55 pages • 1 hour read
Jacqueline SusannValley of the Dolls
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1966A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 3-7 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “Neely, January, 1946-March, 1946”
When Neely’s performance in Hit the Sky impresses critics and audiences, a talent agency contacts her, offering her the opportunity for her own show. The three protagonists move together into the apartment of Adele, Gino’s ex-girlfriend. Neely, now to be trained by Zeke Whyte, brings a huge piano into the apartment and trains tirelessly. Everyone is stunned by the excellence of Neely’s show. She receives a contract from Century Pictures in Hollywood. Only Mel, now her husband, is not enthusiastic, since he doesn’t know what he will do in California.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Jennifer, December, 1946”
Sharing a crowded apartment with Anne, Jennifer takes red dolls for the first time to help her sleep. She decides that her surest way to financial security is marrying Tony. She lures him to the apartment one night when they are supposed to go out clubbing and attempts to seduce him, saying they must go to Maryland that night and get married or she will never let him touch her. As she tempts him, a telegram arrives for Anne, saying Anne’s mother has died. While Jennifer tries to contact Anne on the phone, Tony rapes her and promptly drops the idea of going to Maryland.
Jennifer goes to Lawrenceville with Anne and stays with her until the funeral is over. She avoids contact with Tony altogether, teasing him and causing him to want her desperately. Abruptly, he agrees to take her to Maryland, where they get married and send a telegram to his sister, Miriam. Miriam had hired a private detective to follow Tony and Jennifer, hoping to prevent such an occurrence.
Miriam reflects on the background she shares with her brother. They have different fathers and have no idea which of their mother’s lovers sired them. Tony was born when Miriam was 14, and their mother died in childbirth. She raised her brother and cared for him, including getting him singing lessons so he could build on his talent. Miriam knows, though Tony does not, that he has a developmental disability and will decline in a few years.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Anne, December, 1946”
After she returns to New York, Anne spends the weekend with Lyon and wonders out loud why they do not get married. His literary agent has given him a good report about his novel, though a rewrite must be made. Anne goes back to Lawrenceville, where she must tend to legal processes following her mother’s death.
Lyon comes to spend the weekend with her and is enchanted with the town and especially the house that her mother left her. He suggests that they move into the house together, where he will write while she reacclimates to Lawrenceville. She shouts down the idea, telling him in no uncertain terms, “I won’t do it! I won’t live here” (226). Calmly, Lyon responds, “I suppose that settles it” (226). He takes an early train back to New York.
When Anne returns to New York, Lyon is nowhere to be found. She eventually receives a letter from him in which he gives her the keys to his apartment and tells her that he has moved to a family dwelling in England, where he is going to live and write permanently.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Jennifer, May, 1947-October, 1947”
Sitting beside her pool in California, Jennifer finds it ironic that she must stay out of the sun because it causes her to have hives. She finds herself supremely bored living in Hollywood, where she seldom sees Tony because of his work in the movies. Miriam keeps her on a strict budget.
Jennifer goes to Neely’s home, where she learns Mel feels pretty much the same way she does about being left out. Neely arrives home and orders Mel to get the women something to drink. Neely confides in Jennifer that she is having an affair with Ted, her dresser. They have devised a plan to trick Mel into going back to New York so that when Neely gets a divorce, she doesn’t have to share her possessions or money with him. Neely tells Jennifer that Ted put her on green diet pills, which cause her terrible insomnia. Jennifer tells her about red pills—or red dolls—and Neely immediately orders 100 of them.
Wanting to cement her relationship with Tony so she is not dumped like Mel, Jennifer gets pregnant. When she announces this, Miriam immediately tries to get her to have an abortion. During their discussion, Miriam reveals that Tony is having an affair with a starlet. Henry counsels Jennifer to return to New York in the hopes that Tony will follow her, and together, they can work out a solution. Tony does follow her to New York, but he simply calls Jennifer his “best lay.” He declines to work things out and returns to Los Angeles.
Miriam comes to New York and explains to Jennifer that Tony has a developmental disability that their child will probably inherit. Jennifer responds by getting a divorce and an abortion. Soon afterward, she is courted by Claude, a French producer, though his true intention is to take her to Paris and cast her in soft-core porn movies. As she explains to Anne, “I don’t mean dirty pictures—I mean movies with a real plot. Only when you take a bath in a scene, they photograph it” (253).
