Significance of McCathy’s The Group
The Group is a novel written by Mary McCarthy that published in 1963. The book portrays lives
of eight women that graduated together from the Vassar College in 1933 and their further lives after
graduation. The names of these main characters are Dottie, Pokey, Lakey, Polly, Libby, Priss, Kay, Helen.
Each one of them faces different difficulties, that were very common around that time, but were not
discussed due to different societal norms. Some of the problems these women faced were centered
around their sexual health including: contraception, childbearing, child rearing. They faced sexism in the
workplace and had different views regarding their gender roles.
McCarthy’s book is revolutionary in a way and it presents a historical significance to the world.
“Her legacy is that kind of independent thinking. She manages to be very much of her time and also, she
is in a way time” says Frances Kiernan about McCarthy literary work in Introduction to Mary McCarthy
video (Mary McCarthy (w/William F. Buckley, Jr.)”. In the past, women stick to the roles that were given
them by society. McCarthy’s book in a satirical way showed the absurdness of the ‘old ways’ of the older
generation.
The Group shows how certain characters analyze actions of these women, showing how these
women are perceived by others and we see that these women are constrained by men and older
generation’s thoughts. While describing the lives of women in the 30s, the novel also focused on class
status. The heroines in the novel lived in difficult times, graduating after The Great Depression. At that
time, they were pushed to be more liberal, but afraid to go against the “old ways”. At some point
women felt brave and felt like they can make their living on their own, but they felt like they also had
more to lose if they worked against the social order, the “older ways”.
One of the things that Mary McCarthy was not afraid to speak about was a topic on sex and
sexuality that everyone avoided since it was considered socially unacceptable. Let’s take the scene
where Dottie loses her virginity with a man she was not in a relationship with. She was not educated on
sex and contraceptives, because in her times that topic was considered sort of a taboo. Looking at the
world today, one-night stand is considered a normal phenomenon. I see college students do it at parties
and through the Tinder App. In 21st century people separate sex and relationships. This is something that
Dottie talks about in the book: “...love and sex can be two separate things” (53). However, her mother,
as a woman of older generation, did not agree with her: “What would startle Mother, undoubtedly, was
the fact that there had been no thought of love on either side” (51). In 21st century, which is more
liberal, the person decides what he or she wants to do with their body. People won’t shame you for
that. We even have sexual content in TV shows like “Too Hot to Handle” and many people like it. It was
strange to me when Dottie was afraid to get her contraceptive and was sort of ashamed of herself
sleeping with the man who is not her husband. All my family members and relatives can talk about sex
and have talks on contraceptives to their kids. Even more, many husbands are expected to be with
women when they give birth as well.
The Group is interesting because it shows how different the 30s-60s were, but at the same time
the problems that women faced back then are still relevant today. Even though US nation is becoming
more accepting of differences of others, we still face the same issues we faced back in Mary’s time. For
instance, take the situation from the book where everyone figured out that Lakey was a lesbian. Despite
the group being shocked by it, eventually they accepted Lakey’s orientation. Today, in US we see that it
is perfectly fine to be any orientation, however, there are still people who do not accept LGBT
community. Statistics show that about 37% of Americans do not accept LGBT community. I felt bad for
Lakey, who had to escape to Europe to hide the fact that she was a lesbian.
