In the novel, Betsy Rath was a nicer woman. But I didn't think she was hateful here. She should have had her husband's job because she would have handled it better, but, of course, in 1955 (setting of the novel), no woman would have been given such a job. She doesn't know of her husband's war expreiences because he, like most returning service men of the time, didn't talk about them. She does know that he's changed somehow. She was a strong woman, and Tom seems cowed, unwilling to take any chances, but just to stay safe in order to support a wife and three children. It was Betsy who urged Tom to tell the truth to Ralph Hopkins and that made all the difference. Betsy was the one with the idea about moving into the grandmother's house and then selling land to make a housing development. She stands by her husband and supports him in making the legal agreement to send the illegitimate son a monthly sum of money. Incidentally, in the novel, Maria didn't tell Tom she was pregnant; she didn't know. Tom didn't know of his illegitimate son until the elevator operator told him in 1953 at his office building. Also in the novel, several months elapsed before the men were sent to the South Pacific, not just six weeks as shown in the film. Tom Rath owes a lot to Betsy.
If you want to know what happened to Tom and Betsy Rath and their family you can read the sequel to the original novel, "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit II" (1984). In that novel, Tom and Betsy have divorced. Tom's illegitimate son has come to America, gets drafted into the Vietnam War, and is killed there. Many other things happen as well.
Wilson also wrote "What Shall We Wear to This Party? The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit 20 Years Before & After." This is an autobiographical book that helps to explain the people he wrote about in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" and the world they lived in. You will see he drew on a number of events in his own life. Following "The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit," he wrote "A Summer Place," which was another best-seller. It was made into a very popular movie. But both the novel and the film are very sexist, very dated, and embarrassing to read and to watch today. After "A Summer Place," Wilson went into decline; his other books were not best sellers. He was alcoholic for most of his life and had Alzheimer's disease near the end. Born May 8, 1920-Died May 25, 2003).
As I read over the comments on this message board, I was dismayed to what extent the posters do not understand the film. They can't understand that the film deals with complex ideas that married couples faced, particuarly after world war 2, conflicts and decisions to be made about jobs, about housing, about living a good life--a life many felt they deserved after serving in WW2. Many people today have trouble concentrating on a film like this. There aren't sci-fi monsters, mobsters, car chases, explosions, and the other nonsense that fill too many modern films, and those films have influenced the way viewers react to films.
I was 15 when I read the novel, which was serialized in "Collier's" magazine. I couldn't wait for the next installment of arrive. And when the book came out, I checked it out of the library and read it over again. Even though I had no memory of WW2, since I was a very young child during the 40s, I still, at age 15, could understand what these people were going through. Never did I think the plot was dull.
Well, ultimately it comes down to the difference of generations and how quickly people forget the past.
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