Chapter 7 Summary: “Anne, January, 1948-February, 1948”
At a going-away party for Jennifer, Anne is introduced to Kevin, the CEO of Gillian Cosmetics. He is immediately struck by her beauty and asks if she has had her teeth fixed or dyed her hair. He offers her a contract to become the Gillian Girl, the face of his cosmetics line, meaning she would leave her job with Henry. When she resists, Jennifer takes her aside and tells her that she needs to accept the job. She tells her that Lyon has been in New York, but Henry did not let Anne know. Jennifer explains, “[B]ecause he’s a man, and men stick together. Anne, you owe Henry nothing. And you need a change. This is fate” (259).
Anne accepts the job with Kevin and begins to take diction and makeup lessons, which make her even more beautiful. She and Henry discuss Jennifer’s trip to Paris and the possibility of Lyon returning to New York. Henry warns her that Lyon will never return.
Chapters 3-7 Analysis
For each of the three protagonists, the second section is a cautionary tale about getting what you want and experiencing unintended consequences as a result. It is a striking reality in this section that, though each of the women has achieved her desired gains, she must still scramble and struggle without achieving any peace of mind.
Anne builds her relationship with Lyon, who is the love of her life. Still, Lyon exudes a restless discontent. Yearning to be an author but without the means to simply write, he is dissatisfied with his job and not willing to make a commitment to Anne that involves marriage. When her mother dies and Anne decides to introduce some passion into the house where she grew up, she invites Lyon to come to Lawrenceville. The quaintness of the setting enthralls Lyon, and though he doesn’t promise matrimony, he excitedly expresses that they could live happily in the house. However, Anne’s nonnegotiable rejection of Lawrenceville triggers Lyon’s desire to suddenly escape without warning, and he prioritizes his writing over a life with her. This is one of many instances in the text where men treat the women in their lives as disposable and obstacles to getting what they want, emphasizing the theme of Mid-Century Patriarchy and the Objectification of Women.
These chapters demonstrate the fragility of Anne’s position. When she meets Kevin Gilmore and he recognizes her as the perfect Gillian Girl, he sizes her up much as one would examine a used car before buying it. He asks if her teeth are capped and if her hair is really that color. Though she does not express it to him, Anne finds this sort of examination insulting. Jennifer, who is accustomed to being treated as property, expresses to Anne that she should view Kevin’s offer as a way to step up. The implication from the author is that women will be used, and the question women must answer is whether what they receive in return is adequate.
Susann carries this idea forward as she describes how hard Jennifer works to get the relationship she wants with Tony. She understands him perfectly and finally maneuvers him into matrimony. Recognizing what she has always known—male fidelity is never a certainty, particularly with a handsome, famous man like Tony—Jennifer decides to lure him into fatherhood, hoping that this will cement her position with him. Once again, the law of unintended consequences strikes. Jennifer learns that Tony carries a developmental disability, which he would likely pass down to their child. The greatest blow for Jennifer, however, is the insulting way that Tony tells her why she is so important to him: The sex he has with her is better than it has been with any other woman, though marriage has not prevented him from being with other women. When Jennifer argues for more, Tony dismisses her and says his career comes first, paralleling how Lyon prioritizes his writing over Anne.
As with the other two, Neely discovers that her dream—receiving a movie contract and going to Hollywood—means that her life is totally consumed by the studio. There are demands made on her every hour. She is required to take a stimulant that keeps her figure trim but also prevents her from sleeping, neatly symbolizing the prioritization of aesthetics over health. Jennifer’s innocuous suggestion that she try red dolls is Neely’s introduction to a pathway with even greater unintended consequences. Alongside her career stress, Neely is unfaithful and acts more like the novel’s men, plotting to rid herself of a man who adores her to be with someone who arouses her. Her actions in relationships position her as both Jennifer’s and Anne’s foil; while they clamor for stability and reliable love, Neely pursues her own pleasure and success, Pushing the Norms of Society in the process.
In this section, the author continues to expose the excesses of the settings she describes. In this case, she turns her focus on Hollywood, where the sun is always shining and houses have identical pools. The author portrays Hollywood, which is presumed to be glamorous, leisurely, and luxurious, as a place where those in the entertainment industry are completely consumed with their work. This is symbolized by Jennifer’s sun rash—the constant sunshine is harmful rather than pleasant. One’s social role, as Jennifer discovers and Mel bears out, is determined as well. A star’s spouse must remain quiet, be pleasant, and cause no bad news. Meanwhile, Anne has her chance encounter with Kevin in New York, another wealthy entrepreneur who immediately recognizes her beauty and treats her like a commodity. Henry, whom the author portrays as one of the more sympathetic men in the narrative, contributes to the sense of patriarchal dominance in the way that he passes judgment on all of Anne’s financial decisions and wields control over Jennifer’s divorce agreement. The author gives the impression that, while these women are learning to speak for themselves and strike out on their own, their lives are still dominated by the men around them.
