnestly not-blonde.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, by Thomas Hardy (1891), roiled British society because Tess, a young woman, is raped and stalked by a man who she may be destined to marry. She eventually kills him and goes to the gallows for it. She was not portrayed as a temptress or in any way liable for what befalls her; instead, Hardy places the blame implicitly on British society. The resultant backlash discouraged Hardy from writing another novel.
Pitfall (1948), despite its setting in an American city after World War II, evoked similar thoughts for me. This involves primarily four characters.
John Forbes is an insurance company executive, overseeing the attempted recovery of stolen property for which the company has already paid out. By auctioning it off, they can hope to cover part of their losses. He’s good at his job – and bored. And, yes, there’s a Mrs. Forbes and little boy Forbes.
MacDonald is a former cop and an independent detective who works for Forbes’ company, tracking property and people.
Bill Smiley, now in prison, had been embezzling from his employer in order to buy gifts for his girlfriend.
Mona Stevens is Smiley’s girlfriend – or, perhaps, former girlfriend.
Forbes has dispatched MacDonald to find Stevens on the theory that she may still have recoverable property, and MacDonald succeeds. Forbes pays Stevens a visit, and she is cooperative; she had not realized Smiley was embezzling to buy her favors, and she is sickened. But, over the course of two days, her sadness and vulnerability charm the married Forbes into a brief affair, which they both regret and mean to put behind them.
But MacDonald is enraged by the tryst. Mac has gone beyond smitten with Stevens and is now in the land of creepy stalker. Mac tries to take the direct, fist to the stomach approach with Forbes, but discovers a granite rock lives at the center of the ambling, laid back Forbes.
But Mac is devious. He contacts the jailed boyfriend, Smiley, and baits him into a rage over Forbes. When Smiley’s probation date comes up, Mac hands him a gun and an address, and after a brief stopover with the horrified Stevens, he’s off to visit Forbes.
But Forbes, forewarned by Stevens, gets the drop on Smiley and kills him; the police descend upon him.
Meanwhile, Mac invades Stevens’ apartment and announces plans for their shared vacation, no doubt to be followed by a marriage, when he’s finally convinced her of his charms. As he’s packing for her, though, she produces a gun and severely injures him.
How does it all end up? Forbes, about to set the record straight with the police, is informed by Mrs. Forbes that he’ll do no such thing. Betrayed, she’s nearly ready to dump him, but their young son takes precedence over her outrage at Forbes’ behavior. He needs a father, and she considers his record to be spot-free, up to now. He feeds a story to the cops portraying Smiley as being completely at fault, perhaps wanting nothing more than revenge for all of his gifts being retracted by the insurance company, in the person of Forbes. Forbes suffers nothing more than guilt.
And Stevens? Whether or not Mac dies from his wounds, she’s doomed to jail and societal contempt. Shooting a former cop? A man paying attention to her?
She had no way out.
It’s a well done story, and the necessary-but-squirmable scenes were blessedly short and to the point. Technically competent and with well-drawn characters, it’s not a bad way to spend an hour or so.
